Invited to MDPI-Plants Reviewer Board

PI a member of MDPI-Plants Reviewers Board

I'm not gonna lie - peer-review is a bittersweet part of working in Academia.

Most times it's an ungrateful job of telling the Authors, accomplished scientists and sometimes colleagues, why their work sucks. Sometimes it makes you pull (the remnants of) your hair out - because grammar, facts, or you know, science. Rarely it's a pleasure of reading a great story and helping it shine even more by suggesting tweaks here and there. It helped me become a better scientific writer, and inspired with many research ideas.

I think I review a lot. On average at least one manuscript a month, often 2. If that's a busy period, or I'm unfamiliar/uncomfortable with the topic, I just decline.

Last few years I've been frequently asked to review for journals from MDPI. To be precise, since March 2017 I reviewed 14 manuscripts (many of those several rounds) for 8 journals, and delivered reviews with complete range of the available suggestions. I also declined 19 invites, again, busy or unfamiliar etc.

It was a surprise and a pleasure to be approched by MDPI-PLants, a journal very fitting my research profile and one I published with, to join their team of flag reviewers, instead of being asked 'ad hoc'. It shows that I deliver quality advice in a reliable way, hence, a valuable service to the community.

If anything, that's a rewarding testimony to my job (that otherwise gets me only 'Kudos' on Publons).