Thread by @biotweeps

I'm somewhat well-known for the #organization system I use to coordinate all of the various projects I'm working on. Here, I present a "how to" and provide a link to a template for anyone who would like to use the system! 1/n #phdlife

With just a glance, I can see the status of each manuscript I am working on and what I need to do to push each along. The spreadsheet is broken down into the main steps in writing and submitting a manuscript / grant application 2/n

The spreadsheet is color-coded. Green are steps that are done. Yellow are steps I am responsible for. Purple are steps others are responsible for. Blue are projects are for manuscripts that are submitted. 3/n

You can see here, this manuscript revision has been lingering FAR too long and it's my fault since the yellow cell means it's my responsibility. I keep track of when each paper is submitted and comes back to helps me prioritize. 4/n

This particular project is in the hands of someone else at the moment. This helps me prompt coauthors when something has been sitting around for awhile. In this case, I don't need to as this co-author is on top of his stuff. 5/n

I also use this spreadsheet to keep track of ideas for projects. Many of these may never pan out, but whenever I speak with someone about a potential project, I dump it in here, just so I don't forget about it. I use this to help plan ahead. 6/n

In addition, I also use this to keep track of all of my publications, just dropping down to a "Completed Projects" section at the bottom of the spreadsheet. 7/n

Since I kept track of the date this manuscript was submitted and revised and resubmitted (and resubmitted), I can see the entire history of this manuscript and how long it took to publish. In this case, it took almost 2 years to get accepted. 8/n

I also use this to track citations for each paper, since both Researchgate and Google Scholar miss citations that the other catches. I find that both underestimate my citation count about ~10-20%. 9/n

I have it set up to automatically calculate my citation count, making it easy for me to update my i10 index, h-index, and citation count on my CV, which I do every two weeks or so. 10/n

This is really flexible and you can certainly adapt it for your needs! The link to download a template below. I am happy to answer any questions you may have! A special shout-out to @CarrieCizauskas for introducing me to the concept! docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

Disregard all of the cat hair on my Zapatistas shirt 😬