Workshop A: Developing Young and Established Journals – Management Planning

“This workshop is endorsed by the European Association of Science Editors (EASE)”

Objective

By the end of this workshop editors should have an outline plan for developing their journal to increase visibility, quality and impact.

Target Audience
This workshop is aimed at editors already experienced in managing their journal (whether a recently-launched journal or a well-established one). This is a high level workshop aimed at editors who are able to propose development plans for their own journal.

This workshop is highly interactive and requires participants to contribute to discussions and work on their own development plans. Some participants may find it helpful to attend with a colleague to facilitate development of a useful plan for their own journal.

Prerequisites
Participants should have at least 12 month’s experience of editing a journal and be sufficiently knowledgeable of the working of their journal to develop a development plan.

Duration
1 Day

Outline Programme
1. Defining your objectives
– Aims and scope
– Resources
– Goals and vision
2. Getting the basics right – meeting international standards
– Peer review
– Ethics
– Author guidelines
– Presentation and publication
– Conforming to international publishing initiatives (e.g. archiving)
3. Building a plan
– Objectives, goals, activities

Workshop B: Managing Quality – Supporting Authors and Peer Review

B-1: Managing Quality Control – Peer Review

“This workshop is endorsed by the European Association of Science Editors (EASE)”

Objective

By the end of this workshop participants will understand how to optimize peer review to achieve effective quality control of scholarly publications. Editors will be able to select and implement the right system for their publications to ensure high quality and minimize problems. Reviewers will understand the process and how to ensure their contributions meet the needs of editors. Authors will understand what happens to their manuscripts after submission.

Target Audience
The main target for this workshop are journal editors who manage peer review of submissions to their journal. The workshop will also provide reviewers and authors with insights into the peer review system and ensure that they maximize their participation and minimize the problems.

Prerequisites
Participants should have an understanding of scholarly publishing and peer review, but no in-depth understand is required.

Duration
1 Day

Outline Programme
1. Peer review systems
– Different peer review methods
– What should (and what need not) be reviewed
– Finding and selecting reviewers
– Ethical issues associated with peer review
2. Supporting reviewers
– Guidelines, advice
– Communication, expectations
– Rewarding reviewers
3. Administration
– Standard letters and instructions
– Record keeping
– Timings, feedback
4. Using reviewers and reviewer reports
– How to use reviewer reports
– Making a publication decision
– Understanding the limitations of review
– Making the best use of the community of reviewers

B-2: Getting the Best Content – Working with Authors

“This workshop is endorsed by the European Association of Science Editors (EASE)”

Objective
By the end of this workshop editors should be more confident in using strategies to improve the quality of content submitted to, and published by, their journal.

Target Audience
This workshop will be ideal for both novice and experienced editors. Those experienced in editing will be able to re-evaluate their current strategies for dealing with authors, and learn new tricks for improving the quality of submissions. New editors will learn how and why they need to support authors. Authors may also find the workshop of use as they will learn what editors are looking for, and how to improve their articles in their chance of successful publication.

Prerequisites
Participants should be familiar with the scholarly publication process.

Duration
1 Day

Outline Programme
1. Types of content, what to publish to raise impact and interest
– Original research, review articles, editorials, case studies, opinions, book reviews, etc.
– Themed issues
2. Commissioning content – good practice
– Finding content and authors
– Networking, networking, networking
– To review or not to review
3. Author instructions and guidance
– What makes a good article
– What guidance to provide to authors
– Supporting new authors
– Anticipating and avoiding problems
4. Good practice
– Administration, communication, timing
– Online submission systems
– Record keeping and reporting
– Making the best of the community of authors