Editorial Decision Research Articles

Retracted] miR‑660‑5p is associated with cell migration, invasion, proliferation and apoptosis in renal cell carcinoma.

Following the publication of the above article, the authors contacted the Editorial Office to explain that a couple of errors concerning data handling/labelling had been made, firstly during the preparation of the representative images in Fig. 3B, resulting in the wrong image being selected for the data panel showing the ACHN cells treated with 'Inhibitor NC' at 0 h experiment, and secondly in Fig. 5A, resulting in the wrong image being selected for the data panel showing the ACHN cells treated with 'Inhibitor NC' experiment. The authors requested that a corrigendum be published to take account of the errors that were made during the preparation of this figure. Subsequently, an independent investigation of the published data was undertaken by the Editorial Office, which revealed that the 'Inhibitor' data panel in Fig. 6A and the 'Mimic NC' data panel in Fig. 6B were also overlapping, such that these data were likely to have been derived from the same original source, even though these data panels were intended to have shown the results from differently performed experiments. The Editor of Molecular Medicine Reports has considered the authors' request to publish a corrigendum, but given the number of overlapping data panels that have been identified and the number of figures that would be in need of correction, the Editor has decided to decline the authors' request to publish a corrigendum on account of an overall lack of confidence in the presented data, and instead has determined that the paper should be retracted. Upon receiving this news from the Editor, the authors accepted the Editor's decision. The Editor apologizes to the readership of the Journal for any inconvenience caused. [Molecular Medicine Reports 17: 2051‑2060, 2018; DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2017.8052].

Journal Status Report 2023

Manuscript submissions to the Philippine Journal of Science (PJS; philjournalsci.dost.gov.ph) in 2023 were at 42.50 ± 13.29 per month, which is 47% higher than that (28.92 ± 8.49) in 2022. The acceptance rates in 2022 and 2023 were 66.18 and 42.68%, respectively. Presented below are figures of manuscript submissions (blue) and acceptance rate (green) from 2010–2023. The number of submissions in 2023 was 8.5 times higher than that in 2015, whereas the acceptance rate decreased by more than 24% compared to the average rate of 67 ± 4% in the last eight years ending 2022. Without exception, the Editorial Office subjects every submission to a single-blind peer-review process involving at least two independent expert-evaluators, and an editorial decision is rendered immediately after the first round when major manuscript revision is unanimously recommended. In most cases, the final decision is made on publication suitability after two rounds of evaluation.

Discussing ymddiddan : The dialogue poems of the Black Book of Carmarthen

abstract: The term ymddiddan has been used by editors and scholars to refer to a body of medieval Welsh poetry usually containing or composed of dialogue. This paper begins by addressing the use and misuse of the term, assessing the meaning of ymddiddan and demonstrating how editors' application of the term to titles of poems that are frequently untitled in their manuscript context has shaped perceptions of a genre of medieval Welsh dialogue poetry. Arguments about the performance of ymddiddanau made in connection with evidence from prose tales such as Owein are also considered. The rest of the paper seeks to reach an understanding of the nature of medieval Welsh dialogue poetry by analyzing the poems themselves. For this, the Black Book of Carmarthen (NLW Peniarth MS 1) is used to provide parameters for investigation. Not only do the poems in this manuscript have a concrete historical connection, but the high proportion of them that have been designated as ymddiddan means that the Black Book scribe's idiosyncrasies and editorial decisions may have impacted our understanding of the corpus. With the form and features of dialogue poems clarified, the issue of a genre is re-evaluated. The results of this study form the basis of a sister article, in which the most famous Welsh dialogue poem, Ymddiddan Myrddin a Thaliesin , is tested against the definition of dialogue poetry established here.

Development and Validation of a Scoring Rubric for Editorial Evaluation of Peer-review Quality: A Pilot Study.

