Carissa Gilman: Taking the Reins During Uncertain Times

Abstract

This isn’t how Carissa Gilman thought her year as President of the CSE would start. But here we are, almost half a year into a global pandemic that has pushed everything into a constant state of flux and uncertainty. As a scientific publishing veteran, having worked for both authors and editors, and now as Managing Editor of the American Cancer Society’s journal Cancer, she’s seen many changes to the publishing landscape, so I thought it would be a good time to talk with her about her experiences, CSE in particular. In early July, I spoke with Carissa about her life in publishing, her love of horses and dogs, and the challenges and opportunities ahead for CSE and scientific publishing. Science Editor: How did you get involved in science editing and production? Carissa Gilman: I got my degree in English, and when I got out of college, I was just looking for any job where I could use my degree that was not teaching. I was looking in the newspaper (that’s how long ago it was) for any job that I thought applied. There was an editorial assistant position and I just saw the word “editorial” and zeroed in on it. It was at a nonprofit health services research organization, so I started my career in scholarly publishing as an author’s editor. I helped researchers prepare and submit their papers to journals and, like a lot of nonprofits, it had some funding issues: I saw the writing on the wall […]