Sompop Bencharit, Freelance Prosthodontist, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Who Is Training the Next Generation of Journal Editors and Reviewers?
I learned how to write, prepare, and submit manuscripts from my PhD mentors, postdoc mentors, and later from generous collaborators. But no one really trained me how to review a manuscript. No one trained me how to edit a journal.
I learned it on my own — through trial, error, long nights, and difficult decisions. Looking back, I often think about what I wish someone had formally taught me:
- How to spot a truly good manuscript versus one that is merely well-written
- How to distinguish between fatal flaws and fixable weaknesses
- How to decide: revise… or reject?
- When is a piece of work good enough to be accepted?
- How to balance rigor with fairness
- How to protect standards without discouraging innovation
Peer review and editorial judgment are not mechanical tasks. They are intellectual responsibilities. They shape careers. They shape science. They shape the direction of knowledge. And yet — we rarely train people to do them.
My pearls for young academicians
- Find a mentor
- Ask a journal editor if they would be willing to mentor you
- Read widely — not just for content, but for structure and argument
- Write reflections on what you read
- Learn to spot strong and weak manuscripts with guidance
- Critically evaluate everything — with a skeptical but open mind
Reviewing and editing are crafts. They require discernment, courage, humility, and vision. If we do not intentionally train the next generation of reviewers and editors, AI will increasingly take over this space — and we may eventually be left with sterile, homogeneous published works.
Human judgment matters.
Nuance matters.
Mentorship matters.
Let us train our successors — thoughtfully and intentionally. Because the future of scholarship depends on it.”
Vun-Sin Lim, Managing Editor of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, shared this post, adding:
“A must-read. This is why we do what we do. To quote the author of the post: ‘Human judgement matters; nuance matters; mentorship matters.’
For those in the thoracic oncology field interested in being trained as a reviewer, please consider joining us at the IASLC Reviewer Workshop. Applications close on April 1.”
More posts featuring Vun-Sin Lim on OncoDaily.