Deep South KUH PRIME led its first Manuscript and Networking Editors Review Session (MaNnERS) on Thursday, January 16th prior to the annual KUH PRIME Symposium. This inaugural workshop included 25+ scholars, ranging from undergraduates to early-stage investigators. Four editors with a wide range of experience in publishing manuscripts joined them.
After small group sessions, a panel of Editors assembled to answer several questions posed by audience participants. The editor participants included (pictured left to right) David Pollock, PhD, Function; Heddwen Brooks, PhD, AJP Renal; Alison Kreigel, PhD, Physiological Genomics; Chris England, PhD, APS Journals.
A few key takeaways from the editor’s panel included:
Dr. Heddwen Brooks highlighted the importance and value of publishing, reminding the participants that a published manuscript means you’ve accomplished something, and doing experiments without publishing the results is meaningless. She also reminded participants that the cost associated with publishing helps support their discipline by enabling the work of scientific societies.
Dr. David Pollock commented on the importance of networking with editors and taking the time to understand the journals in your field where you would most want to publish and review. He encouraged participants to enter their biographic information into the journal’s reviewer database to become reviewers and to always suggest reviewers when submitting manuscripts for publication.
Other key takeaways and advice included:
Know the journal that is requesting you to review a paper. Would you publish there? If not, don’t review, your time is precious.
When reviewing:
- The letter to the editor should be clear and to the point
- Think: is there value in this paper, what is the bigger picture?
- Comments to the editor should not be copied and pasted from those to the authors
- Immediately email suspected unethical research to the editor, don’t wait for the letter to the editor.
- Pay attention to and disclose any potential conflict of interest prior to accepting a reviewer position, it can hold up the reviewing/publishing process if this is not managed early.
When reading your manuscript reviews:
- Don’t try to guess the identity of a reviewer
- You can always call and ask the editor for clarity on questions from your reviews – Be respectful
If you are interested in being a journal editor in the future:
- Get on an editorial board for a journal
- Get your name out there and let your network know this is a goal
- Think of future goals for the journal
- Put your name in the hat
If you are interested in future Professional Development Core Manuscript and Grant review training opportunities, check out iSMART for future updates.