Getting it All Done With Grace

At the recent ISMTE annual meeting in Pittsburgh, we had the pleasure of presenting a session called “How To Do It All: Practical tips to juggle ethical violations, Open Access mandates, and an evolving publishing world all while keeping your journals going.”

We opened the session by shockingly contradicting the topic, assuring the attendees that you actually CAN’T do it all (at least not on your own). But trust me, this wasn’t a set up. We believe we shared valuable insights that will help guide the attendees through several workplace challenges, and we offered advice we’ve learned along our own journeys (often the hard way). Much of what we discussed was in an effort to impart this advice: Don’t reinvent the wheel. Many have come before you and tons more will come after you. So, if there’s a challenge you can’t solve, look at existing resources and colleagues, and use the tools available to you.

There are so many resources that are easily accessible to all of us in the field (a list is included at the end of the article).  There are websites, publications, blogs, forums, webinars, the list goes on and on. We highlighted a few organizations that are excellent go-to’s. The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) offers myriad flowcharts and guidelines that can assist with ethical and best practice guidance throughout your career. The flowcharts are created as new topics evolve such as artificial intelligence. Our own ISMTE list serve is also an invaluable resource. Accessing the pooled knowledge of your fellow ISMTE members is a great help when you are struggling with a problem you can’t solve or a benchmark you are trying to develop. Who doesn’t like to crowdsource a problem?! ISMTE also has webinars and a podcast series that are all available to its members. WAME is another society that primarily operates via a list serve. We have found it to be more useful during the early career stage. It offers a truly international perspective, with voices and discussion from around the globe. In terms of reading, we highly recommend the EON, Scholarly Kitchen, The Geyser, Journalology, and Retraction Watch.

We also discussed that our roles require us to continuously be learning, exploring, reading, and innovating. It’s crucial to keep tabs on evolving trends and best practices. Whether we’re developing new ideas, sharing knowledge with colleagues, or mentoring early career learners, our growth helps the growth of scholarly publishing.

When we begin a new role, we’re filling the shoes of the person who came before us. While it may feel natural to do what has always been done, you should challenge yourself to ask questions, challenge policies, and bring fresh eyes to different aspects of the position. Whether it’s streamlining processes or improving efficiency, change can be great, not to mention a quick way to show your value and strengths. Don’t be afraid to say “no” or to drop one thing so that you can add another. If we’ve learned one thing during the COVID era, it’s that we’re all being asked to ‘do more with less.’ Although your inclination may be to always say “yes,” it will become unsustainable; something has to give. Let go of outdated or manual processes, use tools and advanced technology to speed up or simplify tasks, and don’t be afraid to drop things if no one knows you are doing them in the first place!  Similarly, if you’re managing multiple journals, mirror the models that are successful, share processes and build a community of sharing with colleagues, especially if you’ve solved a chronic problem others could benefit from implementing.

Next, we discussed Open Access (OA), which is all around us. More frequently than ever, publishers are flipping subscription journals to OA in record numbers. If you haven’t leaned in yet, it may be time. Cascading or using a waterfall process as a feeder for new or OA journals is critical to building up the number of submissions and the profile of an OA journal. Promoting content is easier than ever with various social media outlets and apps such Latr that allow you to post among multiple channels easily. If you haven’t learned much about OA yet, there are tons of resources to help.

What’s ethical and what’s not? In a world so focused on transparency, know what you and your journal stand for and be firm! Do you have an AI policy? Do you know what to do about redundant publication or ‘salami slicing’? How do you handle an angry or threatening author? Create and publish policies so you can point to them in times of urgency, especially when corrections or editor appeals are in play. Ask legal if you need to, we’ve never regretted getting lawyers involved especially on a contentious or complex issue.

Further, we discussed practical, organizational tips including: scheduling shorter meetings (ie, 25 min or 55 min) to allow yourself mini breaks in between calls, start to normalize “cameras off” to reduce anxiety around “being on” for too many hours during your day, take breaks, use your vacation time (trust me, you deserve it!), create a boundary between your house and your office so you’re not tempted to work very long days just because your laptop is close by, and do not feel obligated to reply to every email that comes in “after hours”. Consider adding an auto-responder to your email account such as “If your email has been received after my regular working hours, I will reply as soon as I can the following business day” to reduce your need to work late or the sender’s expectation that you will reply 24/7/365. If you have a job that requires you to work outside of standard business hours, so you literally can’t stay away “after hours,” create routines that allow you to fit your work obligations into your life instead of wrapping your life around work. If you have an evening meeting with your overseas colleagues, take a few hours to go to the gym, run errands, or grab dinner with a friend. Block off time on your calendar to avoid meetings during things that are important to you, so you don’t miss out on things you want to do because of the things you have to do. In this way, you’ll be able to protect your personal time and create work-life balance even if you are not able to control your work hours. 

For those who are early in their publishing careers, we recommend finding a mentor and shadowing them as much as possible. A mentor can make the difference in your success and the speed in which you excel professionally. Identifying someone who will advocate and lobby for you will help empower you in your role and give you the confidence to innovate and network among your colleagues and in unknown circles. Building relationships is a huge part of scholarly publishing both internally and externally. Knowing your manager’s communication style can improve your conversations. Are you talking or writing too much? Do you constantly get three-word replies? Reading the room isn’t always easy, but it is important to learn how to do it. And a word about volunteering: do it! Volunteering can lead to some exciting opportunities, provide valuable experience, and looks great on your CV. Early on, proving that you’re a team player who’s willing to pitch in will pay dividends later.

By mid-career you may find yourself giving back, taking on mentees, and presenting at conferences more and more. Share what you’ve learned along the way just as someone hopefully did for you. Travel! Learning about new cultures and global perspectives is always a good idea. Having the chance to present around the world deepens your speaking skills and ability to network in new ways. Download WhatsApp (it’s all they use overseas). And continue to volunteer. There’s never a point in our careers where it doesn’t feel good to help someone or an organization, and it can lead to something larger (think consulting opportunities, podium time, new jobs, etc.).

By the time you’re senior in your career, you should be helping your staff with every professional development opportunity there is. Help them grow and develop, so they can bring new ideas to their positions and improve journals. Allow staff to have protected time just like an academic to attend webinars, write, read publishing blogs, and more. If you continue to travel, consider learning a new language. Even if you don’t become fluent, so many languages like Spanish and Portuguese are similar enough that you’ll be able to communicate more effectively without fluency.  As we said above, continue to volunteer. ISMTE always has committee positions open and rotates board members and leadership. Get involved and learn something new; challenge yourself and try out something that scares you (there’s no better place to practice than ISMTE).

Finally, during the session, we talked about anxiety, stress, and pain points and how we can overcome them. Is your trigger deadlines, salary, benefits, burnout? Whatever it is, there is a solution. It’s OK to speak up and to say no. It’s OK to ask for a help or salary increase if your workload has tripled. Your best advocate is you and if life gets to a point where it feels out of control, reach out to your people, your co-workers, and talk through what you can change. Having a good work-life balance is a great long-term plan…and it starts right now. Protect yourself by creating balance.

We’re all going through something, and so our parting thoughts are to give yourself grace. Reply to that email tomorrow, take time off, say no to add-on responsibilities if you’re already overwhelmed. Remember, no one dies in publishing! Sometimes, just taking a walk in the middle of your workday can change everything. Be good to yourself and take the space you need to be your best self. There’s no recipe for perfection but who’s perfect anyway? Be your beautiful and wonderful self and let your light shine.

Phaedra and Stephanie are always happy to answer questions and help when they can through mentorship. You can reach out to them here: [email protected] and [email protected]