In the Northern Hemisphere, we’re officially in the “dog days” of Summer, so-named because it marks the period of the heliacal rising of Sirius (colloquially known as the “Dog Star” for the way it follows the hunter Orion into the night sky). According to Wikipedia, Hellenistic astrology connected the period with “heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck.” Sounds about right. It’s also the period where, as one colleague noted on Twitter, requests for peer review turn into an avalanche of “out of office” automated responses.
And so we’re taking a break and should be back sometime toward the end of next week. To help shake out your doldrums I offer you “Hot Summer” by Prince, just released from his vaults. In speaking with a different colleague last week, they noted the album’s release, declaring, “It’s Prince Week”, but as we all know, every week is Prince Week.
See you shortly, and if you haven’t done so lately, give yourself a break.
David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.
