If you need it, please request volunteer help in our forum for editing requests!

The following message was sent to a member who indicated a need for volunteer help in a comment to the profile page of an editor (another Research Cooperative member). (See this reply in Chinese)

Such commenting is expected and encouraged in the Research Cooperative -- but we also hope that members will make requests for volunteer help in our public forum for editing requests. Today, I sent the following reply to a new member:

Dear (New Member),

If you would like to find an expert volunteer to read a draft research paper, I strongly encourage you to (1) outline the subject and aims of your paper, (2) the intended target audience or publication, and (3) the time constraints you face (if any) -- in an open request for a volunteer in our forum for editing requests.

There should be no reluctance to seek colleagues to review a paper before it is published.

In my view, offering volunteer help, and accepting suitable requests, is a moral and social obligation for all researchers employed by public organisations, in any country, and in any discipline.

The reality may be that in some countries, and some disciplines, voluntary mutual help is not common.

If so, then the Research Cooperative does face an uphill battle to expand the culture of mutual trust and support among researchers around the world. But no matter how difficult this may be, expanding the culture of mutual trust and support remains a major reason for the existence of the Research Cooperative.

This reply is not just for you, but for all members of the Research Cooperative. I am planning to post a version of this reply on my Co-op blog page.

Thanks very much for your participation in the Research Cooperative.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Peter J. Matthews, Kyoto (Network Creator and Admin., Research Cooperative)