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Starting out: Early Career Researchers and Editorial Board membership

Whether you are a researcher currently working on an advanced degree, like a PhD or postdoc, or are only a few years out of your program, Sage offers an abundance of resources and services to support early career researchers (ECRs) throughout this initial stage as you work to establish yourself in your chosen field. If you are interested in serving on a Journal’s Editorial Board but are not sure about the steps involved, this page is a great place to start.

When considering Editorial Board Member applications, journals usually look for the following, and Sage supports you through each of these milestones:

  • Researchers that are well-published and impactful in their field of research
  • Researchers with strong peer-review capability
  • Researchers that explore Guest Editor opportunities

Researchers that are active and engaged in their community (e.g., experience presenting at academic conferences or involvement in professional organizations)

career with Sage

Getting published:

Becoming a well-published author in your area of research is usually a pre-requisite for joining an editorial board. Sage has an abundance of information to support you as an author in the Journal Author Gateway. Here we signpost some specific resources that will help you as you embark on your journey as an author.

Becoming a peer reviewer:

An important step towards gaining the experience required to join an Editorial Board is to become a strong peer reviewer. Advice and guidance on why you should peer-review for Sage and how you can get involved can be found here.

A growing number of journals at Sage are launching Editorial Review Boards, which are sub-sections of the Editorial Board specifically aimed at researchers earlier on in their careers. Joining an Editorial Review Board provides researchers with vital peer-review experience, valuable experience working closely alongside journal Editors and Editorial Boards, as well as recognition and reward for peer review. Editorial Review Board members may also be considered for advancement to the full Editorial Board when these positions become available. More information on the benefits of joining an Editorial Review Board, whether you are eligible to apply, and how you can apply, can be found here.

Mentoring, editorial fellowship or early-career editorial opportunities:

As the Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) states, “Mentorship is an ideal way for professionals at all career levels to develop new relationships, share experiences, and learn from others outside their organizations by connecting with a mentor.” As most researchers who sit on an Editorial Board tend to be further along in their career, many Sage journals offer a variety of mentoring or editorial fellowship opportunities for early-career researchers, as well as junior editorial positions such as Social Media Editor or Editorial Review Board Member, to help ECRs establish themselves. Explore a valuable blog post on the topic of ‘Joining an Early Career Researcher Editorial Board: My Experience’ for a first-hand account of joining an editorial board as an early career researcher.

Networking:

If you are looking to gain a better understanding of what is going on from within or outside of your academic community and are hoping to strengthen your professional network, Sage can help.