Bluetorial-A dream and a bit of a nightmare Serving as Editor-in-Chief at Science was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed working with talented and committed editorial, news, graphics, and production staff. But the inside look into scientific publishing and AAAS was also deeply disillusioning. - ThreadSky

jeremymberg.bsky.social • 36 days ago

Bluetorial-A dream and a bit of a nightmare

Serving as Editor-in-Chief at Science was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed working with talented and committed editorial, news, graphics, and production staff. But the inside look into scientific publishing and AAAS was also deeply disillusioning.

Comments

tonnomartinez.bsky.social•36 days ago

📌

molloy.bsky.social•36 days ago

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tonnomartinez.bsky.social•35 days ago

Thanks for the tip! 😃

jeremymberg.bsky.social•36 days ago

Near the beginning of 2016, I received an inquiry from a search firm asking if I would be interested in being considered for the role of Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of Science magazine. Science is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) located in Washington, DC.

2/n

jeremymberg.bsky.social•36 days ago

We had moved from the Baltimore-DC area to Pittsburgh in 2013 and I had not imagined going back to that area as we were increasingly well-settled in Pittsburgh. But this seemed to me to be an opportunity that I could dismiss without looking into it further. I agreed to put my name into the hat.

3/n

jeremymberg.bsky.social•36 days ago

I had some interviews with folks from the search firm and then a visit from the AAAS CEO, former Congressman Rush Holt, and a member of the search committee. We had a nice lunch together and I learned a bit about AAAS plans for new journals.

4/n

jeremymberg.bsky.social•36 days ago

It must have gone well enough from their perspective as I was invited to DC to meet with the search committee. I drove to DC and stayed close to the Metro so that I could easily get to the search firm’s office. The search committee was a fairly imposing group, chaired by Gerry Fink from MIT.

5/n

jeremymberg.bsky.social•36 days ago

The interview was wide-ranging covering topics around science and science policy, publishing and editorial practices. I was even asked how many Twitter followers I had. As I walked out, the search firm representative said that she thought I had done well.

6/n

jeremymberg.bsky.social•36 days ago

I drove back to Pittsburgh, not knowing what to expect in terms of outcome or timing. That evening, I was surprised to get a call from Rush Holt indicating that I was their top choice and that things would move forward, pending reference checks and approval of the AAAS Board.

7/n

hansonmark.bsky.social•34 days ago

Thanks for the great thread. Really sober and illuminating.

danielgorelick.bsky.social•35 days ago

As a PI and editor in chief of @biologyopen.bsky.social I found this fascinating, thank you for posting. Makes me grateful for the board and staff at @biologists.bsky.social, a phenomenal non-profit publisher that continues to inspire me.

niamhtumelty.bsky.social•33 days ago

Thank you for sharing your experience. It sounds like your values were quite different to those of AAAS, it must have been incredibly frustrating

jeremymberg.bsky.social•33 days ago

Our values were aligned in many ways, but AAAS had become addicted to the ample revenue coming in from Science and needed to adjust to the loss as ad revenue fell. They tried various things but, in the end, were willing to take steps that I found objectionable rather than alternatives.

niamhtumelty.bsky.social•33 days ago

That's very interesting

selfdz.bsky.social•36 days ago

📌

marcstrous.bsky.social•35 days ago

Very insightful read, can recommend, thanks!

greenrat.bsky.social•35 days ago

📌 love these

prasad.bsky.social•35 days ago

Jeremy is a treasure

amypalmerzinc.bsky.social•35 days ago

Thanks for the post. Quite illuminating.

thenewnucleus.bsky.social•27 days ago

It seems like a social media model for scientific publishing could be a good idea. People have gotten used to pre-prints. Just posting results and experts liking/sharing/commenting/referencing can probably serve as a better peer review. h-index could be replaced by much better metrics.