INANE Conference: Wednesday PM 8/6/25
Speakers:
- Patricia Normandin, DNP, RN, CEN, CPN, CPEN, FAEN, Journal of Emergency Nursing Associate / Clinical Editor, Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (MGH IHP) Term Lecturer, MGH ED nurse, Tufts CTSI Research Participant Advocate
- Susan Barneson, PhD, RN, APRN-CNS, CEN, CCRN, FAEN, FAHA, FAAN, Professor, UNMC College of Nursing, Journal of Emergency Nursing Associate Editor
Abstract: Associate Editors are welcome to participate in INANE, although most members are Nursing Journal Editors. Some nursing journals may or may not have Associate Editors. The speakers are Associate Journal Editors who have had positive working experiences together. Nursing literature does not provide specific role descriptions for Associate Journal Editors. This lack of clarity prompted the speakers to share their experiences as Nursing Associate Journal Editors. This session highlights the assets that Nursing Associate Journal Editors can offer to Journal Editors.
SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION:
This knowledge session was a participatory session between the speakers and the audience.
Patricia Normandin began the discussion with the following points:
- When she was invited to join INANE, she researched the history of the organization
- She loved the collaborative atmosphere, which is not unlike the associate editor model
- Most people here are nursing editors or associate editors, and if you are really interested in the nursing editor role, it is different depending on the journal.
- In this presentation, they are going to talk about their particular associate editor model but want to learn about others
Then the audience was asked some questions.
The audience was asked: How do you see your role as an editor?
Audience answer:
- Peer reviewers
- Supporting new authors
- Staying true to the mission of the journal
- Leadership, collaboration
- Advocating for the readers
- Staying relevant to the reader, especially when you are choosing articles that won’t be published for months. You really need to stay relevant!
- Nurse influencers, not just within our profession, and the importance of coming outside of nursing and making nursing known and shining the light on nursing.
- Shaping the mission and vision of the journal and holding others accountable.
- If you are a society journal, staying true to your society’s mission and readership/membership
- Making sure that you don’t only care about the journal impact factor but also the clinical practice impact
- Upholding truth
- Help nurses to use their voice. The bedside nurse often doesn’t use their voice. We need to mentor them to write and help them become better writers, and to understand that the purpose of peer review is to make them better.
- Note from Dr. Normandin: Top three things that editors have mentioned when interviewed in the literature are: maintaining scientific integrity/quality, managing the journals, and ethical guidance on what is written.
The audience was asked: What do you think the role of the associate nursing editor is?
Answers:
- They are a resource, especially if there is a question or concern with a manuscript, to bounce ideas off, to get different perspectives, different areas of expertise
- To be a cheerleader for the journal
- To meet other people that the editor might not have met, especially in different parts of the country
- Empowering other nurses
- The “editor” has a lot of administrative tasks to take care of, while the associate editor might not have to do that stuff. In turn, they recruit others to the journal as writers, contributors, etc.
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QUESTION & ANSWER:
Q1: What is the difference between the editorial board and the associate editor?
- Answer: The speakers say that associate editors have prescribed/assigned roles whereas board members might not, and therefore might not be as engaged, especially if they are volunteer positions. Associate editors have more of an investment in the journal.
Q2: I’m exploring changing our editorial structure. However, if the editorial board is not engaged, why not change the board members? Also, as the editor-in-chief, and you have many associate editors, do you do any peer reviews yourself? Or are you only at the decision level?
- Answer: One participant shared that at Research in Nursing in Health, they solicit the peer reviewers as the EIC. The associate editors evaluate the peer reviews, evaluate the paper, and make a recommendation to the EIC.
Q3: How many people have associate editors that receive some sort of compensation?
- Answer: The room was mixed. Some do and some don’t.
- Dr. Valdez mentioned that there is little literature about using an associate editor. In her journal, she has some handling editors. She has one who only looks at statistics, but then she assigns her associate editors papers, and they handle the paper from beginning to end. Then, she considers their feedback. Interestingly, different journals do it differently. Also, any one of her associate editors could step into her role tomorrow if necessary.
Q4: It is hard to get peer reviewers now, especially with the increase in submissions. However, if Kathleen Rice Simpson had been here, she would have said we need to be compensated for our value. So it makes me think of different models, and the business side of things. So, who is getting paid for what in your journal?
- Answer: At Research in Nursing in Health, when she came in as EIC, she got a stipend, and at that time, she had three associate editors. Her associates said that they wanted more editors in exchange for a smaller workload and less compensation. So now they have six associates. The executive editors get a higher stipend than the associate editors. Her, as the EIC, receives the highest. And it works for them.
Comment: We need to continue to value what we do as well as not de-value the work we do!
Comment: One EIC offers a warning. She commented that there are potential threats when you have several people in the role of “associate” and then only one associate becomes EIC when the EIC retires/steps down. If it is a society journal, it can have many negative consequences. In her own experience, when she was asked to become the editor of her journal, she said she wanted to eliminate the lower level of editors. Instead, she wanted a co-editor. And her opinion is that it has worked to the advantage of the journal. The manuscripts are divided between them, and then they have an editorial manager who works for the publisher, and they have monthly meetings with them. And this workflow has worked so well for the journal, so much in terms of getting the work done. They have 300 manuscripts a year!
Comment: Another editor commented that when she became an editor, she wanted a co-editor, and the society said no, that there needs to be an EIC, so one person can be held accountable. However, over the years, it did turn out that one person HAD to be accountable, and the bulk of making sure everything was right depended on ONE person. You can function as co-editors, but she thinks someone with full accountability still needs to be identified.
Comment: Dr. Valdez said that the role of associate editors in succession planning is so important, and it certainly can get complicated if there is competition between them for wanting to be EIC. So she asks them about their inspirations when she hires them. Some don’t even want to be the EIC! In the past, she has recused herself from choosing a successor from her associate editors because they were both qualified.
Comment: Someone else commented that her journal has three executive editors, and two of them divide all the papers that come in. Recently, the third editor had to retire abruptly. Therefore, she had to recruit a very green third editor. She had to pull teeth to find someone. There was certainly no competition!
Q5: What is the difference between an executive editor and an EIC?
- Answer: In one model, one executive editor deals with the first triage role of outright rejection vs. advancing to peer review. The other two executive editors handle the entire peer review-to-acceptance flow. Then the EIC is primarily administrative in function. There is a sizeable responsibility difference between the EIC and the executive editors. But this is only one model.
Q6: What is the honorarium for an associate editor?
- One EIC said her six associate editors get $2000 annually as an honorarium.
Your INANE 2025 reporter is Melissa Anne DuBois, BSN, RNC-OB, PhD Student.
Content for this post was obtained from the INANE 2025 website, the conference guidebook, internet searches, speaker submitted bios, and live reporting from each session. Any errors in content are purely accidental and not intended to offend. If you notice an error you would like corrected, please contact Melissa Anne at melissadubois2 at gmail dot com and she will be happy to make corrections.