Despite the importance of peer review to publications, there is no generally accepted approach for editorial evaluation of a peer review's value to a journal editor's decision-making. The graduate medical education editors of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine Special Issue in Educational Research & Practice (Special Issue) developed and studied the holistic editor's scoring rubric (HESR) with the objective of assessing the quality of a review and an emphasis on the degree to which it informs a holistic appreciation for the submission under consideration. Using peer-review guidelines from several journals, the Special Issue's editors formulated the rubric as descriptions of peer reviews of varying degree of quality from the ideal to the unacceptable. Once a review was assessed by each editor using the rubric, the score was submitted to a third party for blinding purposes. We compared the performance of the new rubric to a previously used semantic differential scale instrument. Kane's validity framework guided the evaluation of the new scoring rubric around three basic assumptions: improved distribution of scores; relative consistency rather than absolute inter-rater reliability across editors; and statistical evidence that editors valued peer reviews that contributed most to their decision-making. Ninety peer reviews were the subject of this study, all were assessed by two editors. Compared to the highly skewed distribution of the prior rating scale, the distribution of the new scoring rubric was bell shaped and demonstrated full use of the rubric scale. Absolute agreement between editors was low to moderate, while relative consistency between editor's rubric ratings was high. Finally, we showed that recommendations of higher rated peer reviews were more likely to concur with the editor's formal decision. Early evidence regarding the HESR supports the use of this instrument in determining the quality of peer reviews as well as its relative importance in informing editorial decision-making.

What gets published and what doesn’t? Exploring optimal distinctiveness and diverse expectations in entrepreneurship articles

The field of entrepreneurship has seen remarkable growth, increasing the expectations of academic audiences. Articles need to balance novelty with rigorous methodology, theoretical contributions, social implications, and coherent argumentation to succeed in the publication process. However, navigating these varied and sometimes conflicting expectations to achieve optimal distinctiveness in academic narratives is challenging for authors. To explore how authors can achieve optimal distinctiveness amidst these complex expectations, we studied academic narratives and related editorial decisions of two leading entrepreneurship journals, Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice (ETP, 4,151 papers) and Small Business Economics Journal (SBEJ, 4,043 papers), using computer-aided text analysis. Our study debunks common assumptions about what makes a successful entrepreneurship paper, providing an empirical basis for understanding actual versus perceived publication requisites. Furthermore, we extend optimal distinctiveness theory by demonstrating that high distinctiveness is not uniformly advantageous, meeting numerous expectations is not necessarily beneficial, and clear language is crucial for complex narratives. Our study underscores that crafting narratives is more nuanced than traditionally believed.

Explicit solutions for the asymptotically optimal bandwidth in cross-validation

Abstract We show that least-squares cross-validation methods share a common structure that has an explicit asymptotic solution, when the chosen kernel is asymptotically separable in bandwidth and data. For density estimation with a multivariate Student-t(ν) kernel, the cross-validation criterion becomes asymptotically equivalent to a polynomial of only three terms. Our bandwidth formulae are simple and noniterative, thus leading to very fast computations, their integrated squared-error dominates traditional cross-validation implementations, they alleviate the notorious sample variability of cross-validation and overcome its breakdown in the case of repeated observations. We illustrate our method with univariate and bivariate applications, of density estimation and nonparametric regressions, to a large dataset of Michigan State University academic wages and experience.

On the failure of the bootstrap for Chatterjee’s rank correlation

Abstract While researchers commonly use the bootstrap to quantify the uncertainty of an estimator, it has been noticed that the standard bootstrap, in general, does not work for Chatterjee’s rank correlation. In this paper, we provide proof of this issue under an additional independence assumption, and complement our theory with simulation evidence for general settings. Chatterjee’s rank correlation thus falls into a category of statistics that are asymptotically normal, but bootstrap inconsistent. Valid inferential methods in this case are Chatterjee’s original proposal for testing independence and the analytic asymptotic variance estimator of Lin & Han (2022) for more general purposes. [Received on 5 April 2023. Editorial decision on 10 January 2024]

Librarians and information specialists as methodological peer-reviewers: a case-study of the International Journal of Health Governance

BackgroundObjectives of this study were to analyze the impact of including librarians and information specialist as methodological peer-reviewers. We sought to determine if and how librarians’ comments differed from subject peer-reviewers’; whether there were differences in the implementation of their recommendations; how this impacted editorial decision-making; and the perceived utility of librarian peer-review by librarians and authors.MethodsWe used a mixed method approach, conducting a qualitative analysis of reviewer reports, author replies and editors’ decisions of submissions to the International Journal of Health Governance. Our content analysis categorized 16 thematic areas, so that methodological and subject peer-reviewers’ comments, decisions and rejection rates could be compared. Categories were based on the standard areas covered in peer-review (e.g., title, originality, etc.) as well as additional in-depth categories relating to the methodology (e.g., search strategy, reporting guidelines, etc.). We developed and used criteria to judge reviewers’ perspectives and code their comments.We conducted two online multiple-choice surveys which were qualitatively analyzed: one of methodological peer-reviewers’ perceptions of peer-reviewing, the other of published authors’ views on the suggested revisions.ResultsMethodological peer-reviewers assessed 13 literature reviews submitted between September 2020 and March 2023. 55 reviewer reports were collected: 25 from methodological peer-reviewers, 30 from subject peer-reviewers (mean: 4.2 reviews per manuscript). Methodological peer-reviewers made more comments on methodologies, with authors more likely to implement their changes (52 of 65 changes, vs. 51 of 82 by subject peer-reviewers); they were also more likely to reject submissions (seven vs. four times, respectively). Where there were differences in recommendations to editors, journal editors were more likely to follow methodological peer-reviewers (nine vs. three times, respectively). The survey of published authors (87.5% response rate) revealed four of seven found comments on methodologies helpful. Librarians’ survey responses (66.5% response rate) revealed those who conducted peer-reviews felt they improved quality of publications.ConclusionsLibrarians can enhance evidence synthesis publications by ensuring methodologies have been conducted and reported appropriately. Their recommendations helped authors revise submissions and facilitated editorial decision-making. Further research could determine if sharing reviews with subject peer-reviewers and journal editors could benefit them in better understanding of evidence synthesis methodologies.

