Mary Billingsley, CSE President

The Year in Review: CSE 2021

Happy New Year! I hope the holiday season gave you an opportunity to rest and recharge. As we get into the third week of the year, I want to take this opportunity to recap what 2021 meant for our organization and thank the volunteers and leaders who help to advance our mission.

Highlights:

• Three webinars drew 200+ people, and all were offered complimentary to CSE members thanks to ‎our generous sponsors, PLOS and Nature Portfolio. Many thanks to all our speakers and moderators, ‎and a special thank you to the Education Committee and webinar leadership, Randy Townsend, ‎Jennifer Regala, and Matthew Krecic.
• The 2021 Annual Meeting was fully virtual and provided 443 attendees with quality education. My tremendous thanks to Emma Shumeyko and Brittany Swett for ‎their leadership as 2020-2021 Program Committee co-chairs, as well as to the entire Program ‎Committee, our speakers, and our generous sponsors.‎
• In the 2nd year hosting the Fall Virtual Symposium, we approached planning with a strategic mindset, ‎considering how this event could meet more or different needs than our existing events. The updated ‎format provided a different kind of experience, hands-on learning and direct peer-to-peer ‎engagement, which I found to be so valuable. Special thanks to our 2021-2022 Program Committee ‎co-chairs, Heather Staines and Kelly Hadsell, for their vision and execution of this new and evolving ‎event.‎
• Short Courses remained virtual and provided more in-depth learning. We also launched a brand-new ‎course, the Short Course on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. In total, five courses were offered. Many ‎thanks to Brit Stamey for leading the charge on the short course program, and to the faculty who ‎helped deliver content.‎
• In conjunction with Peer Review Week 2021, we officially launched our monthly podcast series, S.P.E.A.K., Scientific Publishing Exchange Around Knowledge. With five episodes now under our belt, S.P.E.A.K. ‎will continue to be an outlet for us to share and grow professionally. Many thanks to Kiya Myers, ‎Jasmine Wallace, and Carolyn de Court for moving our podcast program forward.
• This year, 5 graduates completed CSE’s publication certificate program, all from our ABEC partnership. Thank ‎you to Morgan Sorenson and the Certificate Program subcommittee for keeping this valuable program ‎moving.
• The Mentorship Program saw an increase in participation and continued supporting mentor-mentee ‎dyads. Thank you to Patty Baskin and Leslie Neistadt for continuing to provide a space for this important ‎initiative.
• The Scholarship Program pivoted to the virtual age with a comprehensive review of benefits. The ‎Membership Committee developed a more robust experience for scholarship recipients that we hope ‎will encourage them to become long-time members. Going virtual also allowed us to honor more ‎applicants, and we awarded six scholarships, up from our traditional three. Thanks to Julia Mudrick ‎and Julie Hinds, who helped lead the 2021 program along with the Membership Committee.‎
• The CSE Connect program offered 9 events and continues to allow for more informal learning and ‎networking around a shared topic. Participation totals come to 375! Many thanks to Karen Stanwood ‎for bringing so much energy to this program.‎
• In 2020, the board approved the creation of a DEI task force to evaluate CSE’s commitment to ‎diversity, equity, and inclusion. It was ultimately determined that the work outlined by the task force ‎warranted the development of a standing committee. The DEI Committee was approved this fall and ‎is recruiting members. I want to thank Melissa Schmidt and Otito Iwuchukwu for their leadership of the ‎task force, and Leonard Jack, who has stepped in to serve as co-chair of the committee alongside ‎Otito.‎
• The board of directors participated in a strategic planning session at the end of 2019 under Dana ‎Compton’s leadership as president. The pandemic and need to rethink so many things forced us to ‎set aside that project to keep operations moving. Last spring, Carissa Gilman prioritized moving ‎forward with the strategic plan, and it was approved by the board in November. The 2022-2025 strategic plan ‎will be used to guide the organization over the next several years, and we’re very excited about the ‎direction we’re taking and the important work ahead.‎
• As we look to grow our contributions to the field of scholarly publishing and our impact on this industry, ‎the board of directors created an industry advisory board (IAB) to help provide insight and guidance on our ‎programs and offerings. Our IAB held its inaugural meeting this past October, and we’re looking ‎forward to having this resource to help guide and refine important aspects of our organization. Many ‎thanks to Tony Alves for chairing our IAB Oversight Committee, Jennifer Deyton for chairing the task ‎force to launch the IAB, and to our Oversight Committee and IAB members.‎
• In addition to putting out four print issues with an accompanying eTOC and a monthly newsletter, ‎Science Editor expanded its reach and is now putting out a Portuguese-translated eTOC after a new ‎issue is released. In partnership with our ABEC colleagues, we’re now reaching an additional 91 ‎science editors. Thank you to Jane Carvalho do Amaral for undertaking the translation efforts.‎

