Date: Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Hello! We are Tanushree Banerjee, doctoral student in the Research, Assessment and Evaluation program in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University and Xinru Yan, doctoral student in the Quantitative and Qualitative Methodology, Measurement and Evaluation program in the College of Education at University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign.
We are also two of the current Junior Editors at New Directions for Evaluation (NDE). The NDE Junior Editor program is intended as a pathway for evaluation graduate students to build experience in, and exposure to, the world of publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
As Junior Editors, we have gained experience with the peer-reviewed publication process, observed the behind-the-scenes operations of the editorial team, and have been part of discussions with prospective guest editors, peer reviewers, and more. We are part of bi-monthly editorial leadership meetings with the two NDE Editors-in-Chief (EICs), NDE’s Managing Editor, and the wider team of Junior Editors. Moreover, as Junior Editors, we benefit from monthly 1:1 meetings with our EIC mentor.
What have we learned? We’ve learned there are different types of revisions and editing needs! For example, every article is examined with a critical eye on whether it needs:
We’ve also learned that NDE has a particularly unique peer-review process (learn more in a blog later this week). We have explored the role and responsibility differences between external NDE peer-reviewers (who review a proposal of the entire issue) and internal peer-reviewers (the Editors-In-Chief) who review each individual article within an NDE issue.
Finally, the NDE EICs and the full Editorial Board have provided us a sense of community and opportunities to build a network and collaborate with evaluation scholars and leaders. These connections provide a special opportunity for Junior Editors to get advice and support on publication, research, dissertation and career pathways.
Contribute to NDE through new and innovative initiatives. One current example is the development of an AI-powered chatbot designed to support authors with idea generation and the manuscript submission process. This project is actively underway and will be launched soon.
Keep your eyes out for future invitations to apply for Junior Editor roles! Recruitment materials are shared via the NDE LinkedIn page, as well as the AEA listserv. Applications are typically due in November of each year. Masters and Doctoral students who have completed two or more evaluation classes are eligible to apply.
The American Evaluation Association is hosting New Directions for Evaluation (NDE). The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from the NDE team. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.