“Sobriété, Chic, Discrétion”: Promoting Modern Jewelry and Accessories in Adam: La revue de l’homme, 1925-1940

This paper discusses the promotion of modern jewelry and accessories in interwar France using the men’s fashion magazine Adam: la revue de l’homme as a case study. It focuses on a number of the magazine’s features on jewelry and accessories from the period 1925-40 in order to demonstrate how its mission to become “the magazine of the rue de la Paix” encompassed the promotion of jewelry and accessories. Recognizing that jewelry and accessories is an under-researched area, particularly in relation to studies of men’s formal attire of the period, this essay provides evidence of the seriousness with which the style commentators of Adam, complemented by its editorial decisions and advertisers’ contributions, were prepared to lend to the subject. Ultimately, the paper argues that a consideration of modern jewelry and accessories in the context of a relatively conservative men’s fashion magazine can help to further our understanding of the role played by modern objects of personal adornment in the interwar period.

The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction

ABSTRACT: The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction ( HDSF ) is an online dictionary on historical principles dedicated to the vocabulary of English-language science fiction. Based on a project started at the Oxford English Dictionary , the HDSF contains approximately 1,500 entries and 12,000 quotations, many of which are linked to full views of their original publications or to bibliographic databases. It is regularly updated with new entries. This article describes the history of the project, the editorial decisions that inform it, the design of the dictionary, and the technical platform that runs it. It also discusses the future of the project, including the possibility of expanding it to cover related fields, such as video games or comics.

Human-in-the-Loop AI Reviewing: Feasibility, Opportunities, and Risks

The promise of AI for academic work is bewitching and easy to envisage, but the risks involved are often hard to detect and usually not readily exposed. In this opinion piece, we explore the feasibility, opportunities, and risks of using large language models (LLMs) for reviewing academic submissions, while keeping the human in the loop. We experiment with GPT-4 in the role of a reviewer to demonstrate the opportunities and the risks we experience and ways to mitigate them. The reviews are structured according to a conference review form with the dual purpose of evaluating submissions for editorial decisions and providing authors with constructive feedback according to predefined criteria, which include contribution, soundness, and presentation. We demonstrate feasibility by evaluating and comparing LLM reviews with human reviews, concluding that current AI-augmented reviewing is sufficiently accurate to alleviate the burden of reviewing but not completely and not for all cases. We then enumerate the opportunities of AI-augmented reviewing and present open questions. Next, we identify the risks of AI-augmented reviewing, highlighting bias, value misalignment, and misuse. We conclude with recommendations for managing these risks.

A new approach to finding overlapping community structure in signed networks based on Neutrosophic theory

Abstract One of the longstanding challenges in network science is the identification of overlapping community structures. Real-world networks often exhibit a complex interplay of positive and negative relationships, making the recognition of overlapping communities a crucial area of research. Current community detection methods in signed networks primarily focus on discovering disjoint communities, where each node belongs exclusively to a single community. However, these algorithms often fail to detect overlapping communities, where nodes can belong to multiple communities simultaneously. To address this limitation, we propose a novel approach called Neutrosophic c-means Overlapping Community Detection (NOCD) based on neutrosophic set (NS) theory. By incorporating NS theory, our approach effectively handles the uncertainty associated with ambiguous community boundaries and appropriately handles nodes on the community boundaries and isolated nodes. The NOCD method comprises two phases: firstly, a signed graph convolutional neural network is employed to learn the structural features of the signed network in a lower-dimensional representation; secondly, overlapping communities are detected using the neutrosophic c-means algorithm applied to the embedded network. To evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed NOCD method, we conducted comprehensive experiments on both real and artificial networks. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of NOCD in identifying overlapping communities, outperforming existing methods. [Received on 3 August 2023; editorial decision on 13 December 2023; accepted on 19 December 2023]

