Stress testing of the scientific journal

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The results of applying the Power BI free software in the management of a scientific journal are presented. It is shown that even the creation of the most basic dashboard allows management solutions aimed at improving the editorial work to be obtained. Data on the manuscript flow for the past several years can be used as input to Power BI to make informed decisions about future trends. All available free forecasting techniques in Power BI are compared in terms of forecast accuracy. The Power BI force-directed graph plugin for establishing connections between reviewers is analysed. On this basis, recommendations to scientific editors concerning the selection of reviewers and the development of a scientific journal are provided. This research is focused on the search for simple solutions that can be applied by the editorial team without acquiring specific knowledge in the field of Data Science.

Application of BI-analytics in the management of a scientific journal

Bolshakov

2022

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Use of peer reviewing indicators for planning the work of the editorial office of a scientific edition (on the example of a biological journal)

Моргунова

Хохлов

2022

The peer review process is an extremely important and time-consuming step in preparing a manuscript for publication. It often takes longer than all other stages of article processing. Due to the complexity of peer reviewing, it becomes necessary to analyze it and determine the key points that you should pay attention to when planning the work of the editorial office. In this study, the authors used data obtained in the process of work with reviewers of the journals “Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 16. Biologiya” and “Moscow University Biological Sciences Bulletin” in 2017–2021, as well as information on articles received by the editorial office in the same period time. The sample of peer reviewers consisted of 319 specialists from various fields of biology and related disciplines. The results of the analysis showed that the average time spent on the primary review was about 11 days, and the average time during which experts respond to the invitation was about 2 days. Reviews received by the editors over five years, on average, contain a little less than 3 000 characters, the volume of reviews does not correlate with the timing of the reviews and their quality. In recent years, the editorial office has managed to reduce the proportion of formal uninformative reviews to 6 %. Both women and men, employees of both universities and research institutes, scientists with candidate and doctoral degrees are equally involved in the work on articles. The important role of reviewers in improving the article and at the same time insufficient encouragement of this important work are emphasized. The results obtained can be useful to the editors of scientific journals when they plan the stages of reviewing articles.

Comparison of article processing times in biological journals with different financial models

Morgunova

2023

The article processing time is currently one of the main characteristics that authors take into account when choosing a journal. In a competitive environment, journals, especially those with low rankings, need to process articles quickly to be attractive to authors. Most charge-free journals are significantly slower in terms of speed than journals with article processing charges (APC), and this is not only due to the fact that some journals with APC publish articles without peer reviewing and editing, but also because paid journals with peer reviewing and editing employ specialists who deal exclusively with the journal. Many domestic journals cannot afford to hire such free-from-other duties specialists, so the articles are processed by employees of the founding organization, who are also involved in scientific and educational work, which is why editorial processes are uneven. Also, article publication time is increased by volume restrictions related to the obligations of subscription publications and publication of the journal strictly by issues (especially if journal publishes issues every two months, quarterly, or less often). This paper compares the article processing time in four biology journals with different financial models from four countries. As expected, the article processing time in journals with APC was expectedly shorter than in charge-free ones. There is a noticeably long wait for paper publication after its acceptance in the journal, which publishes a printed version and releases articles not as they are ready but only as part of the finished issue. The article discusses possible ways to reduce processing time in charge-free journals. However, such a reduction should be adequate; editorial processes should not be expedited at the expense of the quality of editing and peer review.