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VickiLundblad,PhD,isaProfessorattheSalk Institute for Biological Sciences in LaJolla,CaliforniaandamemberoftheNationalAcademy of Sciences. Her lab studiestelomerehomeostasisinbuddingyeast.Dr. Lundblad has published many papers inGENETICS,ajournaloftheGeneticsSocietyofAmerica,anSSPAmember society.Hermostrecent paper, in the January 2018 issue ofGENETICS, is entitled “Using Separation-of-Function Mutagenesis To Define the FullSpectrumofActivitiesPerformedbytheEst1TelomeraseSubunit inVivo”.WetalkedwithDr.Lundbladaboutherexperiencepublishinginthissociety-ownedjournal.SSPA:Whendecidingwhere topublish theresultsofyour research,what factorsstandout toyouasimportantinajournal?VL:TheonlyjournalIreallypublishinwithanyrepeatfrequencyisGENETICS.First,Iknowthereviewersandthereviewprocess-andit’sgood.Thisiskey.Really,I’dsaytherearetwomainreasonsthatdictatewhereIsubmitmyresearch.First isthereviewprocess-byscientistsforscientists.DoIhaveageneralsenseofhowthereviewisperformed?IgenerallysubmitbasedonthefactthatIknowwhatthereviewprocesswillbelikeandIlikeit.Also,istheformatofthearticle appropriate? I’musually submitting apaper that’s partof a larger story - rarely afree-standingstory. If it’sa journal that requires thearticle tobe tooshort that’saproblem.TherearenolengthlimitsforGENETICS.Butmainly,withasocietyjournallikeGENETICS,youknow you’re going to have a scientific discussion at the end of the review process withsomebodywhoisinvestedenoughintheprocessthattheyarewillingtoinvesttheirowntimeandtheywon’tbedrivenbythedesiretohaveyourarticlebeclick-bait.

Using Separation-of-Function Mutagenesis To Define the Full Spectrum of Activities Performed by the Est1 Telomerase Subunit in Vivo Johnathan W. Lubin, Timothy M. Tucey and Victoria Lundblad GENETICS (2018) vol. 208, pp 97 110. https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.117.300145

SSPA:WhatwastheGENETICSprocesslikeintermsoftiming?

VL: In general, I careabouthavinga speedydecision -whetherornot itwill be sentout forreview.GENETICStookanappropriateamountoftime.

Forsomefor-profitjournalsI’veheardcolleaguessayitcanliterallybemonthsbeforethereisadecision.Thatmaybetheextremetailofthetimeframeforthefor-profitjournals,buttheydothatbecausetheycan.

Iwillalsosaythatspeedofreviewhasbecomeasuper-hotbuttontopictoo,butthere’sapointwhere you get the review time down below a certain time and it’s no longer a review. Itbecomesa“CliffNotes”versionthat’sbeingreviewedandnotaseriousreview.Andthathurtsthe process in many ways. IfGENETICSwanted to try to push the process down to, say, 2weeks,itmightbeagreatmarketingtool,butIwouldstopsubmitting.Atthatpointit’saboutmarketing.Itdoesn’timprovethescientificproduct,itjustimprovestheprofileofthejournal.

SSPA:WhatwasthereviewprocesslikepublishinginGENETICS?

VL: I’d have a hard time sayingwhether the society journals improve the sciencemore thanotherjournals.Butthereisdefinitelylessofacombativefeelandmoreofacollegialapproach.FormymostrecentpaperpublishedinJanuary,arevieweraskedustoputinamodelfigure.Ihatemodelfigures.Butthemodelfigurewasthebiggestchangetherevieweraskedforandtheeditor thought itwas important. In the end, itwas a very good request. Putting thatmodelfigureinhadapositiveimpactonthepaper.

SSPA: How likely are you to submit to a society journal in the future, based on your pastexperience?

VL:Verylikely.WhenIsubmittoGENETICS,Idon’tthink‘societyjournal.’IsubmittoGENETICSin part becausemany great genetics papers have been published inGENETICS. Every time IsubmitIgetthisthrillthatI’mpublishingwhereBarbaraMcClintockpublished.Shewasoneofthetwogreatgeneticistsinthe1930’sand1940’swhostartedthetelomereresearch.AndIgettopublishinthesamejournal!

Dr.LundbladwentontotellastoryaboutanimportantpapershepublishedinGENETICSbackin1996.

“Mylabwaspursuingageneticscreenstrategyandsubmittedthefirstpublicationonthescreenin1996.Whilesubmitting,wediscoveredthatwehadactuallydiscoveredthecatalyticsubunitoftelomerase.WesubsequentlycollaboratedonasecondpaperthatwesubmittedtoScienceafterthat.ButourfirstpaperonthesubjectcameoutinGENETICSandthatpaperbecamethetoppaperfrommylab.Atthetimeandsincethen,peoplehavesaidtome,‘Oh...whenyoufoundout,youshouldhavepulleditfromGENETICSandpublisheditinScience.’Myresponseis‘Andthesciencewouldhavebeendifferenthow?’Thereisnochangeinthescience,basedonwhereyoupublish.ThesciencewasthesciencewhetheritwaspublishedinGENETICSorScience.Somepeoplethinkitmatters.That’ssowrong.That’saproblem.”