Leon Fink: Praises anonymous book reviewers who write for journals
[Leon Fink is a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Chicago and editor of Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas.]
... Though reviewers of book manuscripts customarily receive an honorarium, the routine work of journal reviewers regularly goes unrewarded, as well as unrecognized by the outside world. In both cases, the satisfaction of the peer reviewer comes mostly from recognition as an expert in the field and from intimate association with a creative work-in-progress. Like the earthworm that breaks up the hard crust of the farmer's fields, the peer reviewer is the underground hero or heroine of the printed page.
Read entire article at Chronicle of Higher Education
... Though reviewers of book manuscripts customarily receive an honorarium, the routine work of journal reviewers regularly goes unrewarded, as well as unrecognized by the outside world. In both cases, the satisfaction of the peer reviewer comes mostly from recognition as an expert in the field and from intimate association with a creative work-in-progress. Like the earthworm that breaks up the hard crust of the farmer's fields, the peer reviewer is the underground hero or heroine of the printed page.