European Association of Science Editors
The European Association of Science Editors (EASE /ˈiːz/) is a non-profit membership organisation for people interested in science communication and editing. Founded in 1982, in France, EASE now has an international membership from diverse backgrounds and professional experience.
What does EASE do?
EASE helps its members keep up with trends in the rapidly changing environment of scientific publishing and sharpen their professional skills, by means of:
- an electronic forum for exchanging shoptalk and ideas – the EASE-Forum
- annual general meetings linked with interesting lectures
- a major conference every 2–3 years
- sessions during major scientific events (e.g. a careers session during EuroScience Open Forum 2010 in Torino, Italy - see video)
- seminars and workshops on hot topics (discounts available to EASE members)
- educational tools, like EASE Guidelines (freely available in over 20 languages), EASE Toolkit for Authors, and publication ethics checklist (for routine use during manuscript submission to a journal)
- support for useful initiatives, such as the global campaigns Healthcare Information For All by 2015 and AllTrials
- advertisements for jobs, courses and services on the EASE website (free of charge for EASE members)
- the Science Editors’ Handbook (2nd edition, available in electronic form free of charge to EASE members), covering everything from on-screen editing to office management, peer review, and dealing with the media (see )
- networking opportunities and contacts for freelancers
- opportunities to meet international colleagues
- leads for jobs, training and employment options
Publications
- A quarterly journal, European Science Editing (http://www.ease.org.uk/publications/european-science-editing)'', featuring articles related to science and editing, book and web reviews, regional and country news, and resources
- The EASE journal blog, for contributions from members and non-members to selected sections of European Science Editing
- A loose-bound book, the Science Editors’ Handbook,[1] covering everything from on-screen editing to office management, peer review, and dealing with the media; new and updated chapters are published frequently and distributed to members and to non-members who have purchased the handbook
- Statement on inappropriate use of impact factors[2]
- EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles, available in many languages.
Members
EASE has about 550 members who live in more than 50 countries, not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world.
Members work in many disciplines and trades: commissioning editors, academics, translators, publishers, web and multi-media staff, indexers, graphic designers, statistical editors, science and technical writers, authors' editors, journalists, corporate communicators, technical illustrators, proofreaders and production personnel.
Major conferences
EASE holds a conference every 3 or 2 years . Previous conferences:
- 2014 Split, Croatia, see
- 2012 Tallinn, Estonia, see
- 2009 Pisa, Italy, see
- 2006 Krakow, Poland, see
- 2003 Bath, United Kingdom
- 2003 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (joint meeting with AESE)
- 2000 Tours, France
- 1998 Washington, D.C., USA (joint meeting with CBE and AESE)
- 1997 Helsinki, Finland
- 1994 Budapest, Hungary
- 1991 Oxford, United Kingdom
- 1989 Ottawa, Canada (joint meeting with CBE and AESE)
- 1988 Basel, Switzerland
- 1985 Holmenkollen, Norway
- 1982 Pau, France
The next conference will be in 2016, in Strasbourg, France.
2009 conference: Integrity in Science Communication
The 2009 EASE Conference, was held in Pisa, Italy on 16–19 September 2009. It picked up the theme of the first World Conference on Research Integrity, which was held in Lisbon, Portugal on 16–19 September 2007. The first World Conference was a joint initiative of the European Science Foundation and the United States Office of Research Integrity; it provided a forum for discussion of strategies for harmonizing research misconduct policies and for promoting responsible research conduct. The 2009 EASE Conference explored these themes from the viewpoint of people involved with scientific journal editing and publishing.
Editors strive to ensure that the scientific research presented is correct, complete, accessible, retrievable and durable, i.e. to guarantee the physical integrity of the data. There is also a moral aspect to science communication, where editors have possibly a more difficult role to play, monitoring such aspects as conflict of interest, gender bias and guest authorship. The aim of the 2009 EASE Conference was to provide guidance to editors on ways in which they can monitor the physical and moral integrity of scientific communications passing through their hands, what to look out for and where they can turn for further advice. A draft version of the EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles was presented and discussed in Pisa.
History of EASE
EASE was formed in May 1982 in Pau, France, from the European Life Science Editors' Association (ELSE) and the European Association of Earth Science Editors (Editerra).
Affiliations
EASE is affiliated to the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), has category A liaison status with the International Organization for Standardization (Technical Committee 46/subcommittee 9) (ISO) and is represented on committees of the British Standards Institution.
Through its affiliation to IUBS and IUGS the Association is also affiliated to the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) and is thereby in formal associate relations with UNESCO.[3]
EASE cooperates actively with the Council of Science Editors (CSE) and the Association of Earth Science Editors (AESE) in North America. Its other links include the African Association of Science Editors, the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA), the Finnish Association of Science Editors and Journalists (FASEJ), the Society of English-Native-Speaking Editors (Netherlands) (SENSE), AuthorAID, and, in the UK, the Association for Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) and the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP).
The European Association of Science Editors is a Company Limited by Guarantee, Registered in England and Wales - Company Number 4049507. Registered Office: The Annals of Botany Company, The University of Exeter, Innovation Centre, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RN, UK.
In the summer of 2012, the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) formally became a new HIFA2015 Supporting Organization. EASE supports the global initiative Healthcare Information For All by 2015 by advising authors to make abstracts of their papers highly informative, reliable, and easily understandable (see EASE Guidelines for Authors and Translators of Scientific Articles).
See also
- European Science Editing (journal)
- American Medical Writers Association (AMWA)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
- Board of Editors in the Life Sciences (BELS)
- Council of Science Editors (CSE)
- Editors' Association of Canada (EAC)
- European Medical Writers Association (EMWA)
- International Society for Medical Publication Professionals (ISMPP)
- Mediterranean Editors and Translators (MET)
- Society for Technical Communication (STC)
- Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals
- World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
- Pharmaceutical publication planning
- Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators
- European Science Foundation
- Office of Research Integrity
References
Further reading
- Law C, Piqueras M. Help for editors: EASE makes things easier. European Association of Science Editors. Int Microbiol. 2000 Dec;3(4):253-8.
- Hunt R. Advancing European Protocols for Science Communication. Chapter 14 in: Michel Claessens ed, Communicating European Research 2005. Netherlands: Springer, 2007.
- Interview with Dr. Joan Marsh, EASE President, about EASE's mission and activities
- Science Central