Impact through mentorship: The ECR Program expands

Author: Saskia Hoving

Editor-in-Chief

In the two years since its launch in the US, Springer Nature’s Early Career Researcher (ECR) Program has been offering comprehensive support to ECRs on various important topics relevant to their professional growth. The ECR Program has now expanded, and extends tailored opportunities and resources to ECRs globally. We checked in again with the program’s initiator to hear about two mentoring initiatives and their profound impact on ECRs, as well as other initiatives to nurture the next generation of researchers.

Almost two years ago, Eseohe Arhebamen-Yamasaki, Head of Communications US at Springer Nature, launched the ECR Program. “Members of the ECR community receive different levels of support,” she explains, “with supervisors having varying degrees of expertise on topics like academic publishing, open access (OA), or funding opportunities.” This uneven landscape prompted Arhebamen-Yamasaki to create the ECR Program.

Working collaboratively across different teams in Springer Nature and with university librarians, the ECR Program offers training and support on publishing, OA, peer review, research integrity, and more. Throughout 2024, the ECR Program organised a series of workshops at universities across the US. “Working in tandem with libraries and research offices, what we really want to do with the ECR Program is to better support ECRs,” Arhebamen-Yamasaki says.

Recognising the profound impact that mentoring can have on a mentee’s personal and professional growth, the ECR Program offers hands on support and growth through mentoring to ECRs. Arhebamen-Yamasaki spoke with us about two global mentoring initiatives and their effects on participating ECRs. 

With examples of other activities to advance ECRs and support them in their journey in academic publishing, Arhebamen-Yamasaki explains how the ECR Program partners with the community to nurture the next generation of researchers globally.

Rising Scholars Breast Cancer program: Mentoring ECRs in underserved communities

Springer Nature introduced the Rising Scholars: Breast Cancer program, led by Andrea Macaluso, Springer Nature’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, Americas, together with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), to provide resources for professional and career development to ECRs in the field of cancer research.

Focusing on ECRs communities from around the world, the inaugural cohort of 25 ECRs is on board for two years. During this time, the ECRs receive seven Nature Masterclasses on topics such as scientific writing and publishing, communicating research, and data sharing and management, as well as free access to Nature Masterclasses Online.

The participating ECRs also receive professional developmental editing services, and the opportunity to share their work and gain invaluable feedback and experience in monthly mentoring sessions with Nature Portfolio editors, external senior researchers and clinicians, and BCRF leadership. The program team monitors qualitative metrics such as participants’ confidence levels and the calibre of journals they submit to assess how impactful the program has been for them.

Going global and impacting ECRs while gaining their perspectives
With its targeting of ECRS from globally-placed communities, Rising Scholars: Breast Cancer embodies Springer Nature’s commitment to helping researchers uncover new ideas and share their discoveries. “To provide novel solutions, we know that it's important for us to learn from as many different communities as we can about issues like breast cancer,” Arhebamen-Yamasaki says.

She enthusiastically mentions, among others, Dr. Simone Badal from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica who received the Anthony N. Sabga Award for Caribbean Excellence for her innovations in the field of Science and Technology and long-time supporter of Springer Nature’s efforts for ECRs, Dr. Antonio Baines from North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr Baines previously participated in a Charleston Conference panel on the transition to open access (OA) alongside Springer Nature’s Vice President OA, Carrie Webster, and has recently received the 2025 Award for Excellence in Teaching from the UNC Board of Governors. Dr. Badal and Dr. Baines are just two of the 25 promising ECRs that the program supports in different parts of the world.

Editorial mentoring in immunobiology in Brazil: Supporting ECRs in publishing their research

Another exciting mentorship initiative began in 2024 with Springer Nature’s Brazilian institutional customer Bio-Manguinhos, the Institute of Technology on Immunobiologicals, together with editors of the journal In Vitro Models.

“Last year, Bio-Manguinhos asked us to provide mentoring sessions for researchers seeking guidance on publishing their academic work,” shares Andréa Gonçalves, Senior Account Development Manager at Springer Nature. Interested ECRs working in immunobiology submitted paper summaries for consideration, and Springer Nature editors selected which ones they wanted to support.

Two editors from the journal In Vitro Models agreed to act as mentors to the ECR authors: Professor Ketul Popat from George Mason University in the US and Professor Joaquim Miguel Oliveira from Universidade do Minho in Portugal. “Together,” Gonçalves explains, “they mentored ten groups of authors, who benefitted from the editors’ expertise to improve the quality of their manuscripts.”

