Day 59: Who Reviews the Reviewers?
On Pares y Nones, a university science podcast in Mexico City whose name puns on peer review and the game of odds and evens, the host Gustavo (A) discusses anonymous peer review with Dr. Leonor Ávila (B), a biologist, Ignacio (C), an economist, and María Fernanda (D), a doctoral student.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
- Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a Spanish word to see what it means.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Spanish, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.
Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning
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A
Bienvenidos a Pares y Nones: hoy juzgamos a los jueces. Doctora Ávila, ¿el anonimato protege al revisor o nomás lo esconde?
Welcome to Pares y Nones: today we're judging the judges. Dr. Ávila, does anonymity protect the reviewer, or just hide them?
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B
Lo protege, y a la ciencia con él. Sin anonimato, ¿qué joven le rechazaría un artículo a una vaca sagrada?
It protects them, and science along with them. Without anonymity, what young researcher would reject a paper by a sacred cow?
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C
Los incentivos dicen otra cosa, doctora: cuanto más anónimo el revisor, más cruel, porque la crueldad le sale gratis.
The incentives say otherwise, Dr. Ávila: the more anonymous the reviewer, the crueler they are, because cruelty costs them nothing.
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A
María Fernanda, usted acaba de estrenarse como autora. ¿Cómo le fue con su primer dictamen?
María Fernanda, you've just made your debut as an author. How did your first review go?
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D
El revisor dos me escribió cuatro páginas sobre mis ajolotes de Xochimilco. La frase más amable: “La autora no entiende sus datos”.
Reviewer 2 wrote four pages about my axolotls from Xochimilco. The kindest sentence: “The author doesn't understand her data.”
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C
El que alguien se esconda para humillar a una estudiante no es rigor, doctora: es crueldad con buena ortografía.
Someone hiding in order to humiliate a student isn't rigor, Dr. Ávila: it's cruelty with good spelling.
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B
A ella le sirvió: rehízo el análisis y acabó en una revista mejor. La crítica dura también es una forma de respeto.
It did her good: she redid the analysis and ended up in a better journal. Harsh criticism is a form of respect too.
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D
Me sirvió, pero tardé tres semanas en volver a abrir el archivo. Cuanto más releía el dictamen, menos bióloga me sentía.
It did me good, but it took me three weeks to open the file again. The more I reread the review, the less I felt like a biologist.
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A
Doctora Ávila, usted que defiende al revisor dos: ¿cómo se lo hubiera dicho a ella?
Dr. Ávila, since you're defending Reviewer 2: how would you have put it to her?
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B
Con más cariño: que sus datos pedían a gritos un modelo mixto y que el ajolote de la figura tres era de Pátzcuaro.
More kindly: that her data were crying out for a mixed model, and that the axolotl in figure 3 was from Pátzcuaro.
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D
¿La figura tres? Eso no lo dije al aire, doctora. Ya que estamos, ¿me firma el dictamen?
Figure 3? I never said that on air, Dr. Ávila. While we're at it, would you sign the review for me?
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