 | He has come a long way from his first task at TRIUMF in 1980 where he improved the high intensity performance of the ion sources and injection line system. Rick Baartman, a TRIUMF employee since 1980 and now head of the Beam Physics group, was selected as one of the 150 recognized as an Outstanding Referee for 2010 by the American Physical Society (APS) Physics. This honour was established in 2007 to recognize 150 scientists out of 45,000 each year who have been extremely helpful in evaluation manuscripts for the scientific journals published by APS. Rick was added to the 34 Canadians that have been selected thus far. When a scientist writes a paper outlining a new science result, he/she often sends the manuscript to one of the APS Journals for publication. The journal then sends the paper anonymously to 2 or 3 scientists to review and verify the contents – these reviewers are known as referees. Referees then express their thoughts and ideas about it, often discussing the originality, relevance, and completeness of the information presented by the author(s). Once the referees return the paper to APS, the comments and edits are considered and weighed carefully. The author must then respond to the criticism of these other experts – if the consensus is that the paper doesn’t meet the criteria for clarity or completeness, then the paper is returned to the author for revision. If not, then the referees have aided in creating an article that will educate other scientists and keep them updated in the field. |
On principle Rick believes that the peer-review system works very well as he believes that in order to do science one must be objective and honest. The best way to judge quality and merit is to ask other experts, but with this comes the challenge of not being extra critical due to personal inclination. Despite this, Rick trusts that the scientists involved are fair overall, supporting journals like Physical Review Letters and keeping them as prestigious as they have come to be.
As this is an anonymous job, it is gratifying for Rick to have been recognized by APS as an Outstanding Referee. “It’s an honour system,” Rick said, “you don’t get much back so this recognition is great.”
At TRIUMF we are very proud that Rick has been recognized in such a way. His expertise and knowledge are not only strengthening the research done at TRIUMF, but in the field of science as well. Congratulations!
-- Lindsay Davies, Communications Assistant