The Scientific Editor: An Advocate for Transparent Research

Abstract

If you were to ask a room of editors how they landed a career in scholarly publishing, you might hear a common theme: “I fell into it.” Whether by serendipity or design, a career in this field offers opportunities to do meaningful work, acquire new knowledge, and nurture a fondness of the written word. But at the same time, it’s a vast and constantly evolving ecosystem. What new or emerging opportunities exist? Scientific editing, for one! Specifics will vary depending on the journal, but in general the Scientific (also called Science or Technical) Editor’s role is to work with the handling editors to facilitate the publication of high-quality, highly citable manuscripts that are clear, consistent, and transparent. In this article, Jenna Jakubisin and Kristin Inman discuss scientific editing at their respective publications, highlighting its tremendous value to both authors and journals. Instituting a Science Editor Position: How Does Scientific Editing Benefit Journals? Radiology1 is the flagship journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), published regularly in-house since 1923. In a typical year, we receive about 3000 submissions. The scientific editor position was created in 2017, an effort spearheaded by the journal’s editor and approved by RSNA’s board of directors. The initial goals were simple but ambitious: Goal 1: Support the journal’s deputy editors. Technical edits had previously been performed by deputy editors (our busy subject matter experts). The use of a Scientific Editor allows them to focus on scientific content rather than language editing. Goal 2: Help improve […]