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Editorial Fellowship 2016 – An experience

by Ahmed Othman, Albert L. Baert Editorial Fellow 2016

I decided to apply for the Albert L. Baert Editorial Fellowship because of my high interest in academic publishing. My experience with academic publishing was limited to the perspective of an author or a reviewer. As a regular reader, author and reviewer for European Radiology, I was excited to find out about this specific fellowship, since European Radiology as the leading radiology journal in Europe is an excellent example for exceptional academic publishing. Consequently, I felt very honoured when I learned that I had been selected for the Albert L. Baert Editorial Fellowship.

Prior to the actual Fellowship, I was invited to the editorial board meeting at the ECR 2016 in Vienna, Austria, and was heartily welcomed by Prof. Maximilian Reiser, Prof. Albert L. Baert himself and by Dr. Katrin Deininger, the assistant to the Editor in Chief. I was then kindly introduced to the editorial board members and was able to gain first insights during the meeting.

At the beginning of my 2-week stay in Prof. Reiser’s office in Munich between November 7th and November 20th 2016, I was warmly welcomed by Prof. Reiser, Dr. Katrin Deininger and the amazing staff at Prof. Reiser’s office. Dr. Deininger gave me an extensive and informative introduction to the whole editorial process from manuscript submission to the prints. I was then handed a number of key publications on scientific editing including ethical articles on this issue, which I had the opportunity to discuss with Prof. Reiser and with Dr. Deininger. During the following 2 weeks, I had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience by reviewing and editing a number of manuscripts and revisions. I was invited to the daily meetings with Prof. Reiser and Dr. Deininger where they offered me the opportunity to present the reviewed articles, discuss my opinion on those articles and to participate in the editorial decision making.

Furthermore, I had the opportunity to meet Prof. Ertl-Wagner, who gave me an insight into her very interesting work as deputy editor for Radiology.
In addition to the editorial work, I had the opportunity to discuss various aspects regarding scientific work in general with Prof. Reiser and thereby learned from his enormous treasure of experience.

The Albert L. Baert Editorial Fellowship has been an extremely rewarding and highly interesting experience for me, which has turned out be the highlight of my – still early – academic career. Within the last few months following the Editorial Fellowship, I have experienced the great impact of this Fellowship and have deepened my understanding and perspective of academic and scientific work.

Finally, I am very grateful to Prof. Reiser for the mentorship and teaching he provided during and beyond my stay at the editorial office and for the amazing organization and support I received from Dr. Deininger during my stay. The time and effort they put into this fellowship exceeded my expectations. Thus, I definitely recommend the Albert L. Baert Editorial Fellowship without any reservations.

Ahmed Othman