Editorial Coordinator, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, and what did you study? Where are you currently based?
I’m from Boston, MA, and I currently live in Washington, DC. Before moving to DC, I attended McGill University in Montreal, QC, where I majored in History and double-minored in Gender, Sexuality, Feminist, and Social Justice Studies and Hispanic Studies. While at McGill, I served as an Associate Editor and then a Senior Editor for Historical Discourses, the university’s student-run history journal. After graduating in June 2021, I moved to DC and began working at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) as an Editorial Assistant. In July 2022, I was promoted to Editorial Coordinator, which is the position I currently hold. I am also a 2024 SSP Early Career Fellow, and I’m looking forward to attending this year’s annual meeting for the first time!
Describe your current role and organization. What are your main responsibilities? What type of organization do you work for?
PNAS is a widely-cited, high-impact, multidisciplinary scientific journal from the National Academy of Sciences that publishes original research from experts around the world. As an Editorial Coordinator, I facilitate the peer review process by liaising with authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the PNAS Editorial Board. I perform quality checks, contact potential reviewers and editors, and draft and send decision letters to ensure that manuscripts move through the phases of peer review in a timely and well-organized manner.
Share your journey in scholarly publishing. What was your first role in this field, and how did you land it? What path led you to your current position? What unexpected challenges have you faced?
My path to my current role, and scholarly communications in general, was not necessarily an intentional one, but looking back, it seems to make perfect sense. I originally planned to study Math when I started university, but I realized after my first year that it wasn’t the best fit for me, and I pivoted to History instead. I applied for a position with Historical Discourses at the beginning of my junior year after hearing about the journal from one of my favorite professors. I loved the collaborative atmosphere and drive to publish the best student-written pieces, even as our second semester was interrupted by the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and we had to quickly reorganize to publish that year’s edition. In my senior year, I returned to the journal as a Senior Editor and helped hire the newest round of Associate Editors in addition to selecting essays for publication. I loved reading the hundreds of submissions we received, even the ones we didn’t select for further consideration, and I enjoyed working directly with authors and my team of Associate Editors to review and revise pieces that would eventually be published.
With those positive experiences at Historical Discourses in the back of my mind, upon graduating, I searched for a job in scholarly publishing and ended up applying for and securing an Editorial Assistant position at PNAS a few months later. Again, I appreciated the collaborative environment, as well as the opportunity to work with colleagues with diverse backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives. At PNAS, I have flourished as an early-career professional, being promoted to Editorial Coordinator after ten months and then being nominated for and winning a staff award later that year.
What advice would you give to aspiring professionals in scholarly communications?
I would tell anyone interested in a career in scholarly communications to first examine what specific aspects of scholarly communications interest them and then ask what they are looking for in a career. There are so many different sectors to explore within the scholarly communications industry, from editorial to publishing to marketing to libraries and more; they should pinpoint the potential area(s) they may be interested in and research organizations that align with their career goals and expectations. Once they have their first scholarly communications job, I would encourage them to immerse themself in it and explore! Take advantage of the many opportunities, both internal and external to their organization, by applying for a fellowship, attending a conference, joining an Employee Resource Group, finding a mentor, and generally getting the most out of their position. Finally, they should remember that careers may not be (and generally aren’t!) linear – they may decide to pivot to a different facet of scholarly communications to explore a new interest after a few years, or they may move around within the same organization for decades, but they shouldn’t be afraid to try something new.
Career Stage: Early Career
Industry Area: Editorial
