How to edit

As a trainee representative for one of the pathology societies e.g. RCPath, ACP you may have the opportunity to act as Editor for articles written by trainees for trainees. Here are some tips:

• Confirm your role with the main editorial team: are you simply expected to relay articles to them or is it your responsibility to check the format and content of the article first? Check what the main editorial team expects in terms of articles.
• You will need to ensure that you have enough articles for each edition. Decide well in advance:
  
  
  • what sort of articles you’d like to commission
  • how you will invite the submission of articles (email lists, social media, contacting your peers directly)
  • what incentives you will offer
• Consider having a contingency plan: a reserve of articles (perhaps authored by yourself) that you can use as a stop gap if you don’t receive enough submissions.
• Be clear with authors about what is expected e.g. photo of the author, article format, deadlines. Consider having an example article which you can share with authors.
• Consider ‘touching-base’ with authors a few weeks before the deadline to ensure they are on track.
• Decide in advance what you will do if the article is not of high enough quality or appropriate content.

Record your role as Editor on your CV