Behind the Veil of Journal Editing

Editors’ Vox is a blog from AGU’s Publications Department that aims to shed light on the often mysterious editorial process of peer-reviewed scientific journals. Peer review, though essential, remains a complex and frequently misunderstood aspect of scientific publishing. Many early career researchers grapple with understanding how editorial decisions are made and the broader perspective of an editor.

To address this gap, the Early Career Editorial Fellows (ECEF) program was launched in 2024 for the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (JGR: Biogeosciences) and GeoHealth.

This program provides early-career researchers with hands-on editorial experience, mentorship, and exposure to the decision-making process. Fellows learn to evaluate research outside their areas of expertise, contribute to the broader scientific community, and develop essential skills for becoming capable reviewers and future editors. The first cohort to complete the program in JGR: Biogeosciences shared their experiences in the hope of encouraging more AGU journal editorial boards to offer similar opportunities.

During their two-year journey, the fellows underwent a transformative learning process, going from being reviewers, familiarizing themselves with the editorial process under mentorship, to associate editors who handled manuscripts from start to finish. Reviewer recruitment proved to be the most time-consuming aspect, requiring the balancing of topical expertise, career stage, geographic and gender diversity, and avoiding conflicts of interest.

Synthesizing feedback and issuing editorial recommendations was the most mentally demanding task, often requiring the fellows to conduct an independent review of the manuscript, particularly when dealing with topics outside their own expertise.

The ECEF program also offered opportunities for networking with scientists from various fields and within the broader AGU journals community. This included attending AGU Annual Meeting events, such as the Editors’ Dinner, which provided a unique platform to connect with editors from other AGU journals and strengthen the AGU journals community.

Additionally, the program fostered mentorship relationships with experienced editors, allowing the fellows to expand their skills in reviewing, evaluating reviews, and making editorial recommendations. This experience fundamentally changed how the fellows approach manuscript reviews, paper writing, and interactions with journals, emphasizing that the most valuable reviews focus on a manuscript's overall scientific contribution, key strengths and weaknesses, and constructive suggestions for improvement.