A publishing job, for example, can offer flexibility in work sites and schedules, greater job security than many research positions, and a relief from the burnout that can result from focusing too intently on a single scientific question.
One editor's chair that's especially well filled by scientists is that of an acquisitions editor, who signs up new books for publication. "About half of the acquisitions editors I know got a Ph.D. in a science, and decided they didn't want to spend [many] years at the bench in one narrow area," says Kirk Jensen, an acquisitions editor at New York- based Oxford University Press.
Jobs in publishing offer a variety of opportunities for scientists. "It is a very broad, open field, with positions in sales, marketing, development, and production, as well as editorial jobs," says Elizabeth Seavers, a biology editor at William C. Brown Communications in Dubuque, Iowa.
Seavers was en ...
