As I approach my one-year anniversary of taking the publication manager position, I remember feeling so overwhelmed by all the information Karen Richardson housed in her brain. She was an amazing teacher and excellent resource, and a genuine bright light. Finally getting to meet her in person at the AASV Annual Meeting was a joy and getting to know her was even more fun – I know a lot of you can relate.
My role with JSHAP can be described as the herder of cats and content guru with a hand in all parts of the journal before it is combined into an issue. As you know, cats have their own agendas, ideas, and minds. My primary role is to make sure we all come to the same goal of moving all the pieces forward and publishing each JSHAP issue on time.
The peer-review process can be seen as a journey for each manuscript. The journey begins when the manuscript comes via a simple email submission to the JSHAP email. After I receive the manuscript, I provide the information to our Executive Editor, Dr Terri O’Sullivan, with whom I meet with weekly to review new submissions, current submissions, and peer reviews. The next step in the manuscript’s journey is the evaluation of the manuscript for review. If the manuscript is accepted for review, I work with the authors to complete the signoff for the prereview copyright. I then contact a lead reviewer to help us navigate the review process and identify who would be a good fit to review the manuscript.
Once the reviewers are identified, I reach out to them and confirm their willingness to assess the manuscript. It can be challenging and time consuming to find reviewers due to their busy schedules and other obligations. Reviewers are then given 3 weeks to review the manuscript. When the reviews are returned, a report is compiled and sent to the lead reviewer. The lead reviewer makes a recommendation on publication of the manuscript and I meet with Dr O’Sullivan again to decide the next step. The manuscript can either be accepted and proceed through the editorial and publication process; sent back to the authors to revise according to the peer-review comments; or the manuscript is rejected.
If the manuscript is accepted, I contact the author with a letter explaining when their manuscript will be published and include the final copyright form to complete and return. The manuscript continues its journey with Associate Editor Sherrie Webb. I also work with our translators who create the French and Spanish translations for the Summary.
For each JSHAP issue, I contact all individuals that are responsible for other sections published in the journal including the editorial messages, news features, and spotlights. My main focus is sending lots of reminders and gentle nudges to move their part forward through the process. I also work directly with the companies that advertise in JSHAP. I reach out to each advertiser to confirm their ad placement in the journal issue and remind them of the submission deadline for receiving their advertisement for inclusion in the issue.
It has been a very wonderful journey of getting to know the process. As I approach the end of my first year as the JSHAP publication manager, I am grateful to be in contact with so many great people and have the opportunity to learn so much.
Rhea Schirm
Publication Manager and Advertising Coodinator