Since beginning my journey into scholarly publishing in 2022, I have continuously sought to learn more about the industry’s vast scope and hone my professional skills. So, when I heard about the ALPSP International Mentorship Scheme, it felt like an incredible opportunity to obtain new insights from other people’s career experiences.
The mentorship scheme commenced with a well-considered matching process, which I found to be particularly impressive. Before being matched, I was encouraged to share what I wanted to achieve from the programme by filling out a form with my background and interests so that I could be paired with a suitable mentor to match my goals.
Soon after, I was introduced to my new mentor, Emma. Emma has a wealth of professional management experience in STM and society publishing and shares similar interests to me regarding Open Access initiatives. What I found particularly exciting about our match was that while some aspects of our experiences overlapped, some also differed — thus creating numerous opportunities for me to expand my understanding of the profession as a whole.
Emma and I set clear goals for our mentoring sessions, including covering ongoing industry trends, developing strategies for overcoming common editorial challenges, and considering long-term career growth. We met regularly throughout the year, with each meeting covering a chosen agenda of topics we wanted to mutually discuss. Our conversations on AI and open research were particularly fascinating and have enabled me to better understand the industry’s varied responses as well as consider future trajectories.
Emma also challenged me to push myself out of my comfort zone. The belief she had in my abilities often exceeded my own, encouraging me to strive for my full potential in the professional sphere. Her guidance also helped me implement actionable goals to advance my career aspirations and develop confidence while transitioning between job roles.
The wider mentoring team also played an active role throughout the mentoring scheme, hosting numerous meetings that provided an excellent opportunity to connect with other mentees and grow my professional network internationally. The programme coordinators were also wonderfully proactive in giving mentees advice on navigating mentoring relationships, enabling me to benefit fully from the scheme. This additional support was especially useful for me as I had not been part of a mentoring initiative before.
The ALPSP International Mentoring Scheme provided me with the space to grow my professional self actively, receive feedback, and expand my understanding of the publishing industry. I am incredibly grateful for the positive experience!
About the ALPSP International Mentorship Scheme
The scheme aims to connect colleagues across the publishing industry and provide a wider network of expertise and skills to help foster development and progression. Open to ALPSP members (as mentees and mentors) as well as non-members (mentors only), the scheme was the winner of a ‘Most Impactful Mentoring Award’ in 2024. For more information and to register visit our website.The ALPSP International Mentorship scheme is sponsored by Publishers' Licensing Services.
About the Author
Anna Hubbard is an Editorial Assistant at Cambridge University Press & Assessment. She is responsible for organising key content workflows and provides operational and administrative support within the psychology books team. Anna began working in scholarly publishing in 2022 as an Editorial Coordinator at the European Consortium for Political Research.
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