Contributing to JSED as editorial assistants: behind the scenes

The Journal for the Study of Education and Development (JSED, formerly Infancia y Aprendizaje), is an international peer-reviewed academic journal focused on the psychology of human development, learning and education across the lifespan. Throughout its 44 years of history, JSED has played a crucial role in nurturing scholars in these fields of knowledge, initially with a focus on Spanish-speaking scholars and subsequently at a global scale, demonstrating high commitment in fostering learning and professional development among academics (del Río, 2020). Indeed, JSED has implemented multiple initiatives and conducted empirical studies aimed at supporting its readers (García et al., 2002) and authors (Sánchez et al., 2002) as well as reviewers and editors (Scheuer et al., 2009). The work of prior editorial teams has provided guidance, models, analytical insights and resources to the various stakeholders of the Journal, in order to facilitate processes of authorship and scientific publication. Some of the most recent initiatives were designed to support junior researchers, both as authors (Bautista et al., 2014) and as peer reviewers (Bautista & Castelló, 2017). As a result of one of these initiatives, JSED published LIVETO, a checklist intended to guide junior researchers when submitting their work to academic journals, developed based on the analysis of multiple peer review processes (Pedrazzini et al., 2014). This work embodies the steadfast belief of past editorial teams that academic journals hold the potential and responsibility to operate as professional learning communities (DuFour, 2004), where diverse members collaborate and mutually enrich each other's knowledge towards the shared objective of producing high-quality science.