News room

CACTUS participated in the 56th Annual Meeting of the Council of Science Editors (CSE) in Montreal, Canada (May 3-6, 2013), as a sponsor, presenter, and exhibitor. This meeting was attended by editors, publishers, and specialists from different domains in the scientific publishing industry. We were represented by Donald Samulack, PhD, and Sandi McIntyre from the US office and by Clarinda Cerejo, ELS, and Remya Nambiar, ELS, from the head office in Mumbai, India.

This year, the CSE adopted a very practical theme for their meeting: Communicating Science Effectively: The world depends on it. The meeting included sessions on a wide variety of industry-related topics including editorial processes, technological advances to aid publication, and author-related issues that affect publishing. In keeping with the theme, CACTUS conducted a session entitled “The east-west divide: Challenges facing eastern authors and how a global perspective can bridge the gap.” Joining Donald Samulack, President of CACTUS US Operations, as speakers for the session were Philippa Benson, President and Owner, PJB Consulting, and Boyana Konforti, Editor, Cell Reports. P. Benson set the context by describing her experiences with authors in China and the pressures they face. D. Samulack then presented the results of a CACTUS survey conducted with authors and journal editors, shedding light on the challenges East Asian authors face in getting published and the perspectives journal editors have regarding submissions from the east. B. Konforti finally tied all this information together with examples of best practices adopted by Cell Reports to make the publication process easier for authors. The session provided useful recommendations for smoother communication between authors and journals.

We also presented a poster entitled “How complete and clear are author guidelines of international English-language journals?”. The study assessed the completeness and clarity of the information conveyed in author guidelines of international English-language journals and shed light on issues that needed immediate attention. This poster won the “2013 Best Poster” award, completing the hat-trick for CACTUS in achieving this honor for the third year in a row. Congratulations to Remya Nambiar, Managing Editor, Center of Excellence for Molecular Biology, and Priyanka Tilak, Manager, Publication Support, who authored the poster, and to others involved in this work!

The abstract—How clear and complete are author guidelines of international English-language journals? — submitted by Editage, the academic editing brand of CACTUS, has been accepted for the poster presentation session at the Council of Science Editors (CSE) 2013 conference. The Editage team is thrilled about the acceptance!

For the presentation this year, the team analyzed the author guidelines of 80 journals and scored them on the basis of clarity and completeness of information. The study evinces that most author guidelines are vague and unclear and need to be revised.

The team will be participating in the CSE conference from May 3-6, 2013 in Montreal, QC, Canada. The theme of the conference is “Communicate Science Effectively – the world depends on it.”

Editage participated in the annual CSE meetings in 2012 and 2011 and won the “Best Poster” award at both these meetings.

The Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service recognize exceptional companies, individuals, and teams. At the 7th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, announced in Las Vegas on 25th Feb, Kaori Nagatsuka from Editage’s Customer Delight Department won a Silver Stevie for Best Front-Line Customer Service Professional. Editage also won a Bronze Stevie for Best Use of Technology in Customer Service.

We thank all our customers in a special way for giving us the confidence to participate in such awards. Your support further motivates us to offer the best customer experience in the industry.

About the Stevie Awards: Stevie winners this year include Delta Airlines, DHL Express, MasterCard Worldwide, and Cisco Systems Inc. Past judges include Donald Trump, Tony Robbins, and Gary Hamel.To read more about the Stevie Awards, click here.

You might Like: Editage wins the “Best Poster” award at the annual CSE meeting for the second year in a row

This January, the academic editing brand of CACTUS—Editage—achieved a major milestone as it edited its 200,000th manuscript. Editage has assisted over 45,000 clients across 109 countries. “We are thrilled at achieving this landmark,” said one of the editors. The team was excited about their work on papers from various subject specializations. The task was challenging, more so since it meant balancing between providing high quality services and ensuring quick turnaround times.

CACTUS participated in the 11th Annual Meeting of The International Publication Planning Association (TIPPA) held on February 11 and 12, 2013. The meeting was attended by Donald Samulack, PhD, President of US Operations, and Kim Pepitone, CMPP, Scientific Director at CACTUS. While Don moderated two sessions, Kim delivered a talk entitled “Regulatory update: A quick glance at developments affecting publication planning.” The talk was part of a session that focused on the requirements, challenges, and value of review articles in publication planning.

During the course of this meeting, CACTUS shared the stage with the international pharmaceutical community in discussing pertinent issues around good publication practices and industry standards.