Does editing a collection of scientific articles count as ‘judge’ or ‘authorship’ under EB-1?

It depends on what you actually did. Under EB-1, editorial activities can fit different criteria depending on the nature of your contribution: evaluating and selecting the work of others is closer to the role of ‘judge’, while creating your own content is closer to ‘authorship’.

Editing a collection of scientific articles often involves both possibilities, so it is worth separating the roles clearly:

• If you coordinated, reviewed, and selected articles by other researchers, that critical curation tends to be read as ‘judge’.
• If you also wrote original texts, analyses, or essays that are part of the collection, that portion may be classified as ‘authorship’.

Because reviewers look at the originality and relevance of your contributions, the key is to describe the scope of your role clearly and support each function with documentation. It is worth checking the updated requirements with USCIS and aligning the presentation of your case with a qualified professional.

About the author

Victoria Harper

Editor-in-Chief

Meet the author

As a journalist and lead editor at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps ensure that immigration topics are covered in a clear, trustworthy, and easy-to-understand way. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.