The CSE Short Courses are presented each year immediately before the annual meeting and provide a unique opportunity to learn about topics relevant to various elements of scientific publishing. The courses are held at the meeting venue, this year the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Atlanta. The 2-day Short Course for Journal Editors will take place on Friday and Saturday, 14–15 May, and the Short Courses on Publication Management, Manuscript Editing, and Journal Metrics will all be held on Saturday, 15 May. Courses are led by experienced faculty and updated each year to address current issues and problems. Presentations include lectures, panel discussions, breakout sessions, and question-and-answer sessions. At midday, roundtable luncheons promote informal discussion of issues presented in the courses or conversation around ancillary issues.

Short Course for Journal Editors

The 2-day Short Course for Journal Editors is designed to provide an introduction for new editors and a refresher for experienced colleagues. The course coordinator will be William Lanier, editor-in-chief of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The course covers the roles and responsibilities of editors, authors, peer reviewers, and consultants of scientific journals. Formal lectures, case studies, and group discussions are used to explore publishing ethics, business decisions, manuscript throughput and office logistics, use of metrics to assess journal progress, and related topics. Ample time is given for participants to engage in group discussions and present questions and problems for consideration by the faculty and other participants.

Short Course on Publication Management

Patty Baskin, executive editor of Neurology, will be the coordinator of the 1-day Short Course on Publication Management. The course is designed to address the challenges that managing editors and publication managers face, whether they are new in their positions or seasoned veterans. Topics include managing periods of change; the scope and tone of communications handled by publication managers; work flow and management of office staff; working with vendors; discussions of current topics of concern, such as ethics, conflicts of interest, and open access; and insight into expectations of editors, authors, and reviewers. The course includes practice exercises and opportunities to present questions for discussion among the group.

Short Course for Manuscript Editors

The 1-day Short Course for Manuscript Editors will be led by Stacy Christiansen, director of manuscript editing for the Journal of the American Medical Association. The course is designed for both novices and experienced editors who need to stay current in their skills. Group sessions will address topics of central importance to scientific manuscript editors, such as levels of editing, ethical and legal issues in biomedical publication, usage issues, and editing of statistics in manuscripts. The course will end with an opportunity for questions and informal discussion with course faculty and participants.

Short Course on Journal Metrics

Angela Cochran, managing editor of Cancer and Cancer Cytopathology, is organizing the 1-day Short Course on Journal Metrics, which is designed to help journal managers to use available data to make strategic decisions. The course will offer different ways to collect and analyze journal data and present them to editorial boards, ways to detect trends and analyze changes, ways to use online-use data in conjunction with circulation data for marketing a journal, the value of readership surveys and competition surveys, and ways to use programs like Excel for creating high-impact reports.