Interlude: Lower-Impact Journals, "Good Enough" Drafts, and Growth from Practice
Recently, I heard a researcher describe submitting to a lower-impact journal as "settling."
They framed it as the option to consider when the top-tier journals don't work out.
It was a reminder of how much language shapes our perceptions.
A paper in a lower-impact journal is not a consolation prize, or "settling." It's often a deliberate, well-reasoned, and scientifically sound choice. And the journal it appears in tells you almost nothing about the mark it will leave on the field.
Consider three papers that changed science—none of which appeared in Nature, Science, or Cell.
In 2013, Jennifer Doudna published a landmark paper on CRISPR genome editing in human cells in eLife—a journal that had launched just the year before and had no impact factor at the time.
In 1951, Oliver Lowry published a simple method for quantifying protein in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. With more than 300,000 citations, it is the most-cited scientific paper in history.
In 1958, Kaplan and Meier published their survival analysis method in the Journal of the American Statistical Association. This method is now used in more than 70% of clinical oncology research.
None of these articles appeared in a "top-tier" journal. Yet all three are foundational pillars of modern biomedical science.
So I'll keep reminding as many people as I can:
The venue is not the value. A paper published in a focused, rigorous, lower-profile journal is not a failure—it's often the right home for the work.
And finding the right home for your science? That's something to be proud of.
Now onto this week's round-up...
Round-up
From My Desk
Your 10/10 Science Deserves Better Than 3/10 Writing
Submitting a "good enough" draft can feel like a relief. But settling for "good enough" comes with a cost: rejected grants, desk-rejected manuscripts, delayed publications, fewer citations, and missed opportunities for recognition and advancement. In this video, I share how your manuscripts, grants, and other research documents are your research products—and how the writing you package them with matters just as much as the science.
Reading
Academic journals’ AI policies fail to curb the surge in AI-assisted academic writing
“. . .despite 70% of journals adopting AI policies (primarily requiring disclosure), researchers’ use of AI writing tools has increased dramatically across disciplines, with no significant difference between journals with or without policies. . . Crucially, full-text analysis on 164 k scientific publications reveals a striking transparency gap: Of the 75 k papers published since 2023, only 76 (~0.1%) explicitly disclosed AI use.”
Continuation of Modifications to Peer Review Practices
“. . . modifications were made to peer review practices for applications submitted for the January 2026 and May 2026 Advisory Councils...[and] will remain in place for the October 2026 Advisory Council:
The percent of applications discussed in most meetings will be reduced to 30-35%, instead of the usual ~50%.
Applications voted by the committee to be in the middle third will be designated as “competitive but not discussed” and applications in the lowest third will be designated as “not competitive and not discussed”. Applications in the middle third will be considered for funding, along with the discussed applications.
Summary statements will be simplified. . . summaries will have a sentence describing the degree of consensus in the committee vote, plus bullets listing the main score driving points. Summaries for all applications will contain the written critiques from the 3 assigned reviewers. . . Summaries for applications that are discussed will have the overall impact score.”
Listening
Hear Me Out: How Understanding Accents—Ours & Others—Improves Communication
In this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Valerie Fridland and host Matt Abrahams discuss how connection is a collaboration shaped by accents on both sides of the conversation. A few things that stood out to me were that filler words can sometimes be helpful, how we have speaking and listening accents, and the benefits of saying something before you introduce yourself.
Watching
Growth comes from practice, not perfection
In this Instagram post, Simon Sinek shares his thoughts on AI, how we're so focused on metrics, and how we've forgotten about the value of the process that makes you a better version of yourself. "I don't want them to just say the perfect thing. I want to know why they are choosing the words."
Thank you so much for reading.
Warmly,
Crystal
