Questions on Journal Editing
Susan Yee
Thursday, 19 March 2009 00:40 UTC
Hi,
I’m a senior graduate student thinking about what career path to take after getting my Ph.D. I have a very serious interest in pursuing a career in scientific publishing, specifically as a journal editor. I just found this forum today and I first wanted to say thank you for this great resource. I just had a few questions that I’ve had after reading the posts on this forum.
1. In our lab’s journal club, we find that sometimes papers seem like they lack certain key figures or a figure itself seems not as visibly obvious as one would like it to be. Are editors allowed to make experiment-based suggestions on papers or must they solely leave it up to the peer reviewers? If this is the case, do you as an editor, find it frustrating?
2. After reading the “Day in the Life Of” posts, I was curious whether telecommuting was common among submission editors or whether most people live near the offices in NY or London?
3. It seems as though many if not most editors have done post-doctoral work before moving into editing. Would an application even be considered without any post-doc work or little editorial experience? Would a short post-doc be recommended to gain a breadth of expertise and as a stepping stone toward working at a journal?
Thank you so much for taking the time with these questions!
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Replies
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Hello Susan.
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for asking such interesting questions.1. At Nature, the editors would not make an experimental or technical suggestion directly to an author, but they certainly do ask referees to address specific technical or experiemental concerns that have occurred to them when they read the manuscript. In other words, they would prompt the referees if they had a concern, so that the referees can look at that specific point along with everything else. The editors make editorial decisions, on the basis of the referees’ technical judgement. Of course, papers at Nature go through at least two rounds of peer-review and revision before being accepted, often three or occasionally more. You can read more details in the “decisions and revisions” section of our website getting published in a Nature journal .
2. Telecommunting is rare among the editors, though some of them are based in our San Francisco, Washington DC and Boston offices, as well as in our London and NY offices. Some editors work from home for one or perhaps two days a week, by arrangement. But the great majority work in a Nature office, full time.
3. Many, but not all, of the mansucript handling editors have done postdoctoral research before joining the staff of a Nature journal. However, there are plenty of other editorial roles that do not require postdoctoral experience, for example commissioning editors and sub/copy editors. When we advertise positions, we always state in the advertisement the essential qualifications and the preferred qualifications.
I hope these responses are helpful.
Best wishes
Maxine.
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