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In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with Meghan McDevitt, President of ISMTE and Managing Editor at Origin Editorial, reviewing the 15th anniversary of ISMTE. Meghan recaps the various celebratory activities including this podcast series, EON Throwback Thursdays—featuring articles from past issues, the photo contest and the anniversary time capsule, which will be opened in 2032—10 years from now. She also shares her pathway from member to EON editor to President of ISMTE and how she considers ISMTE her “home office,” where she can connect with like-minded colleagues, learn, and mentor. Meghan also discussed volunteer leadership, which is a great way to become more involved at any level from writing an EON article to joining a committee or the board to becoming a part of executive leadership. Finally, we discussed what comes next and how our past and current corporate sponsors, volunteers, and members have helped us achieve what we have thus far and will surely help us to continue to provide educational resources and improvements in areas such as diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. This year’s global meeting recently wrapped up and the incredible virtual engagement is testimony to the hard work of all those involved in the planning stages plus our members who attended. I’d like to thank everyone who served as a podcast discussant this year and to everyone who has listened, and hopefully learned valuable tools that can be implemented in your professional roles. It’s been a wonderful, celebratory year and, we look forward to many more. Thanks for your continued support and membership in ISMTE!
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with Erin Landis, Managing Director of Origin Editorial and former President of ISMTE. Erin served as Vice President of Publications for the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), and offers insights from her time at the AGA. It’s becoming increasingly common for an association who publishes a single journal to expand their portfolio to include two, three, or even more journals. This is especially true now that open access (OA) is here to stay, and associations are launching OA journals to respond to funder mandates and uncertain revenue conditions for subscription-based journals. Launching a new journal is challenging enough, but what happens when tensions emerge among the editors of a growing portfolio as they vie for submissions, citations, and resources? Erin shares her experience explaining how tensions manifest internally among journals and editors and how vital it is to have clear and strategic direction from leadership. Key considerations include achieving EIC buy-in and ensuring all parties recognize their journals are part of a larger whole, all of whom should be treated equally, even if there is an outlined hierarchy among the journals in terms of metrics such as Impact Factor and “right of first refusal” for submissions. Stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with Gary Spencer, Senior Director of Author Solutions at Wiley Research who has 20 years of digital publishing experience. In this podcast, we discuss Research Exchange (REX), a new product developed by Wiley to improve and augment the author submission process. REX is integrated into ScholarOne Manuscripts and keeps the at the center of the UX, what Gary refers to as the ‘North Star of the publication experience.’ REX uses machine learning to assist authors by extracting and standardizing data, pre-populating fields, and reducing the time it takes to submit a new manuscript. “You had me at one less password to remember,” I commented in this interview. Wiley has rolled out REX for 450 journals. To learn more: https://www.atypon.com/products/atyponrex/
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with Chris Heid who is Group Product Manager at PLOS and a board member of ISMTE. They discuss a high-level overview of Google Analytics and their potential in the editorial office. They talk about using these metrics to better understand a user’s pathway and experience both on journal and society websites but also within submission systems such as ScholarOne Manuscripts and Editorial Manager. Do we know where users struggle the most? Do they tend to quit the submission process from a specifically challenging page? We also need to remain cognizant about GDPR rules and seek legal advice from our publishers, when necessary, particularly around capturing and use data. These analytics offer valuable insights around geography, bounce rates, time on site, and exit pages. Finally, Chris reminds us that Universal Analytics (UA) is being discontinued on July 1, 2023 so users need to upgrade to GA4 before that time. Stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with Dr. Chhavi Chauhan, Director of Scientific Outreach at the American Society for Investigative Pathology and Director of the CME Program at the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. They discuss the diversity tax and its unintentional burden on marginalized individuals. What is the Diversity Tax? Listen along and learn more plus how some could we risk losing a seat at the DEIA (accessibility) table if “we” don’t participate? They also discuss the personal and professional implications of tokenization and BIPOC—Black, Indigenous, and People of Color—in the context of the DEIA conversation. Dr. Chauhan sums it up beautifully by saying the goal is to provide a strong base and a sustainable infrastructure guided by long-standing best practices to improve representation by marginalized individuals. Stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with Terry Materese, Executive Publisher at Oxford University Press, who has more than 30 years of experience in leadership roles within national publishing organizations, growing, adapting, and transforming media companies into strategic multimedia print, electronic, and digital providers. They discuss Clarivate’s version of record modification to how Impact