Each year, the AAAS annual meeting includes induction of newly elected AAAS fellows. In the words of AAAS, fellows are AAAS members whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.” Members who were inducted as fellows at the 2020 annual meeting included Monica M Bradford, executive editor of Science. Bradford was recognized “for advancing science through longstanding and forward-thinking leadership at Science magazine and through contributions to the scientific-publishing community.”
Bradford, who has a degree in chemistry, began her editorial career in 1980 at the American Chemical Society, starting as an editorial assistant and ultimately becoming manager of the manuscript office. She moved to AAAS in 1989 as assistant managing editor of Science and was promoted the next year to managing editor. Since 2002, she has been executive editor of Science. During her time with the publication, she has served with 7 successive editors-in-chief. Currently she is one of the longest-serving members of the Science editorial staff.
Over the years, Bradford has helped Science navigate and benefit from technological and other changes in scientific publication, serve as a model for other journals in these regards, and contribute to this evolution. She led the team responsible for moving Science online in 1995, partnered with technologists to institute cloud-based peer review, and has played leadership roles regarding new online features and products. With editors-in-chief of Science, she has developed policies on authorship, conflicts of interest, scientific misconduct, and availability of materials and data.
A CSE member for over 30 years, Bradford was CSE president in 2006–2007. Recently, she has spoken at the CSE annual meeting sessions “Editorial and Publishing Questions: Data-Informed Solutions” and “Preventing and Addressing Workplace Harassment: Initiatives by Publishers and Organizations.” She also has given many other presentations in the field and has contributed to workshops on topics such as ethics, retractions, reproducibility, and online publishing.
Barbara Gastel is a professor at Texas A&M University.