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Several journals have short digest articles highlighting specific research publications. One of the best known examples are the Nature News and Views articles.

They describe these articles like this:

... short, accessible articles focused on one scientific advance independent of the author's own research. They are almost always commissioned by the editors, but suggestions can be made. News and Views articles generally describe a published research report but sometimes take the form of scientific meeting reports. News and Views articles are personal views by specialists in the discipline, and are not usually peer-reviewed. See each journal's guide to authors for more details.

This is common also in other journals, sometimes they're called "Spotlight articles" or "Research highlights". Whether they are peer-reviewed likely differs, but their common ground is that they discuss and highlight a recent paper in the same journal. They always have doi nr and are citeable.

My questions are

  1. In CVs, do people list them under publications, and if not where do they list them?

  2. What about book reviews?

  3. Do people add these type of articles to ResearchGate and Google Scholar?

  4. Do people in general view them as a positive thing for your academic career or a waste of time?

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2 Answers 2

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Articles like this are essentially a form of review article (review articles, likewise, are sometimes peer-reviewed and sometimes not, depending on venue).

Just like other reviews, when they appear in a significant publication venue they can be extremely high-impact. They are part of the scientific dialogue and they get cited, just like other articles. Moreover, even if not peer-reviewed, they are typically by invitation and still with editorial oversight.

As such, I do often see these types of articles listed under publications, on people's publication profiles, and being of value to a person's career.

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  • While they're respected by hiring and tenure committees, they should not be listed with peer reviewed publications. I recommend a separate section of the CV.
    – Corvus
    Sep 1, 2016 at 8:05
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First of all, I wouldn't generally recommend to publish in not peer-reviewed papers, although this is obviously just my personal opinion. If they are counted as publications, this depends on multiple factors, such as your research field, university standards, or the research stage you are in.

  1. In CVs, do people list them under publications, and if not where do they list them?

Publications can be fine, but not peer-reviewed publications is more accurate.

  1. What about book reviews?

No. These are not book reviews.

  1. Do people add these type of articles to ResearchGate and Google Scholar?

It depends. If you are a college student or starting your PhD, yes, it can be better than nothing (or not, depend who you ask). If you are an experienced researcher with a good number of publications, I don't think so, at least, I wouldn't do it.

  1. Do people in general view them as a positive thing for your academic career or a waste of time?

Same argument than before, in my field and my country are generally considered a waste of time, since they are not positively evaluated in any way and they are not peer reviewed, so you will not get any feedback of the quality of your research.

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    Of course, do publish peer-reviewed papers. But the advice to not publish any other material seems dubious to me. The kind of article being discussed here seems like a quick win that would be easy to put together and bring publicity to the author and their work.
    – user24098
    Aug 31, 2016 at 13:21
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    @dan1111 I guess we have different opinions. I think there's enough research out there to copy-paste your own research on different places with slight changes. Unless a meaningful discussion regarding the highlighted paper is done, I don't think these kind of articles bring anything new to the community that worth the effort.
    – FrankS101
    Aug 31, 2016 at 13:42
  • They still mean that you research is relatively high impact.
    – user8001
    Aug 31, 2016 at 14:38
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    While a News and Views piece is not a peer-reviewed publication, writing one for Nature or PNAS or similar is not a waste of your time either. The exposure in a high profile venue is valuable, and you get a chance to steer the discussion around an important paper or topic. They are also often quite community; News and Views pieces in top venues are typically well done and help place work in context.
    – Corvus
    Sep 1, 2016 at 8:04

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