A day in the life of a Nature Nano manuscript editor in Tokyo...
Ai Lin Chun
Thursday, 17 April 2008 15:29 UTC
Greetings everyone,
Due to some interest and requests, I’m writing to share with you what happens when I jump out of bed every morning…
I wake up around 730am each day and prepare to go to my office cubicle in Ichigaya. Usually, I’m in the office at about 9am and begin to turn on the computer, fill up my steel mug with some plain warm water from our dispenser and look through my inbox to pick out about 3-4 manuscripts for the day.
I have a 5-10 min chat with our wonderful cleaning lady, Takada-san, in the kitchen. As she speaks only Japanese, I struggle through the conversations but somehow we understand each other and as the days go by, I’m beginning to feel like a pro! In just under 2 years, we’ve become friends. She brings me fruits and ‘senbei’ (Japanese rice crackers) every now and then and so our early morning chats extend to swapping food. At this hour, the office is still empty and therefore peaceful…
I start reading some manuscripts and as the computer starts up, Outlook downloads all the emails…averaging about 20-30 emails per day. Emails come from other editors, authors, referees, kind emails, rude emails, happy and upset emails, enquiries, etc. etc. I respond to them in order of priority…
By 10am, everyone else arrives at the office and it starts to become noisy and delirious. I put on my ear plugs and continue reading the manuscripts.
After reading each manuscript from beginning to end, I write a short report which includes my understanding of the paper and initial feelings about the work. If it is clearly something that we wish to send out for review, I begin my research…
The research includes looking into the databases to see if any similar work has been done before and to fish out suitable referees. This obviously takes a bit of time and care…
Referees are contacted and I proceed with the next manuscript…On average, I process about 3 manuscripts per day apart from all the other things I’m engaged in such as writing Research Highlights, commisioning and editing News & Views articles or front half content for the journal, scheduling to visit labs or attend conferences etc.
Like everyone else, we break for lunch at about 1pm. In Japan, a ‘bento’ (or rice set box) man chimes in at about 10 mins before the hour. Most people purchase these bento boxes and eat at their desks. I’m guilty of this on some days but do try every effort to take a short stroll in the neighbourhood to grab lunch outside…on a fine spring day, I eat with our Marketing/Sales colleagues by the moat or under the cherry blossom trees – a very typical scene in Tokyo.
The search for fine articles continues after lunch…By 6pm, I start to feel burned out for the day and begin to pack and go home.
I scavenge for dinner on my way home. Typically a bowl of udon noodles is what I have for dinner and off I go for a short run. Our jobs are very interesting but also very sedentary. The daily run is to keep me fit for my weekend travels, hikes, cycling and other adventures.
By 10pm or so, I’m back in my home. Work starts again for another 2 hours until I retire at midnight…
On Thursdays, I attend Japanese lessons to learn new grammar and practice speaking in Japanese with my lovely teacher.
It sounds rather routine but the main thing that keeps me ticking is the new manuscripts and the wonderful and exciting work everyone has done. I enjoy reading them and do feel sad some days when we have to return pieces that do not meet our selection criteria.
Living in Japan has been a tough but interesting experience for me. Juggling work while keeping some time for yourself is a challenge in a fast paced society where people work more than 12hr some days…
Updated 07 January 2009 15:04 UTC
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Hi Ai Lin, I just found your post. Very interesting!
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Hi Ian,
Thanks! I’m glad you found it interesting. It’s not always immediately clear how interesting something is until someone else comes along and says so!
Hope all is well with you…
Greetings from Tokyo,
-Ai Lin. -
Yes, this is a great post.
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Hello William,
Thanks! I see you are learning Cantonese…it’s one of the 7 languages and dialects that I can speak and understand. Wish you all the best!
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Thanks for your encouragement on my Cantonese adventure.
This is off-topic, but I’ve got to ask: what are those 7 languages (English, Cantonese…)? Is this usual for a Nature editor, to speak so many? -
Hello William,
Learning Cantonese while living in Australia must be challenging and I do take my hat off to you…
Actually I do not speak 7 languages. I speak a total of 7 languages and dialects. So, it’s not as impressive as it sounds. I consider Cantonese a dialect but others might think otherwise…
While language is not a requirement of a Nature editor (apart from being proficient in English of course), positions based in Asia or other offices where English is not the native language, it is a requirement and/or desirable to have these language skills.
Almost everyone in our Tokyo office is minimally bilingual but most can speak more than 2 languages. This range from Korean, Japanese, Malay, Cantonese, Taiwanese to French, German and Spanish.
It is indeed very enjoyable to be able to speak and understand a number of languages. For example, I’ve been able to translate questions from the audience into English during my seminars. In some cultures where English is not their first language, people tend to be a little shy. Being able to bridge this is very fulfilling for both them and myself.
So, ‘ganbatte ne’ (strive hard and give it your best shot in Japanese) with your Cantonese adventure!
Or ‘Selamat berjaya’ (hope you succeed)!
Or ‘Jia You’ (strive hard)!
Or ‘Man man lei’ (take it slowly and you will master it with time)!and the list goes on…
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Hi Ai Lin,
Having look at your last post, I felt that although you are working very hard, you are enjoying the novelty of the work that you read as well as the interaction with other fellow scientists (other editors, authors, and referees).
Do you feel sometimes that you miss the bench work where all the ‘action’ is happening ?
Do you also think that being an editor in a prestigious journal makes you and your journal responsible for setting the “voice” for the field ?
Best,
Dan -
Hello Dan,
As with everyone else, it is a personal pride to work hard and grow professionally. And this is possible only with support and encouragement from referees, authors and our readers.
Being an editor has its advantages and disadvantages. As you have pointed out, reading is not the same as seeing the ‘action’ at the bench. It was indeed a difficult decision to make but…
I’ve learned other skills on the job. Writing succintly and presenting complex ideas into tangible forms are probably two very important skills for any scientist to acquire. They are not emphasized much during our graduate school career even though we write several reports, publish papers, give several presentations, write into our lab notebooks and write a thesis at the end. Throughout, all the written texts are for our specialist colleagues. Now, being at the receiving end of the manuscripts, it becomes clear what it really means for someone outside the field to pick up the paper, understand it and for ideas/questions to spring out on their own.
The other perk of the job is that we meet people from different fields with different personalities, backgrounds, different thought processes etc., who are always eager to share new knowledge and ideas. I enjoy asking questions and it’s always very exciting to learn new things and see problems from different points of view, which I hope will be useful for other future endeavours. All the ‘soft’ skills like interacting with people have also been interesting to cultivate…
I would not say I miss or do not miss the lab bench because I’ve learned many other things on the job and have discovered many interests and strengths. It has been fulfilling overall…
Our jobs are all about reading and selecting the best papers for publication. I do not see myself as setting the ‘voice’ for the field though we get this comment quite often. I’d like to think we provide a forum for the community and help moderate the discussions. Going to conferences, visiting labs, giving seminars are all part of our engagement with the community.
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Anonymous
Dear Ai Lin,
I’m Navid from Iran. Could you please send me your e-mail?Best Regards
Navidhormozi@sharif.edu
nhormozi@gmail.com
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