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STUDENT AND EARLY CAREER PROFESSIONAL UPDATE
Publish, but Skip the “Perish”

Lots of good ideas never get past the “we should…” stage, despite Plus, the attendees benefited from the hard-earned insights of
good intentions all around. But sometimes a few determined people experienced scientist-editors (e.g., “don’t write to be understood,
do succeed in creating something out of an aspirational notion. write so that you cannot be misunderstood,” and “document every
In March 2012, the GSA Publications Committee discussed the change you make”).
question of how GSA could help scientists who are just starting Rónadh and Nancy continue to lead the workshop; they cel-
out navigate the challenge of submitting papers for formal publica- ebrate their tenth appearance this year. Both brought consider-
tion. The aim was to help advance careers, instill good habits able experience, including as GSA science editors, to the job,
regarding publishing, and encourage good citizen-scientists who and they have added to and adjusted the workshop content over
give back through reviewing papers and volunteering as editors. the years. Recently, the workshop has benefited from its location
“What’s Your Problem; What’s Your Point? An Early-Career in the GeoCareers Corner, a hub for energetic programs and
Workshop on Writing Scholarly Papers” debuted at the GSA 2013 networking opportunities.
Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA. Rónadh Cox, John In 2020, the name was updated to “Success in Publishing:
Goodge, and Nancy Riggs volunteered to develop the workshop, Navigating the Process,” and like everything else in our world,
and they convened the first one with a boatload of enthusiasm and it was run via webinar rather than in person for a couple of years.
51 slides. GSA sprang for the breakfast (and later on, the boxed “Success in Publishing” returns to in-person status in 2022,
lunches), and a tradition began. (OK, sometimes the lunches are back in its hometown of Denver. And plans are under way to add
better than at other times—and the number of slides has been advice on how early-career scientists from all backgrounds can
pared down.) The three were joined by Brendan Murphy in 2014 to progress from being authors to being reviewers, associate editors,
help with breakout sessions, a feature the attendees valued highly, editorial board members, and science editors, advancing their
with its chance to talk one-on-one with experienced editors. careers in the process.
Starting out with a pile of research results and turning that into
a concise, interesting paper isn’t easy, and every publisher has
hoops to jump through with manuscript submission systems. Add Success in Publishing: Navigating the Process
to that, responding to reviewer comments can be daunting for a GSA Connects 2022
less-experienced geoscientist. The workshop aims to bring it all Sunday, 9 Oct., 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
within reach, with sections on: GeoCareers Corner, Colorado Convention Center
• how to focus your thoughts and write about one well-developed Room 201/203
idea; Learn more at www.geosociety.org/GSA/Publications/
• how to choose the right journal for your research; GSA/Pubs/WritersResource.aspx.
• how to prepare files for submitting a paper;
• what to expect in the review process and how to effectively (If you can’t make the meeting in person, the presentations
address reviewer comments; and in general, are posted to the GSA website.)
• what to do and what not to do.

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24 GSA TODAY | September 2022