2021 was another highly productive and successful year for us, and I am so thankful to and appreciative of all ‎our amazing volunteers who gave their time and expertise to make it happen.‎

Our goals for 2022 include advancing our strategic plan, hosting another exceptional annual meeting, utilizing ‎the IAB to provide top-level advice to inform decision-making, and more of the frequent, accessible, quality ‎virtual programming you’ve come to expect.‎

I would personally like to express my thanks to the members of CSE’s senior leadership team, immediate Past ‎President Carissa Gilman, President-Elect Jennifer Deyton, and Vice President Shari Leventhal, who have ‎provided support and guidance on a near-daily basis, as well as our board members, Secretary Christina Nelson. Treasurer ‎Glenn Landis, Treasurer-Elect Jasmine Wallace, and Directors Julie Vo, Emilie ‎Gunn, and Brittany Swett, as well as our wonderful and dedicated committee chairs. And my deep appreciation to Executive Director Andrew VanWasshnova and the Kellen team.‎‎

Thank you for being part of the CSE community as we celebrate the accomplishments of 2021 and look ‎forward to the exciting opportunities ahead.‎

Wishing you the very best for 2022!‎

Still Time to Register for a January Event

We’re beginning 2022 strong with the first webinar offering and second short course offering before January is over. See below for those details, and click to learn more and register.

2022 Webinar 1: FORCE11 Software Citation Guidance Update
Thursday, January 27, 2022 | 11:00-12:30 PM ET
FREE to all CSE members | Non-Members: $50
Learn more & register

Short Course on Publication Ethics
Friday, January 28, 2022 | 11:00-4:45 PM ET
Members: $249 | Flex Members: $314 | Non-Members: $349
Learn more & register

Time to Renew Your CSE Membership!

It’s now time to renew your CSE membership! In 2021, we continued to adapt to the uncertainty of our personal and professional environments wrought by the ongoing impacts of the pandemic. But that did not deter our dedicated members who met the added challenges to continue delivering high-quality professional development and educational programming you come to expect.

A full listing of membership levels (individual and group) and their benefits can be viewed here.

Please renew your membership through your member portal. Should you have questions or need support, please contact cse@councilscienceeditors.org.

Call for DEI Policies & Practices Submissions

Has your journal or organization issued a statement about policies and practices related ‎to diversity, ‎equity, and inclusion? Please consider sharing your efforts with our ‎community by completing our DEI Resources Submission Form. And review what’s currently been collected on our resources webpage.

Welcome to the Newest Members of CSE!

Suzanne Flint
Deanna Conners
Marie Thoms
Cindy Salusky
Yuri Jadotte
Michelle McSweeney
Isabelle Breakwell
Keith Laycock

CSE Members Celebrating Anniversaries!

Each month, CSE will recognize its members celebrating a milestone anniversary. We are grateful for your continued involvement in our Council!

5 Years of Membership
Laura Remis

10 Years of Membership
Robert Muratore