Editorial Co-ordinator

Reports to: Senior Publishing Editor

Line manages:  N/A

Location: Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG

Hours: full-time, 35 hours per week

Pay Band: C

Salary: £32,138.26

The Royal Society, the UK’s premier scientific body, has a dynamic and growing publishing operation and, as part of our strategic development, we wish to appoint an Editorial Co-ordinator.

The primary objectives of The Royal Society’s publishing operation are to disseminate high-quality science, to make a positive contribution to the reputation of the Society and to generate a surplus to be used by the Society for the good of science. The Editorial Co-ordinator will ensure that high-quality and relevant content is published in the Royal Society’s journals in order to meet these objectives and contribute to the development of the journals’ programme.

We are seeking an enthusiastic team player with excellent communication, organisational and interpersonal skills, and a strong interest in all aspects of science.

This role will provide support to one or more Royal Society journals. The post holder will play a key role in working with authors and editors to ensure the high quality of published papers. They will be involved in the assessment of papers submitted for publication, including the peer-review process, and assisting with the development of our prestigious journals. A first degree in a scientific subject is essential, and some experience in scientific publishing is desirable.

Key responsibilities and tasks

• Ensure that we have sufficient approved content on schedule.
• Manage the submission, peer-review, and post-acceptance process ensuring high-quality and relevant content is published in the Society’s publications whilst maintaining high-quality service levels.
• Provide a high level of support for authors, working with Royal Society colleagues to ensure that authors have the information and materials that they need.
• Actively improve receipt to acceptance times and contribute to improvements in publication times where relevant.
• Recruitment of referees.
• Assist the Senior Publishing Editor and academic Editorial Board in soliciting relevant content.
• Administer electronic editorial systems, provide customer care, and support authors, referees and Editors.
• Manage post-acceptance processes ensuring material of high integrity is supplied to the production department.
• Contribute to the development of the content, workflow, processes and promotion of the Society’s journals.
• Contribute to the department’s social media accounts, including Twitter and Facebook, as part of a dedicated team.
• Support the Senior Publishing Editor, Editorial Board and Publisher in ensuring that wider academic, organizational and business objectives are achieved.

 Key knowledge and skills required

Essential

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work effectively with scientists, Editors, Board Members, the Fellowship and in-house staff.
• High levels of organisational skills needed to manage multiple projects and to work across several publications.
• Confidence both when working autonomously and in co-ordination with team members.
• Ability to pick up new tasks quickly and easily.
• Degree in a scientific subject.
• Comfortable using basic IT systems (e.g. MS Office).

Desirable

• Experience of working within academic publishing or a related environment.
• Familiarity with LaTeX.
• Familiarity with online editorial management systems (e.g. ScholarOne, Editorial Manager etc).

 Competencies

Self-management

• Works unsupervised and can motivate self
• Produces results under pressure
• Can manage in stressful situations
• Pushes for the best results

Working with others

• Contributes ideas and identifies opportunities to work with others both within the team and across the organisation
• Willing to provide feedback to sectional colleagues when requested
• Produces succinct presentations and papers for senior colleagues
• Understands when to seek senior advice on potentially delicate negotiations

Resource management

• Makes the best of internal/external resources and coordinates well with external partners to best meet the needs of the Society
• Builds contingency into projects taking into account possible outside factors
• Sets and monitors performance against quality and results orientated targets.
• Focuses on both short and long-term goals

Critical thinking

• Determines and clarifies the exact requirements of any situation
• Checks information for accuracy and raises concerns if information is inaccurate
• Extracts the key points succinctly, clearly and accurately
• Puts forward suggestions for improvement concerning current processes or systems
• Tries different ways of doing things to get the best results

Adaptability

• Overcomes obstacles and is not deterred by setbacks; checks assumptions and first principles and works out alternative approaches
• Reacts proactively to new challenges and works in a flexible manner to produce solutions
• Provides feedback and participates in discussions surrounding new ideas approaches or projects

Managing people and relationships

• Delegates effectively, setting clear expectations and authority
• Monitors results and feedbacks to team on a regular basis
• Recognises others’ contributions and acknowledges their limits
• Helps others to identify ways to improve their performance
• Prioritises supervisory responsibilities and carries them out in a timely fashion
• Understands and can identify client/stakeholder/staff needs and looks for opportunities to improve their experiences