Why does it always rain on me? Academics forecast their day

People have, on occasion, asked how a particular hashtag came about. I have often wondered the same of others’ hashtag creations (#PhDAsExistentialCrucible anyone?) but usually struggle to remember what the thinking was behind my own. The latest, #AcademicForecast, is easily explained.

I started out today by trying to tackle some ‘minor revisions’ on a paper. About an hour into this process, I started to ponder, as I’m sure many of you have, why supposedly minor revisions take so long? Admittedly some of the reviewer’s comments were indeed minor and swiftly dealt with (I had failed to capitalize the word ‘Tuna’, perish the thought). Others, seemingly innocuous, are probably going to take a few hours to tick off the list.

I didn’t much fancy doing the big changes at that moment so I headed to Twitter to procrastinate. I’ve been seeing an unusually high level of pedantry on Twitter lately, and today was no different. Slightly deflated by the fact that my options for the day seemed to be pedantry from Reviewer B (I assume it was Reviewer B, it usually is) or pedantry on twitter, I wrote the following:

#AcademicForecast: 90% chance of pedantry on Twitter, otherwise acceptable with minor revisions.

— Academia Obscura (@AcademiaObscura) April 27, 2015

I quite liked the idea of an academic day being summed up by a slightly sarcastic weather forecast, and figured that others may wish to join me:

What’s your #AcademicForecast for the day? Tweet your day as a weather forecast! pic.twitter.com/PhY17Jh4Ng — Academia Obscura (@AcademiaObscura) April 27, 2015

As usual, the academic twittersphere did not disappoint! A hundred or so tweets came in; here are a few of my favorites:

Outlook uncertain. Copyright handed over to publisher, peer review highly likely, acceptance rate 26%. Rejection expected. #AcademicForecast — Graham Steel (@McDawg) April 27, 2015

@AcademiaObscura #academicforecast gloriously sunny outside, locally, less promising forecast of half-finished coffee & half-finished papers

— Harry T Dyer (@HarryTDyer) April 27, 2015

.@AcademiaObscura #AcademicForecast Strong, gusty modelling until 13:00, followed by brief exposure to daylight, then heavy spreadsheets. — Dr Mike Whitfield (@mgwhitfield) April 27, 2015

Heavy writing today through Thursday, with manuscript page count rising to 28 pages on Thursday #AcademicForecast — Sylvain Deville (@DevilleSy) April 27, 2015

#AcademicForecast: High pressure moving in from uni administration. Cold front coming from student body. 10% chance of tenure. — Bilby Summerhill (@BilbySummerhill) April 27, 2015

@AcademiaObscura #AcademicForecast 90% chance of bluster during faculty meeting. Productivity index today is 64.

— Beaker Ben (@Beaker_Ben) April 27, 2015

@AcademiaObscura #AcademicForecast Heavy morning fog, lifting as caffeine levels increase. High chance of distraction with possible tweeting — Grouchy Grad (@GrouchyGrad) April 27, 2015

#AcademicForecast 100% chance of manuscript acceptance!! #ForecastsAreAlwaysWrong — Proc Nat Inst Sci (@pnis_co) April 27, 2015

The grant “dry spell” is now officially a drought. Faculty petitioning @ass_deans for emergency funding. #AcademicForecast — Grumpy Reviewer (@GrumpyJReviewer) April 27, 2015

#AcademicForecast Patchy imposter syndrome, followed by squally conference paper. Moderate becoming good.

— Dr Stephen Etheridge (@DrGtrombone) April 27, 2015

Conference forming on Hawaii’s big island. Outlook good for PI’s mood. 100% chance of email delays. #AcademicForecast — Andrew Davis (@weemadandrew) April 27, 2015

Heavy showers of rain after the manuscript is rejected; freezing rain till resubmission #AcademicForecast @AcademiaObscura

— blue_and_black (@blue_and_black1) April 27, 2015

Grades will continue to steadily decline next week, until the arrival of a low pressure system lasting into early June. #AcademicForecast

— Professor Jaded (@ProfessorJaded) April 27, 2015

#AcademicForecast @academiaobscura Cloudy til grading fog lifts later today. Strong chance of email showers, red wine, & Mad Men overnight.

— Karen Zgoda (@karenzgoda) April 27, 2015

Even grammar got involved:

#AcademicForecast: Reading, writing, and copious use of the Oxford comma. — Oxford Comma (@IAmOxfordComma) April 27, 2015

And, as usual, a good time was had by all :)

Loving the #AcademicForecast tweets!! — Fiona Noble (@FionaFNoble) April 27, 2015

This morning, the #AcademicForecast tweets via @AcademiaObscura are so sadly funny.

— PotsieLibrarian (@PotsieLibrarian) April 27, 2015