Factor is calculated, how some societies are still providing print as a member benefit however we should reconsider how we curate the print version. They also discussed tips for improving journal websites in the framework of how readers are consuming content, predominantly online, and how we can do a better job of updating homepages to reduce redundancies and prioritize the most important content, particularly above the fold. Finally, they discussed the rise of visual enhancements, such as graphical/visual abstracts that offer readers the quick ability to synthesize and digest full-length articles in seconds on social media and measuring success by digital metrics such as altmetric scores and citation counts. Listen to learn more and stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with Kent Anderson, founder of Caldera Publishing Solutions, “The Geyser,” and The Scholarly Kitchen. They discuss disinformation, misinformation, and disintermediaries and how they differ along with how to know who to trust in science and scholarly publishing. Finally, they discuss unaffiliated journals without a “community” and the influence of fewer (but louder, more well-funded) voices and their impact in our field. Kent posits: Humans are innately flawed, we all have feet of clay, and we can all help each other which is a key takeaway message. Listen to learn more and stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
In this episode Dr. Tracy offers excellent suggestions to keep those working from home full-time healthy both physically and mentally including tips related to the hierarchy of needs such as staying hydrated, making breaks a necessity, and finding ways to have in-person conversations and contact to remediate the potential for loneliness. Has the expectation become that we now all work 24/7 and do we shift gears in between back-to-back video meetings and find time to re-center throughout our workday? Dr. Tracy suggests shortening meetings from 30 min to 20 or 25 just to give ourselves a 5-minute mental break and to remediate feelings of zoom fatigue and feelings of zoom artificiality. What are the long-term effects of this zoom generation? Dr. Tracy says it is likely to be post traumatic growth (vs post-traumatic stress). As we celebrate mental health month, Dr. Tracy reminds us to be considerate and to look for signs among friends and colleagues who may be suffering (often in silence) and who may need encouragement or other forms of help during this challenging time. For more information, please read Dr. Tracy’s article here: Greenberg N, et al. BMJ Mil Health 2020;0:1–3. doi:10.1136/bmjmilitary-2020-001624 Stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats Alice Meadows, the Director of Community Engagement for NISO (National Information Standards Organization) where she’s responsible for engaging with and developing the NISO community. The discussion began with a brief overview about persistent identifiers and their importance and impact in scholarly publishing, and how they are machine readable, persistent, and follow the researcher or author regardless of a job change, a move to a new country, institution, or location, or a name or gender change. Persistent identifiers also help make names ambiguous names more easily recognized and associated with their work. They discussed how ORCID ID launched 10 years ago and now has 12 million users and link to DOIs and CrossRef so connecting research is seamless in many cases and also offers credit for peer review when integrated into systems such as Editorial Manager. Alice said that ideally, all researchers will sign up for ORCID IDs, particularly academic applying for grants as much of the required information is available in the account to streamline the process.
In this episode of the ISMTE Podcast Series, host Phaedra Cress chats with ISMTE founder, Dr. Jason Roberts who is presently the CEO of Origin Editorial in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jason talked about working upstream in the context of the author’s journey. He discussed how editorial office staff can build great brand loyalty by offering white glove service to authors who always remember how they and their work is treated and often return to a journal because of it. He discussed what we can all do to implement some of these ideas such as being available, knowledgeable, and responsive on myriad topics, even if some are outside the typical purview of EO work. Why are we still having the same conversations from 20 years ago with authors about how to write a better paper and how to get their papers published? Tune in to learn more and hear Jason’s fascinating take on working upstream so submissions come in closer to perfect than imperfect and save time and staff resources. Stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
Welcome to the inaugural recording of the brand new ISMTE Podcast Series! We’re launching the Podcast Series as part of ISMTE’s 15th anniversary year-long celebration. Each month the host and a new guest delve into hot topics, innovations, and educational tools we can all learn more about and put into daily practice in our respective roles. The series is hosted by Phaedra Cress, Vice President of ISMTE and Executive Publisher, Journals for Aesthetic Surgery Journal and ASJ Open Forum. In this episode, she speaks with Dianndra Roberts, Co-chair of ISMTE’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Committee and Senior Publishing Coordinator at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Listen as they discuss DEI and scholarly publishing with an emphasis on becoming an advocate, using your privilege to “hold the door open for others,” diversity on speaker panels, using pronouns visibly, and “bringing your whole self to work.” Stay tuned each month for new episodes and we invite you to share this link on social media so our entire publishing community can benefit from the wisdom of each expert discussant.
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6/27/2025ISMTE June Newsletter
Empowering editorial offices around the world
