ECR Mentorship Program

Information and Application Guidelines - Call 2026/2028

1. Aim of the Scheme
Offer Early Career Researchers (ECRs) the opportunity to increase their engagement with scientific publishing (SfRBM official journals) and gain experience in editorial board work and manuscript handling.

2. Benefits for ECRs
This scheme will provide ECRs with an introduction to the roles and responsibilities of being an Editor in one of SfRBM’s official journals (Advances in Redox Research, Free Radical Biology, Redox Biochemistry and Chemistry, and Redox Biology). ECRs will be paired with one of the Editors of these journals and will receive training in:

• Assessing the suitability of a manuscript for consideration in the journal (i.e. whether this is sent for peer review).
• Identification of potential reviewers.
• Assessing reviewer comments.
• Details concerning decision-making and preparation of a decision letter.
• Identification of ethical/policy questions that may arise with manuscripts submitted to the journals.
• Learning important aspects to consider when acting as an ambassador of a journal (e.g. suggestion of topics/authors for special issues, promotion of the journal at conferences/events and diffusion in social media).

3. Eligibility
This call is intended for SfRBM early career researchers (ECRs) - those holding a faculty position Assistant Professors or equivalent e.g. Research Assistant Professors or Instructors and < 2 as Associate Professors. Applicants should be active members, hold a faculty position, demonstrate a strong record of scholarly publications, and have experience with peer review for academic journals.

4. Application
The call opens on 05/01/2026 and closes 07/01/2026. Applications should be submitted via the link on the SfRBM webpage. 

5. Selection and Notification
The evaluation will be based on the academic excellence characterized by the criteria below:

• Experience of the applicant in the publishing process (demonstrated with first and/or senior authored publications in peer-reviewed journals).
• Experience of the applicant in the peer-review process.
• Motivation and commitment to be an active mentee during the 24 months of training.

The assessment of applications will be divided into two steps:

Step 1:
Applications will be individually evaluated by the SfRBM’s ECR editorial mentorship program committee who will then meet and discuss the selection of up to 10 candidates (i.e. shortlisting).

Step 2:
Selected applications will be reviewed by 3 Editorial Board members representing SfRBM’s official journals who will select the final candidates.

Both selected and non-selected candidates will receive an email with the outcome of their application by 08/01/2026 at the latest.

The program will run over the year 08/01/2026 to 07/31/2028 (24 months).

Must be an SfRBM Member to Apply

Apply Here