Hands-on support for publication through editorial mentorship
The participating editors covered a broad spectrum of pertinent issues in the mentoring program, from the publication process and paper structure to statistical analysis importance and maturity of results. In their feedback, they reported excellent dynamic and interactions in the mentoring sessions with the ECR authors.

The works discussed, according to the editors, are timely, impactful, and of scientific relevance. Through the mentoring process, the editors aimed to equip the authors with perspective to assess the impact of their results and what is missing to get them published. Indeed, one ECR who participated in the mentoring sessions confirmed that the mentor highlighted important issues that required enhancement in order to improve the manuscript’s chances of being accepted for publication. This is the kind of personalised support that makes a real impact on an ECR’s publishing and professional journey.

Working with the communities we serve to share knowledge

Disparities in access to research and in research education are also features of the varied landscape in which the ECR community operates, which prompted the launching of the ECR Program. Springer Nature’s commitment to providing platforms and services to researchers is a driving force behind the ECR Program’s support of young researchers across the globe and its focus on communities-in-need.

Enhancing publishing knowledge at Case Western Reserve University
An illustrative example of this commitment is the ECR Program’s contribution to the Publishing Symposium held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio in the United States in April 2024. In collaboration with the university library, Springer Nature’s Katherine Lang, Journals Executive Publisher, supported the symposium’s efforts to enhance understanding of the publishing process and open science for ECRs’ professional growth.

Lang spoke with ECRs from the university about peer review, research integrity, and reproducibility, as well as the value of open science and open access to ECRs. She was joined by Sana Loue, who shared the perspective of an experienced faculty and journal Editor-in-Chief.

By prioritising and empowering the next generation of researchers from across the world, through outreach and knowledge-promoting events such as the Case Western Reserve University presentation, the ECR Program brings meaningful impact to ECRs and the scientific community as a whole.

Promoting open science for ECRs globally as authors and reader
Recognising the importance of open science and OA publishing likewise fuels the ECR Program’s expansion globally. Making research available for all to use means increased accessibility, also to researchers from institutions and areas with limited resources, enabling them to contribute to scientific advances.

Encouraging ECR’s OA publication has been at the heart of the Program since its inception, as well as supporting collaboration between university libraries and their researchers. Workshops organised by the ECR Program with university libraries have indeed contributed to raising awareness and prominence of librarians within their institutions. Following one such workshop, a participant wrote for the university newspaper about OA publishing in collaboration with their librarian.

Empowering ECRs with Nature Portfolio Journals' co-review initiative
Academic publishing is an essential and substantial part of an academic career. ECRs need support in learning about the academic publishing environment and in gaining experience about the different roles they are expected to play in it. In a practical, specific, and smaller scale approach, a co-review initiative enables ECRs to participate in peer review, an invaluable experience for any young academic.

Nature Communication's Early Career Researchers pathways, a co-review with ECRs initiative, supports the career development of ECRs by offering a credited opportunity to review with an experienced colleague and to receive training and support for independent reviewing. “We launched the initiative because ECRs represent the future scientific communities we want to support through their careers,” said Nathalie Le Bot, Editorial Director, Health and Clinical Sciences at Nature Communications, where the initiative has delivered impressive results. 

Nurturing the next generation through the ECR Program

Arhebamen-Yamasaki strongly believes in the meaningful impact that Springer Nature’s ECR Program can have on ECRs through mentoring and support. Most memorable are the times when ECRs share their gains from program's initiatives. Like that time when a former participant in the Rising Scholars: Breast Cancer program shared with Arhebamen-Yamasaki and her colleagues that through her participation, training, and mentorship in the program, she had been empowered to submit a paper to a prominent Nature Portfolio journal.

Such individual stories are woven through the ECR Program, and they certainly drive the enthusiasm of all stakeholders to propel the program forward, expand its reach, and make a broader difference. Looking ahead, the ECR Program will work closely with the community to meet their needs, develop more tools to strengthen the publication process, and empower the future generation of researchers.

Interested in leveraging the ECR Program’s initiatives for the emerging scholars in your institution? Get in touch with Arhebamen-Yamasaki to explore the options.

About Eseohe Arhebamen-Yamasaki

A poet, multimedia artist and music producer with over 20 years of experience in strategic communications and media relations, Eseohe Arhebamen-Yamasaki is U.S. Head of Communications for Springer Nature. She leads Springer Nature's Early Career Researcher (ECR) Program which coalesces the company's efforts globally to support ECRs' success in the research and publishing ecosystem as part of Springer Nature's vision of an open science and open access future.

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