Assistant Editor, BioMed Central

BioMed Central is the leading open access publisher of STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) research. Since it was founded in 2000, BioMed Central has successfully pioneered the open access publishing model and brought open access to the mainstream.  With offices in London, North America and Asia, the company employs over 290 people across a range of operations including editorial, production, IT and business. BioMed Central is a vibrant and innovative company. It operates in a fast-paced and high-energy environment, hiring talented people who are passionate about science, technology, medicine and open access.
 

We have a number of Assistant Editor positions open within BioMed Central here in our London offices.  If you have a keen in interest in developing a career in open access publishing and are educated to degree level in a biomedical field then we want to hear from you.
 

The BMC series is a group of open access, peer reviewed journals that span all areas of biology and medicine. There are over 60 subject-specific journals focused on the needs of individual research communities, offering an efficient, fair and friendly peer review service, and committed to publishing all sound science, provided that there is some advance in knowledge presented by the work.
 

As Assistant Editor you will be responsible for efficiently progressing the content of journals within the BMC series through peer review, with the aim of minimizing time to publication. This includes assessment of manuscripts for adherence to editorial policies, selecting and inviting appropriate peer reviewers, assessing decisions on manuscripts in conjunction with the Editor and suggesting potential new members of the Editorial Board.
 

This is a great opportunity to learn all there is to know about open access publishing and to develop a career in this space.  We don’t require you to come with lots of existing publishing experience as we will teach you the more technical aspects of the role. You should already have biomedical exprerience to BSc level or equivalent. An MSc in a relevant topic could be useful also.
 

Excellent time management and broad scientific competence is a key part of this role.  You will balance the needs of a variety of journals from the BMC series, and demonstrate confidence in working on manuscripts across a wide spectrum of biomedical disciplines. 
 

To make an application to this position please submit a CV and a cover letter that details your interest and enthusiasm for the position.
 

Please see a detailed summary of responsibilities below:
 

Responsibilities:

• Progressing individual journal content to ensure efficient peer review and adherence to editorial policies
• Assessing manuscripts for suitability for peer review and adherence to requirements, rapidly resolving questions with authors when required.
• Selecting appropriate Associate Editors from the Editorial Board and obtaining their agreement to handle manuscripts.
• Providing support to the Associate Editors to ensure that manuscripts are progressing efficiently and that turnaround time goals are met, e.g. by reminding them of deadlines and providing resources to help them source peer reviewers, and supporting them in resolving manuscript issues.
• Verifying revision and final decisions by Associate Editors, escalating to the Editor as necessary.
• Ensuring the successful handling of transfers into BMC-series journals and successful transfer of out-of-scope manuscripts to more appropriate BMC-series journals.
• Identifying and highlighting problems promptly and proposing improvements to process.
• Responding effectively and within agreed timelines to queries from authors and editors 
• Building Editorial Boards
• Proactively suggest to Editors areas where additional Associate Editors or Section Editors would be beneficial
• Identify potential new members for the Editorial Board for Editors’ consideration
   

Other editorial duties
Other duties may include, on occasion, writing Editor’s Picks for highlighted articles, writing for the BMC series blog, highlighting interesting articles for PR, contacting external Editors for advice, liaising with the Research Integrity Group for advice and other tasks of a similar nature as directed.
 

Knowledge, Skills, Experience

• Educated to degree level in a biomedical field
• An interest in open access publishing
• Knowledge of editorial process and related matters is desirable
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent organisational ability and time-management skills
• Analytical/critical appraisal skills
• A high level of computer literacy (including MS Office, Outlook and internet browsers)
• Pleasant and tactful telephone manner
• Able to respond to non-routine circumstances
• Self-starter with a positive, can-do approach to problem-solving
• Ability to complete allocated tasks and work to (often competing) deadlines
• Ability to work cooperatively with colleagues at all levels
• Ability to work in a team

Experience (desirable)

• Scientific editorial/publishing experience
• BSc or equivalent essential, MSc could be useful

Please follow the link to apply https://career5.successfactors.eu/sfcareer/jobreqcareer?jobId=20146&comp...