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Guest editorial: An early career editor's perspective on the themed collection

Guest editing the themed collection in Learned Publishing has been an enjoyable, rewarding and eye-opening experience. It has enabled me to have a greater insight and understanding into the demanding role of manuscript handling editors and, in particular, the amount of time and dedication required by this voluntary position. As a journal’s Managing Editor at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and in my previous roles at Taylor & Francis and Oxford University Press, my responsibilities have largely been within the editorial office. As such, my interactions with paper handling editors have been to help ensure that their work is streamlined so they can conduct peer review in a swift and timely manner. Although those who work within journals publishing will have full awareness and understanding of the duties required by paper handling editors, it was not until I experienced it for myself and managed my time between the role and my day job, that I fully understood the intricacies of the peer review and assessment process. As the early career editor (ECE) on the Learned Publishing editorial board, I had previously had the opportunity to assess a handful of papers before joining the guest editorial team. I felt ready and prepared to accept the challenge. Locating suitable, expert and responsive reviewers can be a task in itself. I was fortunate that I did not experience much back and forth in this aspect when handling papers myself, but this can be a disheartening task for editors and time-consuming for them, as well as for authors. Reviewers can be located through a variety of methods, such as by searching in the paper’s cited references, looking for authors online who are working in the paper’s field or through the journal’s suggested reviewers in the reviewer database. Although I used a combination of these methods, as an ECE who is eager to learn and to get the most out of the role, I found myself locating most reviewers outside of the journal’s reviewer database. I searched other publication platforms for articles that were written on similar themes and topics, and I located potential reviewer candidates in these authors. I tried to ensure a good fit between the individual and expertise under discussion. I would encourage other ECEs and paper handling editors to do the same, as doing so enabled me to expand my knowledge of the subject matter and topics in discussion. I found that assessing the review reports and checking whether authors had adequately responded to our comments in their revised submissions to be the most demanding aspects of the guest editor and ECE role. There is a skill in reading other people’s opinions, whilst taking your own into account and eloquently summarizing these for a final decision. As is common with early career researchers, at first, I found that I was attempting to understand the core thrust and focus presented in the manuscripts at the minutiae level, as opposed to viewing the larger picture of the research itself. Experienced paper handling editors will have a greater ability to summarize their thoughts on a topic they are not necessarily an expert in. Although this took some practice and time, I found that my ability to assess review reports and revised papers greatly improved throughout my time as a guest editor, which will stand me in excellent stead for future paper handling opportunities. Learning curves can have their challenges and advantages in any role. In terms of the learning curves experienced by ECEs specifically, Megan Ainsworth accurately summarizes the benefits and challenges of the role in her editorial (Ainsworth, 2019). As an ECE and guest editor of this themed collection, my key takeaway and learning curve from the experience is the importance of communication. Younger researchers can often feel obliged to say yes to every opportunity offered to them, to demonstrate their willingness and ability to learn. Learning to acknowledge your own opinion and voice it, and request flexibility when