What's a day in the life of a scientific journal editor like? In an interview with ScienceCareers, Trientje shares insights into her day-to-day work and offers tips on how to break into academic publishing.
Katrien Janin always enjoyed doing hands-on research. “Put me in a basement of the museum and with loads and loads of boxes of remains or fossils and I am extremely happy,” says Janin, who completed her Ph.D. in biological anthropology in July 2021.
So, when it came time to find a job after her Ph.D., it felt like “a natural extension” to look for open-access opportunities within the academic publishing world, Janin says. Today, as an associate editor at, Janin has found an ideal match for her career interests and personality. “I never had any need or want for being a scientific rockstar kind of thing,” says Janin, who describes herself as more of an introvert.
Once it has passed these initial checks, the manuscript goes to the next stage where we identify an academic editor whose expertise matches the specific subject matter. The academic editor then invites reviewers and eventually issues the first decision to accept, request revisions, or reject the manuscript, and we support them as necessary.