The European Geosciences Union (EGU) and its professional service provider and publisher Copernicus have a successful history of more than 20 years of interactive open-access publishing with public peer review and online discussion. Its 19 journals cover most of the aspects of Earth, planetary and space science research.

EGU sees a need to increase the portfolio of peer reviewers for EGU journals to both help ease the burden on Editors and also to explore and discuss the practical and mental issues that can act as a barrier to many Early Career Scientists (ECS) becoming reviewers. These barriers may include a lack of experience, impostor syndrome, and an absence of advice, especially around ethical and technical matters (plagiarism, formatting, etc.). We also recognise there is often a general lack of peer review training as part of most general geoscience career development opportunities. There is the potential to tackle all these issues at the same time, by offering to train ECS in the peer review process, while at the same time helping them to be conscious of the challenges and benefits that scientific peer review represents.

In order to continue to develop both opportunities and appropriate skill sets for ECS, we are therefore inviting tenders for a bespoke EGU training programme for peer review. Such a training programme would involve inviting a set number of ECS (approximately 50) to participate in an online course. This training will be free for attendees and open only to EGU members. The programme would also be expected to engage with EGU journal editors to help ensure that the delivery was specific to the needs of the EGU journals suite. The first training workshop will be expected to be delivered online (approximately 2-3 hours) in early 2023 and will be held in English.

The training will be structured in three sessions that include: (1) a general introduction to peer-reviewing; (2) hands-on workshop during which the participants write reviews on a discussion paper/preprint; (3) sessions dedicated to special requirements in individual EGU journals.

In addition to developing the programme, we would expect the course to be fully evaluated by the successful applicant, with the results reported back to the Publications Committee, providing a framework for future programmes.

Application Requirements

• Demonstrated experience in peer reviewer training for scientific journals
• At least 2 years of experience in running online workshops
• Full professional proficiency in English
• Ability to liaise throughout development with clients
• Ability to work in a flexible and responsive way
• Familiarity with EGU publications and its publication model (desirable)

Application materials
Applications should be submitted as a single file to editorial-manager@egu.eu by Friday 9 December 2022. This should include:

• max. 2 pages CV outlining how the applicant meets the requirements
• max. 2 pages overview of the topics the applicant intends to cover in line with the proposed workshop schedule and budget, indicating how the proposal aligns with EGU’s aims

Please include links to previous relevant work where appropriate. Budgets of up to €4,500 total (inclusive of VAT) will be considered. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to interview by phone/online. For any additional information please contact Berit Schwichtenberg, EGU’s Editorial Manager (editorial-manager@egu.eu). We reserve the right to keep your details on file when considering future online workshops unless you inform us otherwise.

• Publications Committee