Sociology Career in Editing and Publishing

Introduction

In 2011, Dr Villamizar-Santamaría completed his Bachelor’s in Sociology at the Universidad del Rosario, in Colombia. From 2012 to 2014, Dr Villamizar-Santamaría worked as a Research Assistant at Dejusticia in Bogotá, Colombia, a research and advocacy organisation dedicated to justice and human rights in Colombia and the Global South. During this time, he completed his Master of Arts in Geography at the Universidad de los Andes.

He completed his PhD in Sociology in 2022, and a post doctorate at the Centre for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies in 2023, at the City University of New York (CUNY).

In 2023, he began working as an Associate Editor in Nature Cities, editing research and opinion articles on social sciences. He is now a Senior Editor at Nature, where he evaluates research manuscripts on sociology and other social sciences.

Q&A

What were some of your typical projects and tasks in your early career as a Research Assistant at Dejusticia?

This was my first job after finishing college. I worked in the anti-discrimination line, mainly on race and ethnicity, under César Rodríguez-Garavito, another sociologist but also a lawyer. I was part of a few action-research projects, some of which were published as policy briefs. For example, one on discrimination in the labour market and another on residential segregation in Colombia. I was in charge of collecting and processing data, and writing reports and opinion pieces for Colombian media. The experience was enriching because of this combination of socio-juridical studies with an incidence goal: we did all this work because we wanted to see some change implemented, in this case to combat discrimination.

Your early research focused on racial discrimination at work, and residential segregation. Your publications include a content analysis of a Facebook site, a historical analysis of race and ethnicity of Latinos in the USA using statistics, survey data on time spent commuting to work, and environmental issues. How has your sociological training prepared you for such diverse projects?

Sociology is small in numbers compared to other disciplines, but we cover a lot of ground. I took classes in theory and methods (of course) but also on class, race, gender, media, science, urban studies, environmental studies, and so on. Having that exposure to so many different areas is intellectually enriching (and emotionally challenging), but it really helps us build a fuller picture of the world. I also did quantitative and qualitative work, so that also was important to get a broader sense of topics and approaches. Different questions need different approaches, so being open and taking all these classes and trying to be a research assistant in different projects makes it easier to adapt.

Before becoming a Director of Quantitative Research at the Centre for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies (CLACLS), at CUNY, you initially worked there as a Research Associate. What skills or experience can early-career sociologists explore in order to make a similar career jump into leadership?

There are two types of experiences. The first one is about doing the work you would supervise later. As a Research Associate, I had to find and process data and write reports (just like at Dejusticia but on different topics) and have an eye for detail and an ear for interesting ideas. When I then supervised graduate students doing the same thing, I knew some tips and common roadblocks I had to navigate through, so it was easier for me to guide them. The second experience is teamwork and collegiality. The CLACLS is a small but very productive centre — we produced the reports I worked on, but we also had several events during the semester, had media collaborations, had summer fellowships, etc. — and this means that you would have to interact with the team in different capacities. Having a nice team helps, of course!

You are now a Senior Editor at Nature. What does your day-to-day work involve, and how does sociology help?

I am involved in the full editorial process from first submission to publication. I get to read a lot, which is what I enjoyed about grad school the most, and I discuss with my colleagues whether to send a text out to primary research review and, if so, I find suitable reviewers and make decisions based on their recommendations. I also travel to conferences or universities to meet with researchers to learn what topics are being discussed and do outreach with communities that might not know that social sciences are considered in scope at the journal. Sociology helps in all of this because it exposed me to all sorts of topics (like I mentioned before), so I can read widely and understand what it is about.

Do you have any tips for sociologists seeking to publish with Nature?

For sure. Our editorial criteria mainly consists of novelty, strength of evidence and broad appeal. We look for papers that have interesting ideas with robust empirical support and that would spark the curiosity of other scientists beyond sociologists. People can look at recently published articles in our pages to get the sense of what we are handling, but keep in mind that this number is growing — there are areas that we have not published yet but we are open to submissions in the broad social sciences (sociology, geography, political science, science of science, media studies, etc.). And the last tip is that Nature’s submission portal has the option of “Presubmission Enquiries,” by which authors can submit an Abstract and cover letter (not the full paper!) as a way to test the waters so to speak. If they have something but aren’t sure if it is in scope or not, they can do that presubmission and we’ll let them know if so.

Do you have any practical advice for sociology students and recent graduates who want to pursue a career in editing and publishing?

Take editing courses if you can. Be involved with the writing centres at your universities. Be kind and patient. Being a good reader is the first step, but editing is about helping others find their voices and be effective communicators. By working at the university writing centre or similar, you will polish all these skills — you are there to help others find their voice, not to write their texts for them. This means that you will have to meet people where they are and shepherd a manuscript through with them. And sign up for job posting alerts in these areas, as there are all sorts of editing (developmental, copyediting, proofreading, etc.) and publishers, so being familiar with these differences will be helpful too when applying for specific positions you are qualified for.

Finally, where can we keep up with your research and activities?

I don’t do research anymore as my editorial job is full time. The best way to keep up with what I’m doing is looking at the social sciences articles published in Nature!