Arthritis Care & Research Now Has 2 Editors in Chief

Dr. Daniel White

Dr. White: Kelli and I have known one another for more than 20 years through our volunteer work at the ARP, by attending Convergence, and through some other work we’ve done together. One of her roles as EiC is to think about who is going to take that role next, and I was fortunate enough to get a call from her. When she was talking to me about it, I was very interested, but at the same time, I knew she had this wealth of experience in leading the journal. So I thought, let’s do this together as a team. That would not only manage the workload, but teamwork is emblematic of science in general, where the greatest innovations come through collaboration.

Dr. Allen: The idea of co-EiCs isn’t new to ACR journals, so when the ACR put out its call for applications for the upcoming five-year EiC term for AC&R, Dan and I decided to apply that way. After all, we already had a good collaborative relationship, both with AC&R and outside it, so we thought a co-editorship would be fun.

TR: What will the co-EiC approach look like?

Dr. Allen: This co-leadership role with Dan is more than an opportunity to share the day-to-day handling of manuscripts. It’s also an opportunity to share the vision between two people with different and complementary skill sets and backgrounds, and allow a bit more capacity to do the big-picture thinking, as well as running the mechanics.

Dr. White: There’s a pleasure that comes from being able to take a first look at science that is emerging. It’s very exciting to see a manuscript and think, ‘Wow, this could be the next up-and-coming thing.’ And sometimes, it will be that cut-and-dried in accepting an article for publication or, unfortunately, determining that a manu­script is not ready for prime time yet. But then there are also in-between submissions, where sidebar conversations are necessary to determine whether a manuscript should be accepted … or not. In those cases, it’s much better to have a discussion, make sure we get a decision right and make sure we get it right for the right reasons. Having that shared responsibility in the framework allows us to check with each other and be more confident in the decisions that we make.

TR: Dr. White, you are new to the job of co-EiC. What perspective do you bring to AC&R?