The editorial process: resident education and participation.

In September 2005, the EAR, NOSE & THROAT JOURNAL editorial board agreed to create a new opportunity for resident education. Two positions on the editorial board were created for residents, each of whom was to serve a two-year term. This plan was introduced in my Editorial in January 2006. We have been pleased with the experience, and this Editorial is written to review our initial concept, reflect upon the early results, consider ways to improve the process, remind residents that the opportunity is available, and encourage other journals to consider adding residents to their editorial boards.

The motivation for this experiment was summarized in my editorial two and a half years ago and will be reiterated here. The advancement of medical science and clinical care depend on publication of valid, relevant papers. Traditional medical school education and residency training incorporate little or no formal instruction in techniques of publication, journal selection, or the editorial process.

The lack of formal training in basic writing skills is a matter of concern. Training in a variety of specific writing techniques should be included as a required component of residency training, but that will be the subject of another editorial. Editorial training is even less common, but it is exceedingly valuable to physicians, even those who may have no interest in serving on an editorial board, because it provides important information that improves an individual's writing and ability to judge the value of published works. Editorial board training includes learning about incisive, analytical reading and critique of literature, but there is a great deal more involved. Editors also need to understand medical ethics, the definitions of duplicate publication (which are not always obvious and which change over time), political and economic issues that may affect publication (and may not always be apparent at the time of the initial reading of a submission), the nature of conflicts of interest and their potential impact upon published results and clinical practice, the complexities involved in standardizing nomenclature, and many other topics of interest and importance to the scientific and clinical evolution of medicine.

Participation on an editorial board gives a resident an opportunity to develop analytical skills, not only by reviewing manuscripts, but also by reading reviews prepared by expert, experienced members of the editorial board. Serving as Editor-in-Chief of JOURNAL OF VOICE and EAR, NOSE & THROAT JOURNAL has provided me with an intriguing education. After more than two decades as an editor, I am still fascinated by the process. I read manuscripts, make judgments, send them out to world-class reviewers, and learn an enormous amount by reading their insights and seeing the manuscript again from a different perspective. Members of the editorial board enjoy a portion of this educational benefit when we "cross reviews" (send reviewers each others' comments on a given manuscript). We do so routinely when there are significant disagreements among the reviewers. Our resident editorial board members review manuscripts that are also reviewed by the usual number of editorial board members, and the resident editors generally are supplied with the comments of all of the other reviewers. This process was designed to let the residents learn what they might have missed.

Our experience over the first two years has been favorable, but we have plans to make it even better. We have increased the number of resident editorial board positions from two to at least four, effective in 2008. The initial reviews by the excellent residents selected for membership on the editorial board have been of high quality, and occasionally they have provided valid insights that augmented the reviews of our regular editorial board members. Starting this year, we will enhance the process by including formal discussion and training at the annual editorial board meeting about the form and components of a good review. This will be provided not only to the resident editors, but also to the established members of our editorial board. We believe that this discourse will not only be educational for the resident members, but that it will also improve the quality and consistency of reviews from the entire editorial board.

Including residents on our editorial board has provided unique and valuable opportunities for the residents to participate in the editorial process, and it has highlighted opportunities to improve editorial board education in general. We believe that including residents will help them in their preparation to become leaders in academic medicine, and we suspect that the information they carry back to their fellow residents will expand the impact of this educational experiment beyond those residents who are actually selected for editorial board membership.

I believe that this experiment has been successful and will become even more successful within the next few years. I would encourage editors of other journals to consider adding resident members to their editorial boards.

This editorial is intended to serve as a call for letters of interest. Residents who wish to be considered for membership on the editorial board should write a letter (one or two pages) stating their interest, why they would like to sit on the editorial board, and their long-term plans. The letter of interest should be accompanied by a letter of recommendation from the resident's department chair and should be sent to Robert T. Sataloff, MD, 1721 Pine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

Robert T. Sataloff, MD, DMA 

Editor-in-Chief

EAR, NOSE & THROAT JOURNAL