Dr Colleen S Deane, MRC Skills Development Fellow, University of Exeter, UK
It’s a Friday evening in June and – after a long day at work, of course – I’ve just got ready to walk into town for a much-needed dinner and drinks with a friend, and collaborator, who is visiting.
Preparing to leave the house, I swing my bag over my shoulder and out of habit I open and refresh my emails, quickly assessing if any damage control is needed – because let’s be honest, no one is thrilled at the prospect of admin emails on a Friday night.
This is when I notice the email subject, “Senior Editor invitation”.
My immediate thought was “Mistake. Sent to wrong person”.
I eagerly open the email which begins “Dear Colleen…”.
My second thought is “Okay…. this could actually be for me…”.
I start to get excited. I frantically scan and then re-read the email. I put the phone down and relay the email to my friend and see shock in their face. That makes two of us, I think to myself.
What’s the limit?
Since hearing the phrase from a leader in the field, a motto I always try to work by is “what’s the limit?”. This motto is what gives me the motivation to continually challenge myself to see what I am capable of, both in my personal and professional life.
Indeed, working by this is, what I believe, has led me to being invited onto the Experimental Physiology (EP) board, first as a Reviewing Editor and now as a Senior Editor, despite my early career stage.
To provide some context, I remember the first time I peer reviewed a scientific article. It was during my Ph.D., and I was desperate to have a go at navigating the peer review system.
A mentor of mine had been invited to review a manuscript, and as a development opportunity, I was asked if I wanted to review it and provide my thoughts.
I jumped at the chance and gave it my all.
Since then, direct peer review requests started to roll in and I have accepted, and still do, as many as I can provide a thorough and timely review for, therein amassing quite a number of peer reviews (Disclaimer: I haven’t been as thorough at logging them on Publons!).
Indeed, this worked in my favour as some journals consider your peer review metrics (e.g., number of peer reviews, acceptance rate – i.e., how many peer review invitations you accept – etc) when making editorial board decisions. This is the case for EP which was part of my appointment.
Editorial experience
Joining and progressing through the EP editorial board was initially daunting due to intrinsic feelings of inadequacy – you know, just the regular imposter syndrome that many of us feel from time to time.
However, these feelings were needless because EP has a fantastic infrastructure, which supports editors every step of the way.
For example, if I am asked to act as an editor for a manuscript out of my expertise, I can decline.
If I find myself needing advice in an uncommon peer review scenario, for example drastically differing peer reviews which cannot be easily reconciled, I can consult with other members of the board for their opinion.
If statistical clarity is needed, I can seek an opinion from the Statistics Consultant.
For anything else, Society staff are just one call away. While I am still rather new to joining the EP board, I can wholeheartedly say it has been a fantastic experience so far and for anyone that gets the opportunity to join EP, my advice would be to grab the opportunity with both hands!