<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//TaxonX//DTD Taxonomic Treatment Publishing DTD v0 20100105//EN" "https://ese.arphahub.com/nlm/tax-treatment-NS0.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:tp="http://www.plazi.org/taxpub" article-type="research-article" dtd-version="3.0" xml:lang="en">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">95</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:02939EE0-163D-59B9-A896-E0B63CFEE862</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">European Science Editing</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">ESE</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">0258-3127</issn>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2518-3354</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>European Association of Science Editors (EASE)</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3897/ese.2026.e182020</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">182020</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Correspondence</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="scientific_subject">
          <subject>Journal management</subject>
          <subject>Other</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Ninety-seven ignored: A personal reflection on the hidden struggles of an academic editor</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Mondal</surname>
            <given-names>Himel</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:type="simple">himelmkcg@gmail.com</email>
          <uri content-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6950-5857</uri>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jharkhand, India</addr-line>
        <institution>All India Institute of Medical Sciences</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Jharkhand</addr-line>
        <country>India</country>
        <uri content-type="ror">https://ror.org/02dwcqs71</uri>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="corresp">
          <p>Corresponding author: Himel Mondal (<email xlink:type="simple">himelmkcg@gmail.com</email>).</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: Tom Lang</p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>09</day>
        <month>03</month>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>52</volume>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/7AA89192-EC6D-58BF-AF6D-740C65E5F2FD">7AA89192-EC6D-58BF-AF6D-740C65E5F2FD</uri>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>10</day>
          <month>12</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>31</day>
          <month>12</month>
          <year>2025</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Himel Mondal</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>Delays in editorial decisions are a frequent source of frustration for authors, yet the hidden challenges faced by editors remain largely unrecognized. Reflecting on my experience serving on the editorial boards of two academic journals, I describe the substantial workload, emotional burden, and reviewer scarcity that characterize contemporary editorial practice. Managing approximately 20 manuscripts required sending dozens to over a hundred reviewer invitations per article, often yielding few or no responses and prolonging decision timelines. The relentless, voluntary nature of this work resulted in significant mental fatigue, intrusion into personal life, and eventual burnout, culminating in my resignation from both roles. This reflective account highlights the demanding, often invisible labor of editors and calls for greater empathy and support within the scholarly community.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
