An Interview with Researcher, Dr. Pete Anderson

1. Please briefly describe your current research.

My primary areas of research are sexual violence and HIV/AIDS. I’ve just received a small grant to study sexual violence in a population of adult workers using the Amazon site: Mechanical Turk.  With the grant we should be able to generate a sample of over 3,000 adult men and women who are ‘employees’ of Amazon.  

2 How did you come to be in this area of study?

Long story!  Short version: I studied to become a Jesuit Priest. After leaving the seminary my friends would come to me with their problems (typically sex, drugs, or family issues) and the only area the interested me was the sex part. I received a PhD from the Human Sexuality Program at New York University with a dissertation focused on women’s sexual aggression.  I’ve been studying in this area ever since.  

3. What do like best about doing research?

Discovery!  Not know what I will find and being surprised by the outcome.  

4. What do you dislike the most about doing research?

Statistical analysis – tedious! 

5. Any advice for new researchers who would like to be published?

Read published work.  Find a journal that has demonstrated interest in your topic (typically one you cited regularly in you review of literature) and read multiple articles from several issues. When you are comfortable with the contents of the journal you can hone your work to mirror the quality of the journal and improve your chances of publishing. Beyond that, never take rejection personally or as a setback as it is an opportunity to improve your work and get it published in some other journal.

Next time,  some words on following directions. 

New things

All new things are scary, because you do not know what to expect, and typically feel like you do not want to make any mistakes. Let me see if I can reduce that anxiety, about submitting your paper to JSBHS, by taking you through the process of submitting your paper to the journal and what you should expect. First, of course you will write your paper and check the journal's guidelines; the Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences' (JSBHS) are at: http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/jsbhs/ 

2) Once you are satisfied that you have followed all of the requirements in the journal, you are safe to proceed. Make sure you have the required files prepared, for JSBHS you will need an anonymous version of your paper in which you have taken out anything indicating who you are or your institution (because it will be sent out for a "blind" review- the reviewers will not know who wrote it). You will also need a cover letter in which you detail the required information discussed in the submission guidelines. You will go to the area of the journal website called "Submit an Article." The site will have you enter all of the required info, along with your paper and cover letter. 

3) As the author, your part is done; now the editor takes over. First, the editor checks that you have followed directions. Then he or she assigns 2-3 peer reviewers, these are experts in the topic of your paper. The paper is sent to them along with instructions on doing the review. They typically have up to a month or so to complete the review. 

4) When the reviewers have completed their review they write out their comments and suggestions and suggest a decision on the paper: accept as is, minor revisions required, major revisions required, reject. The editor then takes all of the comments and makes his or her own decision about the paper- whether or not it will be accepted, need revisions or be rejected for the journal. He or she then notifies you, as the author, what the decision is. (Know that it is very rare for papers to be accepted on the first draft, it typically takes several revisions). 

5) You can then revise and resubmit it as above. The same process of review is followed, as above. 

6) Let's assume your paper has been accepted. Congratulations! The editor will have you submit a clean version that has all of your identifying info it. The paper will then be sent by the editor to a copyeditor, who will check grammar, APA, and references.  

7) Then it will appear on the JSBHS website as a published paper!

Next time we will have our first researcher interview.

Welcome!

Welcome to the editor's blog for the Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences (JSBHS). I am Dr. Lee Stadtlander, I just became the editor for the journal at the beginning of 2016. I am a very experienced blogger (see my dissertation blog at: http://phdrealities.blogspot.com/), and I look forward to the opportunity to share the insights I gain from being the editor with you. I also plan, in the future, to offer some interviews with authors and reviewers, sharing their experiences.

I can say after the first few weeks on the job, that I am surprised at the amount of details that are required to get everything going. The JSBHS is an online journal; therefore, articles are published as soon as they are accepted. There is definitely a learning curve in learning the software that is required to manage and publish articles. Other things I have done is update the journal's website, contact all listed Associate Editors and reviewers, and contact all of the administrative people who are involved in the journal's operation.

I plan to post here in the blog once a week or so, if you would like to be notified when that occurs, click the "follow by email" link. You will need a gmail account for it to work. Next time, I will discuss the steps involved in getting a paper published. Meanwhile, if you have any questions or ideas for the blog for me, feel free to email me at jsbhs@waldenu.edu