Why Editors Should Rule the World

October 7, 2008
By Kim Werker


Editors should rule the world because good ones prevent smart people from looking like idiots.

I live with an engineer. In our house are professional and academic journals that do such painfully awful things to the English language I’ll find myself tempted to phone up a publisher to offer to take a red pen to their draft publication for no pay at all.

Pointed out to me by the man this morning, a drop quote in OR/MS Today*:

“There is a recurring theme that a body of data analysis skills exist that are uniquely analytics.”

A drop quote. Pulled out and highlighted in large, coloured text. Now, sure. This sentence, as written, might make for a good zinger of a question on a Grade 10 English test. Maybe even a bonus question. “Analytics” is, after all, not a plural. But in an academic publication? Simply unacceptable.

* It’s the publication of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.

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7 Responses to Why Editors Should Rule the World

  1. John Markos O'Neill on October 7, 2008 at 8:42 am

    I would say something like, “These cultural references imply that data analysis skills are not merely a useful set of tools, but a cohesive discipline called analytics.”

  2. kpwerker on October 7, 2008 at 9:09 am

    Hired!

  3. spinstah on October 7, 2008 at 4:39 pm

    Oh, try this: “The sensemakers may not be sure what to handoff in the earlier stages of sensemaking since sensemaking is not complete”

  4. kpwerker on October 7, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    What's that now?

  5. spinstah on October 7, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    Oh, try this: “The sensemakers may not be sure what to handoff in the earlier stages of sensemaking since sensemaking is not complete”

  6. Kim Werker on October 8, 2008 at 12:41 am

    What's that now?

  7. Why Editors Should Rule the World | Kim Werker on October 10, 2008 at 1:01 pm

    [...] Why Editors Should Rule the World: [...]

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