Meet the Editor: Nature Communications

From chemical to social sciences

Nature Communications is an open access, multidisciplinary journal dedicated to publishing high-quality research in all areas of the biological, health, physical, chemical, Earth, social, mathematical, applied, and engineering sciences. during this event Senior Editor Luca Danelli and Associate Editor Joanne Clancy will be present to answer all your questions. 

We would like to encourage VUB researchers of all the aforementioned areas to join the plenary sessions of this event. On the other hand, the meet the editor workshop in the afternoon is more specifically targeted at cancer research (or optionally for life sciences).

Discover the programme

The editors will give us insights on the editorial processes of Nature Communications. Furthermore, there are opportunities to discuss your paper or project in the afternoon.

• 09.15-09.45 Registration, welcome coffee and networking, room B009
• 09.45-10.45 Plenary session: publishing in Nature Publishing Group journals and additional insights about Nature Communications, incl. Q&A (no preparation required), auditorium B017
• 10.45-11.00 Coffee break, room B009
• 11.00-11.50 Plenary session: careers in scientific publishing and more insights into the work of professional editors (no preparation required), auditorium B017
• 11.50-12.50 Networking lunch, Atrium/Forum
• 13.30-16.30 Meet the editor workshop (30-45 min per group, preparation required, targeted at cancer research or optionally for life sciences), room A045 or B009

‘How to successfully publish your work’

Aim of the afternoon workshop

If you would like to receive personal feedback on your research project and increase your (future) manuscript's chances of getting published in Nature Communications, then the afternoon session is definitely invaluable to you.

Dr. Luca Danelli and Dr. Joanne Clancy will support and advise small groups of researchers, with current work-in-progress, how to develop and refine their papers with submission to Nature Communications in mind. A second option is to put forward one of your recently published works to the editors to ask input on how it could have been improved to meet the requirements of Nature Communications.

Given their expertise in cancer research (https://www.nature.com/ncomms/editors#cancer), this afternoon session is targeted to cancer researchers (or optionally for life sciences researchers).

Researchers are invited to register in a group of their own choice, consisting of 2 to maximum 15 researchers. This group can consist, e.g., of PhD candidates from the same research group together with a postdoc or ZAP member. Researchers from different research groups collaborating on the same project can also form a group (also external, collaborating researchers are welcome, but should register).

Limited places, submission requirements

Submission of an abstract (of a potential paper) and motivation letter to have a closed meeting with the editors during the afternoon session is required. Both texts can be maximum 250 words and need to be uploaded during registration.

Please keep in mind that the number of selected groups is limited. All submissions will be evaluated. The organization team will timely inform all groups about the acceptance of submission and the allocated time slot.

• All members of the group have to register individually via the registration form.
• One member per group is asked to submit the group's abstract and motivation by the submission deadline of 31 October 2023 via the abstract and motivation submission form.

Prepare and make most of this unique workshop

Upon acceptance of your submission, your group will prepare a short (5-10 minutes maximum) overview presentation of the work you would like to discuss with the editor. Your presentation does not need to be submitted in advance. It is, however, important that you come well prepared to this workshop.

Your work will only be shared with the editor and your team members. The content will remain confidential.

Earn a credit for your PhD Portfolio

PhD candidates who attend the full programme, including an accepted submission for the afternoon workshop, will receive a certificate and earn one credit for their PhD Portfolio. Please add this activity as ‘attended seminar’ in the quadrant of the Domain Specific Skills.

Questions?

Feel free to reach out to isabelle.houbracken@vub.be if you have any questions.