APA offers support for those who aspire to edit journals

By Rebecca Clay

Without her mentor?s emotional support, Lillian Comas-Diaz, PhD, might not have survived rewriting her first journal submission more than a dozen times.

'Breaking into the publishing club is like going to a foreign country,' says Comas-Diaz, who went on to become editor of the journal Cultural Diversity and Mental Health and a private practitioner in Washington, D.C. 'You go in not knowing the language or the written and unwritten rules.'

Comas-Diaz is one of the lucky ones, says Susan Knapp, director of publications for APA?s Journals Programs. Informal support from mentors can help younger psychologists cope with the often-grueling process of getting published, the first step in an editorial process that can ultimately lead to an editorship. But many young researchers simply give up when an editor demands revisions, she says.

'There?s nobody to help them interpret the process, encourage them to persevere and learn that one dead end does not mean the end of the line,' she says, explaining that overworked professors just aren?t giving students the help they need any more.

Fortunately, says Knapp, APA offers a lot of support to people who want to start getting involved in the editorial process. The APA Publications and Communications Board sponsors how-to-publish-your-manuscript workshops at regional meetings and at APA?s Annual Convention, for instance.

And each spring APA?s Journals Program issues an open call for curriculum vitae from members of underrepresented groups interested in ad hoc reviewing. The open call, which is advertised in the Monitor as well as the journals themselves, allows the Journals Program to link would-be reviewers with journal editors. Surprisingly few people take advantage of this opportunity to break in to the editorial process, says Knapp, speculating that well-qualified women and ethnic minorities may already be overbooked.

APA keeps the support coming even after people become editors. The association provides both honoraria and funding for support services during editors? six-year terms, says Knapp, noting that the amount of support APA offers compares favorably with other associations and commercial publications.

Of course, she adds, some editorial candidates feel they should be getting the same level of compensation and support as the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. Unrealistic expectations like these may keep some people from getting involved in the editorial process, she believes.

CWP has a simpler explanation.

'We think a lot of people just don?t know what the benefits might be of taking an editorial position,' says CWP member Martha E. Banks, PhD. 'They may not know about the honoraria and the funding for support services. And they may not think about the fact that editors have the privilege of shaping the literature in a specific area.'