A successful editorial fellowship is more than numbers
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this two-way fellowship model to convey is the personal side; the fun, engaging interactions that broaden horizons and improve the publishing landscape for everyone. This “human side” of the fellowship has been powerful. It has seeded key relationships that we will carry for the rest of our careers and has fundamentally shifted how we collectively view scientific publishing, including the roles of editors, publishers, societies, and ECRs in the process. For the Fellows, we have seen first-hand that editors are not antagonists for authors; if anything, they are the authors’ biggest supporters. We Fellows have also gained valuable professional “community” through interactions with our Wiley partners, editors at other journals, authors, and society members. For editors and publishers, the RCEF has provided an eye-opening view into the rich potential for ECRs to influence publishing now since ECRs have a keen sense of urgency surrounding key publishing issues (e.g., the movement towards open, reproducible science). From the EIC perspective, we can summarize our views simply: it has been a privilege and joy to collaborate with editorial Fellows. They give us confidence that the future of scientific publication is in terrific hands.