Dr Magdalena Skipper appointed new Editor-in-Chief of Nature

Following a lengthy selection process, Dr Magdalena Skipper, Editor-in-Chief of Nature Communications, has been appointed as the new Editor-in-Chief of Nature.  Dr Skipper will be only the eighth Editor-in-Chief in Nature’s 149-year history and the first to come from a life sciences background.  She will succeed Sir Philip Campbell, who is moving to the newly created role of Editor- in-Chief of Springer Nature on 1 July 2018.

Dr Skipper has spent over 15 years working for Nature, first joining in 2001. She has held a range of roles as her responsibilities and portfolio have grown: Chief Editor of Nature Reviews Genetics; Associate Publisher, Nature Life Sciences; Senior Editor and Team Leader, Nature; and as Executive Editor of the Nature Partner Journals. After a brief sojourn at Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences as Director of Scientific Communications and Publishing, she rejoined the company in 2017 as Editor in Chief, Nature Communications.  

Dr Skipper said:

“It is a tremendous honour and a privilege to have been entrusted with the leadership of Nature. It is especially exciting to be taking on this role at a time when the way science is done and disseminated is evolving. I look forward to continuing Nature’s leadership in publishing the most interesting and ground-breaking discoveries, and providing a voice on important issues such as promoting transparency and diversity in science.”

Dean Sanderson, Managing Director, Nature Research, said:

“I’m delighted that for the first time a woman will be taking the helm at Nature – and equally delighted that our extensive search resulted in an appointment within the Nature Research family.  As the world’s most cited journal, Nature has an important role in not only publishing ground-breaking research, but also in providing scientists with analysis and commentary that help put that research in context.  With her wealth of experience and commitment to excellence, Magdalena is ideally placed to guide Nature and the Nature journals into the future.”

Sir Philip Campbell, out-going Editor-in-Chief of Nature, said:

“I could not be more pleased with the appointment of Magdalena as Nature’s new Editor-in-Chief.  Having worked with her for many years, I know that Nature and its editorial team will truly thrive under her leadership. She is passionate about science and about its communication, and she has engaged strongly with the research community throughout her career.” 

Dr Skipper received a PhD in genetics from the University of Cambridge and conducted research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, after which she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) in London.  At Nature, she was instrumental in the developing the innovative ENCODE Explorer and Epigenome Roadmap projects, which pushed the boundaries of science publishing beyond the conventional research paper.  At Nature Communications, she has been a strong champion of open research.