From Researcher to Journal Editor
Maria Nowotny
Monday, 22 June 2009 06:40 UTC
Hi,
I am an active researcher in materials science.
During my Phd I was invited to review a scientific paper and found that I really enjoyed the process. Since, then I have been invited to join the Editorial board of a specialised scientific journal and have been a guest reviewer in a number of other journals. I have been enjoying the experience so much that ultimately I would love to become an editor for a journal like Nature.
What qualifications and experience do I need to gain in order to have an edge and be eligable for an editing position with the NPG?
Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
Best wishes
Maria
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Hi Maria,
that fantastic that you know what you’d like to do. Something that came to mind with your question is the Source Event and the Source Event Podcasts. Every year we invite an editor or Nature editor to speak for us and you can find last years talk here: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/sourceevent/podcast.html
The Podcast I have in mind is the one on “Working in Science Publishing” with Simon Franz. Simon used to work for Nature and now works for the Nobel Foundation.
I hope this is useful to you. Good luck!
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Agreed – the very best of luck to you, Maria.
If you want to be an editor at a journal like Nature- for an editor who assesses manuscripts submitted for publication, you need a great c.v. including a PhD and if possible (but not essential) some postdoctoral experience in a good lab. Relevant activity such as peer-reviewing (as you mention) or co-authoring papers is useful. Also writing a blog ;-), or other popular writing, to demonstrate your interest in science can help. Try writing a review article, long or short (eg a “News and Views”), or any other type of scientific writing. Basically, anything you can do to show that you are interested in science research is a good move. -
Thank you so much for your very helpful comments Hildi and Maxine.I feel so much more confident that I may actually be able to have a chance at such an interesting position in Nature!
I am going to look at that link, thank you Hildi thats exactly what I was after. A similar blog I recently tried to access had an expired link :-(
Thanks for the tip about “News and views” Maxine! I have to admit that my publication record does not extend beyond scientific journals (though I am in the process of editing a book – very exciting:). I can actually see it being fun to have a go at a more general scientific opinion piece. Does anyone know what sort of h-index would be expected of someone applying for a position as Editor in Nature (e.g. based on 4-5 years of post doc experience)?Thank you!
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Dear friend,
I am pursuing PhD. And, my work is related to Prostate cancer and MRI techniques.
Well, Maria as you wish; I also want to become guest reviewer of apex journal like Nature.I much like comment of Mr Clarke. I would like to start writing some brief articles in my research area, as he suggested.
I would like to get some comment of Mr Clarke and Others on concerning brief articles!!! I mean how to start, how to publish etc.
Thanking you.Warm regards,
Durgesh Kumar Dwivedi,
AIIMS, New Delhi,
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paying attention and getting your facts straight helps ;)
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Maria, the H index would be irrelevant to your prospects at Nature or a Nature journal. When people apply for jobs at NPG, we look at someone’s actual papers or other output on their c.v., not at metrics (also the H index is a flawed metric, but that’s another issue).
Hildi – good response!
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Here is some advice on how to write a scientific paper, by the way, which carries links to various related services on sites outside nature.com.
There is a very good briefing section at SciDevNet about all aspects of scientific publishing, writing, blogging and so on. -
can’t wait to finish my PhD to apply to a journal…
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Thanks for the great post, Maria, and the wonderful advice, Maxine and Hildi. Hildi, is there likely to be a source event in the US sometime in the future? I would love to attend.
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Hi Caryn,
We do have plans to continue expanding the Source Event to other countries and regions. As you might have seen, this year the event will be held in London and also in Berlin for the first time.
We’d love for scientist all over the world to have access to the Source Event, and have decided that we will also be hosting the London Source Event live on Second Life on our Elucian Islands. You would have access to all the talks, and also get to mingle with other online delegates. Would that be of interest to you?
To not change the topic of this post, I have added a new topic here for any further questions regarding The Source Event: Source Event
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