Journal of Medical Toxicology Fellow-In-Training Editor Program

Next Application Deadline: January 13, 2025

The ‘Leslie R. Dye JMT Fellow-In-Training Editor Program’ celebrates the incredible service of ACMT Past President, Leslie Dye, MD, FACMT, as former editor of JMT and her commitment to developing young talent.  

The fellow-in-training (“fellow”) appointment to the Editorial Board of Journal of Medical Toxicology is intended to introduce the fellow to the process of peer review, editing, and publishing of medical research manuscripts. The appointment will provide the fellow with an experience that will enhance his/her career in medical toxicology and in scientific publication, and develop skills that could lead to later participation as a peer reviewer or editorial board member for a scientific journal. It also provides a strong voice for JMT, reflecting the concerns of the next generation of medical toxicologists.

Selection Process

All fellows in the first year of an accredited Medical Toxicology program are eligible. The fellow will be selected via a competitive process, every year in March.

The appointment is a 15-month commitment that begins in March and is completed in June of the following year. Members of the selection committee, including the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editor, will review all applications and select the top two candidates. These candidates are interviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor at the ACMT Annual Scientific Meeting, who then make the final selection. The ideal applicant should be self-motivated, independent, and have a strong interest in medical publishing, editing, and peer review (not simply in writing scientific articles). These interests should be evident in activities and accomplishments (such as previous experience in publishing, editing, or writing) in years previous to the application. Authorship of publications in scientific or other fields is highly desirable. The applicant must attend the JMT board meetings. These are held at the ACMT Annual Scientific Meeting and the annual NAACT meeting. 

Desirable Personal Characteristics

  • Ability to: listen, analyze, think clearly and creatively, and work well with people individually and in a group,
  • Willing to: prepare for and attend board and committee meetings, ask questions, take responsibility and follow through on a given assignment, 
  • Possess: honesty, sensitivity to and tolerance of differing views, a friendly, responsive, and patient approach, community-building skills, personal integrity, a developed sense of values, concern for your nonprofit’s development, and a sense of humor.

Time Commitment

The total expected time commitment is 2 to 6 hours per week.

It is expected that as part of the commitment of support on the part of the fellow’s program, the program director will work closely with the Fellow to ensure time will be made available for attendance at the meetings and orientation described in this document.

Application Process Requirements

Duties and Responsibilities

The term begins at the Editorial Board meeting of the ACMT Annual Scientific Meeting every year and concludes at the end of June of the following year. The position will include the following activities that are organized by the educational goal of each:

  1. General orientation
    • Review the manuscript submission and decision-making processes with the JMT managing editor
    • This will occur over the first month of the appointment
  2. Meeting attendance
    • The fellow will attend in person editorial board meetings at the ACMT Annual Scientific Meeting and the annual NAACT meeting
    • The fellow will attend editorial board conference calls as necessary
  3. Refining writing skills
    • The fellow will write at least two Fellows’ Perspective columns to be published in JMT after review and approval by the editorial staff
    • The fellow will submit and have accepted one peer-reviewed article for publication in JMT
    • The fellow will also write a column relevant to JMT in the bimonthly ACMT newsletter. These columns typically focus on the fellow’s own experience with the new position and recent news regarding JMT
  4. Editing skills
    • All submitted manuscripts for one month will be copied and sent to the fellow prior to formal assignment to an editor. The fellow will determine if the manuscript should be sent for review and to which editor it should be assigned. The decisions will be discussed with the editor-in-chief, offline.
    • Follow at least 5 manuscripts from submission to decision, discussing the process with the editor-in-chief
    • Edit one complete issue of JMT
      • The Fellow independently evaluates and content-edits manuscripts; uses spreadsheets of accepted articles to put together a sample issue; and discusses choices with the editor-in-chief
  5. Reviewing skills
    • Perform at least 5 formal reviews of submissions to JMT
      • These will be assigned by the editor-in-chief, who will evaluate and discuss the reviews by phone
  6. Critical appraisal
    • Identify topic areas and work with methodology/statistics editors via e-mail to review at least 3 papers for design
    • Take a free critical appraisal course online or review critical appraisal literature
  7. Publication ethics
  8. Web publication
    • Project or orientation with the Web editor or ACMT Web master (optional)
  9. Research peer review
    • Design a research question on peer review (optional)
  10. Participate in the selection of the next fellow