NSF fellows can teach again

I reported last month that NSF was no longer allowing its graduate fellows to teach. According to an email I received earlier today, they are reconsidering the issue:


Each Fellow is expected to devote full time to advanced scientific study or work during tenure. However, because it is generally accepted that teaching or similar activity constitutes a valuable part of the education and training of many graduate students, a Fellow may undertake a reasonable amount of such activities, without NSF approval. It is expected that furtherance of the Fellow's educational objectives and the gain of substantive teaching or other experience, not service to the institution as such, will govern these activities. Compensation for such activities is permitted based on the affiliated institution’s policies and the general employment policies outlined in this document.

New editor at Cognition (eventually)

There are no doubt many psychologists who don't count Cognition as their favorite journal. I just don't happen to know very many of them. Whenever the topic of favorite journal comes up, Cognition it is. One would think that would argue in favor of continuity; whatever they're doing is working.

That's not apparently how the for-profit publishers of Cognition (Elsevier) feel, as they've decided to find a new editor, apparently without consulting anyone in the field about it. I hope they know what they are doing.

Above average!

It's often repeated that the median study is cited less 0 times. I haven't been able to find a citation for that, but if it is true, all my papers are now above median. My birth order paper has now been cited. Actually, it was cited last year, but I didn't notice for a while. Granted, it was cited in a paper appearing in Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa, which is apparently not a high-impact journal, but a citation is a citation.

For rather boring reasons not related to the data or the review process itself, the birth order paper appeared in a journal that is not widely read by researchers, which probably has reduced its visibility. Certainly, plenty has been published on the topic in the last few years. This is a lesson for the future: it really does matter which journal you publish in, despite the wide-spread use of search engines.

For more on my birth order research, click here.