Case Studies and Testimonials

Working in partnership with the open access journal eLife, Jane has put together a series of workshops on peer review that target early career researchers who are taking their first steps as reviewers. A key aim of these workshops is to improve the culture and practice of peer review and to equip workshop participants with an understanding of how peer review works and to develop and strengthen their skills as reviewers. Jane works in partnership with members of the academic editorial community in delivering these interactive workshops, to ensure that participants receive training on the many different aspects of peer review, ranging from ethical conduct in peer review to understanding how to review a research article in different peer review systems, and how to gain credit for peer review.

Professor Maddy Parsons, Professor of Cell Biology at King's College London, says about these workshops

"As an extremely experienced Editor, Jane has recognised that early career researchers really need to be guided through the complexities of peer reviewing to ensure they are able to shape the future of their fields in an informed and responsible way. Jane has crafted a fantastic series of workshops to provide practical advice on every aspect of peer reviewing and awareness of the different models, potential caveats and benefits that peer review has to offer. Having partnered with Jane in a number of these workshops, I have first hand experience of her excellent attention to detail, breadth of knowledge, and careful planning, which ultimately deliver interesting, engaging and interactive sessions for researchers from a range of different backgrounds. The feedback received from the attendees is always excellent and this is testament to Janes' dedication, enthusiasm and passion for this subject. I have no doubt that her work is helping to enhance the quality of future scientific peer review. I have personally learned a lot from Jane and really look forward to working with her again in the future!"

Jane provides training workshops on peer review to early career researchers at The Francis Crick Institute. A key aim of these workshops is to improve the culture and practice of peer review and to equip workshop participants with an understanding of how peer review works and to develop and strengthen their skills as reviewers. Jane works in partnership with group leaders at the Institute in delivering these interactive workshops, to ensure that participants receive training on the many different aspects of peer review.

A postdoctoral researcher who attended a peer review workshop in May 2018 said

"The workshop was great  - the most enjoyable and practically useful course done at the Crick thus far."

The open access journal eLife approached Jane Alfred with the idea for a series of feature articles on the natural history of model organisms. Jane worked closely with eLife senior editor, Professor Ian Baldwin, and with eLife features editor, Dr Peter Rodgers, in identifying potential authors for this series. Working in close communication with these Editors, Jane commissioned the articles for this series, and was responsible for developmentally editing them, handling them through peer review and for drafting editorial decisions. The article series was published in March 2015, together with an Introductory article co-authored by Ian and Jane.

Ian Baldwin, eLife senior editor, says:

"It was simply a pleasure working with Jane on the Natural History of Model Organisms project. Jane is a biologist’s dream of an editor. She quickly grasps the scientific complexity of an issue and finds ways of guiding authors past the obstacles of their own jargon and down a logical explanatory path that illuminates the complexity in a comprehensible manner. And she does it in a non-obtrusive manner that makes authors feel as if they found this path all on their own. Jane can be completely trusted to mind the editorial store, freeing an Academic or staff editor to deal only with the higher level issues; a dream collaborator!."

In 2015, following an invitation by Dr Tanita Casci, Head of Research Policy at the University of Glasgow, Jane gave a presentation on research integrity, and about how research communication is changing to support good research culture and practice, to an audience of integrity officers and senior managers.

Dr Casci said about this presentation:

"As an institution we work hard to embed an awareness of good research practice. Jane's talk brought this topic to life by skillfully tying together the rapidly changing landscape of research publishing, the incentives placed on academics to publish, and the opportunities, responsibilities and risks that come with the (welcome) drive towards open scholarship and open data. I thought I had heard it all before, but I was wrong: I left with several urgent actions, and a much more compelling way to present integrity to the research community."

Since 2007, Jeremy Allen has worked closely with Edanz Group Ltd, an editorial services company based in Japan, to provide expert editorial services for non-native English-speaking scientists. Jeremy has edited over 800 research manuscripts and has become a preferred editor for several Edanz clients. Examples of publications on which Jeremy has worked include:

Maelstrom coordinates microtubule organization during Drosophila oogenesis through interaction with components of the MTOC. Sato K, Nishida KM, Shibuya A, Siomi MC, Siomi H. Genes Dev. 2011 Nov 15;25(22):2361-73.
Epigenetic regulation of a brain-specific glycosyltransferase N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-IX (GnT-IX) by specific chromatin modifiers. Kizuka Y, Kitazume S, Okahara K, Villagra A, Sotomayor EM, Taniguchi N J Biol Chem. 2014 Apr 18;289(16):11253-61.

Dr Daniel McGowan, Science Director of Edanz Group Ltd, says:

"For several years now Jeremy has been one of our most trusted editors, able to cover a variety of fields and editing regularly for some of our most important (and most prolific) clients. The quality of Jeremy's editing and the added value he provides are both evident in the repeat orders we receive from clients he has edited for and the frequent requests for him specifically. Jeremy's attention to detail, ability to meet deadlines, clarity of language, and polite communications (through comments) with authors have made him a valuable member of our freelance team."

Academic publisher, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, commissioned Jane Alfred to developmentally edit a book by renowned molecular geneticist, David Botstein. Jane worked closely with David on the book, entitled Decoding the Language of Genetics, over several months, providing editorial feedback on drafts of the book’s chapters and on the book’s figures, as well as suggestions for additional chapters, text and figures.

In the book's acknowledgements, David Botstein notes:

"'I am in debt to Jane Alfred for her excellent editing. She eliminated many errors and much awkwardness.'"