Prevalence of Short Peer Reviews in 3 Leading General Medical Journals

High-quality peer reviews are often thought to be essential to ensuring the integrity of the scientific publication process, but measuring peer review quality is challenging. Although imperfect, review word count could potentially serve as a simple, objective metric of review quality. To determine the prevalence of very short peer reviews and how often they inform editorial decisions on research articles in 3 leading general medical journals. This cross-sectional study compiled a data set of peer reviews from published, full-length original research articles from 3 general medical journals (The BMJ, PLOS Medicine, and BMC Medicine) between 2003 and 2022. Eligible articles were those with peer review data; all peer reviews used to make the first editorial decision (ie, accept vs revise and resubmit) were included. Prevalence of very short reviews was the primary outcome, which was defined as a review of fewer than 200 words. In secondary analyses, thresholds of fewer than 100 words and fewer than 300 words were used. Results were disaggregated by journal and year. The proportion of articles for which the first editorial decision was made based on a set of peer reviews in which very short reviews constituted 100%, 50% or more, 33% or more, and 20% or more of the reviews was calculated. In this sample of 11 466 reviews (including 6086 in BMC Medicine, 3816 in The BMJ, and 1564 in PLOS Medicine) corresponding to 4038 published articles, the median (IQR) word count per review was 425 (253-575) words, and the mean (SD) word count was 520.0 (401.0) words. The overall prevalence of very short (<200 words) peer reviews was 1958 of 11 466 reviews (17.1%). Across the 3 journals, 843 of 4038 initial editorial decisions (20.9%) were based on review sets containing 50% or more very short reviews. The prevalence of very short reviews and share of editorial decisions based on review sets containing 50% or more very short reviews was highest for BMC Medicine (693 of 2585 editorial decisions [26.8%]) and lowest for The BMJ (76 of 1040 editorial decisions [7.3%]). In this study of 3 leading general medical journals, one-fifth of initial editorial decisions for published articles were likely based at least partially on reviews of such short length that they were unlikely to be of high quality. Future research could determine whether monitoring peer review length improves the quality of peer reviews and which interventions, such as incentives and norm-based interventions, may elicit more detailed reviews.

“But then the war started”: The value of diversity in editorial practices during times of war and crisis

In this article, we analyse the impact of disruptive media events on the perceived value of diversity in editorial practices, with a specific focus on the Polish media debate following the onset of the Ukrainian-Russian war in February 2022. We do this based on a unique dataset derived from in-depth interviews with eight editors representing four different newsrooms conducted before, immediately after, and approximately one year after the start of the war. Our research answers the question of whether newsrooms can defend the value of diversity during the coverage of war and crisis. We also assess the impact of the changed geopolitical context, characterised by nation-building mobilisation and public sentiments of solidarity with Ukrainians, on editorial decisions to mute, delay, or opt out of publishing certain stories. We contribute to research on the epistemologies of journalistic news production during times of crisis, news diversity, and the role of the media in democratic societies.

Making the Most of the Peer Review Process

In this brief mentoring corner article, we focus on defining what different editorial decisions mean (e.g., accept with revisions; revise and resubmit; reject: revise and resubmit), discussing factors you might consider when deciding what to do after receiving a decision (e.g., resubmit or move on) and considering how to best approach the revisions. We also provide guidance on effective communication with editors, including an example of a successful response to review table and cover letter.

Conflict and Peace Reportage in Nigeria Newspaper: A Reappraisal of Punch and Daily Trust Newspaper (January – July, 2019)

Abstract&#x0D; This study investigates the coverage of conflict and peace issues in Nigerian newspapers, specifically focusing on Punch and Daily Trust. The research aims to achieve three primary objectives: assess the frequency of conflict and peace reportage in both newspapers, determine the level of prominence given to these issues by Punch and Daily Trust, and identify the categories under which such issues are reported. The study draws on the Agenda-Setting Theory and Framing Theory to provide a comprehensive analysis. Using a quantitative content analysis approach, the study examines stories related to conflict and peace issues published in the selected newspapers from January 2019 to July 2019. The key findings reveal distinct patterns in the reportage of conflict and peace matters. Punch exhibits a higher emphasis on certain categories like "Calamity/Killing," "Prevention," and "Warning," while Daily Trust places greater prominence on the "Call for Peace" theme. Moreover, the study unveils variations in the prominence given to different categories across the newspapers. The study concludes that the nuanced ways in which Punch and Daily Trust cover conflict and peace issues is based on their editorial decisions in shaping public awareness and discussions. Based on the study's outcomes, it is recommended that newspapers strategically consider their coverage of conflict and peace topics, fostering greater balance and comprehensive reporting. By adhering to these recommendations, newspapers can contribute to more informed public discourse on crucial societal matters.

