Going around in circles: the publishing cycle of WIAS magazine

We thought it would be nice to give you all an idea of what goes on behind the scenes, because a lot happens before a next WIAS magazine is published. Before getting into the details, we have some exiting news to share: in addition to the online magazine the articles of the first four editions will be bundled into a printed copy which will be distributed across all the WIAS chair groups and buildings in December 2022. So back to the main topic of this article: What is the publishing cycle of WIAS magazine?

As you can see in the visual we start with deciding on a theme, something of a red line that runs through the articles. In some editions the theme emerged as the articles were submitted, but often we start with an idea.

The next step is to get in touch with potential authors. You are an essential part of the success of WIAS magazine. We attend events of chair groups, send the word out via email and the newsletter of WIAS, but have been most successful when we have approached individuals directly. To ensure the magazine includes a variety of topics, methodological approaches and animals we regularly check that we represent the entire width of WIAS research. If you still miss a topic, please get in touch, we are always happy to include more diversity.

When written articles, or videos, are submitted to our email address wias.magazine@wur.nl, this is always a great feeling. We review each submission to check whether they contain all the essential information required for publication, including a striking image and keywords. At this stage we also ask the author to sign a publishing agreement to ensure we have the rights to publish the research. At this stage a member of the magazine board also reviews the article. Authors are sometimes asked to make a few changes, but so far all authors are keeping a good track record of following the author guide and submitting near ready-to-publish articles. Let’s keep up the good work!

Each edition also contains a ‘Word from the Board’ in which we reflect on the theme of the magazine, like the one you are reading right now. Once that is finished, we are ready to create the webpages for all articles. The online magazine allows us to publish the magazine relatively quickly and creates lasting access to the articles so far published. Once the webpages are ready to go public, the last step is to publish the edition and promote the magazine to the WIAS community via mail and intranet. Not to forget that word-of-mouth is another crucial part of promotion: please invite your colleagues to read your favourite articles.

We hope you enjoy the 2022 Fall edition. We are ready to repeat the cycle for the next edition!