Improving postdoctoral training practices to enhance career success

This special topic issue 'Improving postdoctoral training practices to enhance career success' has been developed in collaboration with the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (SEBM). This topic aligns closely with the mission of the SEBM regarding fostering the career development of trainees, students and postdoctoral scholars.

Every scientist’s career path is different, thus designing the career path beyond the postdoctoral training period is important. Even with the best planning one’s career path may not be straight forward and make take sharp turns along the years. However, intentional self-assessment, analyzing current skills and aspirations provides important information for goal setting and action planning. This process can be greatly improved by using readily available tools for assessing one’s skills, interests, and values as well as appropriate mentoring. Mentors are needed at all levels of career development. Good mentors provide objective feedback and help identify weak spots and suggest growth areas. Setting expectations within a mentoring relationship is necessary for both mentor and mentee to have support for the postdoc’s development goals as well as the needed research productivity and progress of the research. In addition, postdocs are often primary mentors for junior members of the research group (undergraduate and graduate students). Less recognized, postdocs also have the opportunity to mentor up their faculty advisors by helping to manage their relationship. From this point of view, postdoctoral scholars have a unique role in advancing and improving the mentoring culture in the scientific research environment.

Leadership is an essential skill for postdocs to develop, especially for those involved in their postdoctoral associations. Engaging their community and participating in strategic thinking regarding how to foster a positive environment represents an excellent training for any future scientific career. Moreover, leading a widely dispersed community in multiple colleges and even different campuses requires intentional planning to bridge the physical and perceived distance to foster professional development opportunities across disciplines and career paths.

Studies indicate that a large majority of postdocs transition to non-academic careers. Postdocs have valuable skills that are of interest for non-academic employers, however, identifying the skills that may be transferable from an academic to a non-academic environment is challenging. Even though the skills may be the same, their terminology is entirely different. A creative approach that analyses how academic skills can be used to bring value to a non-academic employer’s enterprise represents the key of ‘translating’ the academic postdoctoral skills to an industry setting.

While there are acknowledged best practices, guides that explain ‘how to’ apply them from the point of view of the postdoctoral scholar are lacking. This special issue will attempt to close this informational gap.

Postdoctoral scholars are highly skilled individuals who contribute to the research enterprise and institutional reputation of the research institutions. These individuals who already have a PhD or equivalent degree are engaging in a defined period of advanced training to enhance their professional skills needed to further pursue the career of their choice within an academic or non-academic environment. This group of research scholars require specialized mentoring and training opportunities that differ from those provided to undergraduate or graduate students. In addition to the primary responsibility of conducting research, postdoctoral scholars may also undertake other activities such as leadership, service, and/or teaching activities that together provide training experiences essential for professional development and career advancement. Acquiring the necessary expertise depends largely on institutional support to provide appropriate training for both academic and non-academic career paths. These articles aim to provide basic tools regarding integration of professional development and career planning into postdoctoral training.

The main goal of this special topic issue is to offer ‘how to’ information that will provide postdoctoral scholars and their mentors with a structured approach for integrating professional and career development into postdoctoral training in a manner that fosters a mutually advantageous collaboration.

Topics of interest for this special issue include, but are not limited to:
1. Designing your career path (individual development plan and mentor-mentee compact)
2. Postdoctoral mentoring (skills to assist mentoring relationships with individuals both above and below the current position)
3. Leadership skills
4. Engaging postdoctoral community
5. Transferable skills (academia to non-academic setting)

These manuscripts will follow Frontiers EBM Brief Communication format with less than 4000 words/article and 3-4 figures or tables.

Article types and fees

This Issue accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Issue description:

• Brief Communication
• Commentary
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Review

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Issue accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Issue description:

• Brief Communication
• Commentary
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Review

Keywords: Career development, professional development, mentoring, leadership