Call for new preLighters

preLights, The Company of Biologist’s preprint highlighting service, has now been running for 15 months. At the heart of preLights is the community of early-career researchers who select and highlight interesting preprints in various fields.

As preLights is building momentum, we are ready to grow our team of preLighters and are seeking early-career researchers (PhD students, postdocs, PIs in their first few years) who are passionate about preprints and enjoy writing and communicating science. We welcome researchers from across the biological sciences and especially those with expertise in Bioinformatics, Neuroscience, Ecology, Plant biology, Comparative physiology.

To join our team of preLighters, please send your application to prelights@biologists.com by 15 July 2019.

In your application, please provide:

• A short biography, telling us who you are and what you work on
• A few sentences about why you are interested in joining the preLights community
• A preLight post written by you about a recent preprint (ideally not older than 1 month)

We have a flexible format for preLight posts, but you should aim to include:

A short and engaging ‘Tweetable’ summary of the preprint (less than 250 characters); background of the preprint; key findings of the preprint; what you like about this preprint/why you think the work is important; future directions and questions for the authors.

The post should reflect your personal opinion on the research in the preprint that you selected. Please also provide the URL link of the preprint. Your post should not exceed 1000 words.

To learn more about the ideas behind preLights, take a look at this introduction or this overview about the first year of preLights. You can also check out the interviews with current preLighters to learn about their experience on our News page.

What’s in it for me?

This is a great opportunity for you to gain experience in science writing. You will get editing feedback from us and your peers and we aim to raise your profile as a trusted preprint selector and commentator. You will grow your professional network, and we are happy to support you by offering recommendation letters or in other ways.

But there is also a commitment; we expect you to select and highlight a preprint approximately every two months. You will also have the chance to contribute to preLists, a new initiative where preLighters curate lists of preprints in their topic of interest or collect preprints that were presented at conferences they attended.

We are aiming to have a diverse team and might not be able to accept all applicants, but are looking forward to welcoming our new preLighters.

For any enquiries about the process, please email prelights@biologists.com