Retracted] miR‑216b inhibits glioma cell migration and invasion through suppression of FoxM1.

Following the publication of the above article, a concerned reader reported that certain of the cell invasion assay data shown in Fig. 2D, and the mouse images shown in Fig. 6A, were strikingly similar to data that appeared in the following (subsequently published) article: Li C, Zheng H, Hou W, BaoH, Xiong J, Che W, Gu Y, Sun H and Liang P: Long non-coding RNA linc00645 promotes TGF-β-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition by regulating miR-205-3p-ZEB1 axis in glioma. Cell Death Dis 10: 717, 2019. The authors regret that the data in question featured in the original Oncology Reports article had been re-used, and accept the Editor's decision to retract this article; furthermore, the authors and the Editor apologize to the readership of the Journal for any inconvenience caused. [Oncology Reports 38: 1751‑1759, 2017; DOI: 10.3892/or.2017.5824].

Student interaction, academic anxiety and belonging: video project

This resource showcase session will demonstrate the output from a research project which was presented at ALDinHE conference online last year. The research looked at the experience of Chinese postgraduate students in three areas: student participation, academic anxiety and belonging. The session will briefly outline our project and how we worked with the students to produce the videos. The project used a strengths-based approach (Rapp, Saleebey and Sullivan, 2005) whereby students shared their own strengths and resources to create a successful outcome. The only input from staff was to book rooms and source equipment. The students met and worked on the videos themselves, making editorial decisions and doing all the production. At the end of the summer, three videos were produced which focused on the three research themes. During the session I will play the videos and get feedback from participants on how to work collaboratively with students and on the use of the videos with international students to support their transition into UK HE.

Cinematic journalism: the political economy and ‘emotional truth’ of documentary film

ABSTRACT News organizations in recent years have embraced documentary film. From streaming ventures to Academy Award nominations, newsrooms are producing documentaries to reach new audiences and maintain their relevance in changing media cultures. This study examines documentary’s surging popularity among news outlets and addresses two questions: How does the political economy of media affect filmmakers’ editorial decisions and aesthetic choices? And, how do seemingly commonplace audiovisual and production techniques – such as music, lighting, sound design, and directing – complicate journalistic norms? Drawing on in-depth interviews with journalistic filmmakers (n = 24), the study offers three findings: the political economy of digital media is altering the production and distribution models for documentary, creating ethical dilemmas for filmmakers; the relational dynamics among filmmakers, participants, and audiences significantly inform the ethical frameworks that filmmakers use; and the ‘emotional truth’ of documentary storytelling forces filmmakers to reevaluate their conceptions of objectivity and neutrality. The study illuminates the relationship between documentary and journalism, and details how filmmakers are navigating the increasingly-blurry boundaries between these fields.

Improved fMRI-based pain prediction using Bayesian group-wise functional registration.

In recent years, the field of neuroimaging has undergone a paradigm shift, moving away from the traditional brain mapping approach towards the development of integrated, multivariate brain models that can predict categories of mental events. However, large interindividual differences in both brain anatomy and functional localization after standard anatomical alignment remain a major limitation in performing this type of analysis, as it leads to feature misalignment across subjects in subsequent predictive models. This article addresses this problem by developing and validating a new computational technique for reducing misalignment across individuals in functional brain systems by spatially transforming each subject's functional data to a common latent template map. Our proposed Bayesian functional group-wise registration approach allows us to assess differences in brain function across subjects and individual differences in activation topology. We achieve the probabilistic registration with inverse-consistency by utilizing the generalized Bayes framework with a loss function for the symmetric group-wise registration. It models the latent template with a Gaussian process, which helps capture spatial features in the template, producing a more precise estimation. We evaluate the method in simulation studies and apply it to data from an fMRI study of thermal pain, with the goal of using functional brain activity to predict physical pain. We find that the proposed approach allows for improved prediction of reported pain scores over conventional approaches. Received on 2 January 2017. Editorial decision on 8 June 2021.