Executive Editor, PLOS Water
PLOS Water connects communities across water sanitation and water resources research and amplifies diverse voices from all regions, disciplines, and community perspectives that influence this globally important topic. The journal drives Open Science water research forward to foster a deeper understanding of these interconnected issues and empower researchers, local and indigenous communities, water professionals, and organizations from across the globe to take positive, evidence-based action in order to address some of the most pressing issues our planet faces.
The Executive Editor works with the academic Editors-in-Chief to create and implement a vision and strategy for the journal to bring open science practices and open access publishing to the PLOS Water community. You will build and maintain strong relationships with the scientific community and develop the journal to meet the community’s evolving needs. You will work collaboratively with the journal’s Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board to implement and deliver against journal strategies and key performance indicators, maintaining high standards for author service. You will contribute to policies and procedures that support Open Science practices and will develop international networks to grow PLOS’ profile and reputation.
The position will be based remotely in the UK or US (AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, KS, MA, MD, MN, NY, OR, PA, TX, VA, VT, WA).
Responsibilities
- In consultation with the journal’s Editors-in-Chief, set, develop and implement the editorial strategy and vision for the journal, pursuing integrity of content, open science practices, and excellent author and reader services to support the journal competitive positioning in service of PLOS’ mission.
- Take overall responsibility for editorial decision-making on the journal, ensuring optimal evaluation and arbitration procedures, compliance with editorial policies, setting selection criteria, and upholding rigor and ethics standards.
- Develop a strategic, data-driven and disciplined approach to recruiting content that is aligned with the publishing strategy and contains measurable targets.
- Build and maintain excellent working relationships with the journal’s Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board.
- Work collaboratively with the journal’s Editors-in-Chief and Editorial Board and the journal operations team to evaluate new manuscript submissions and meet KPI targets for submission handling and time to publication.
- Work with the Editorial Board Services team on ensuring the efficiency and quality of manuscript handling by the Editorial Board and the quality of the published output
- Collaborate with the Editorial Board Services to identify areas within the journal’s scope in need of Academic Editor and/or Section Editor recruitment.
- Decide on publication ethics cases prepared by the Publication Ethics team and work with the Publication Ethics team to bring active cases to a swift resolution.
- Prepare reports on journal performance, as well as other reports related to the areas of responsibility, as required
- Oversee and monitor the transfer process of submissions between PLOS Water and the other PLOS journals.
- Identify papers suitable for press releasing and work with the media communications team to bring press attention to suitable journal content.
- Work collaboratively with the Outreach team to contribute to implementation of marketing plans, ensuring that the profile of the journal is maximized.
- Contribute to the development and launch of products and services to grow adoption of open access and open science practices.
- Represent the journal on relevant major cross-journal or cross-departmental projects.
- Provide input into initiatives to curate and promote content such as Partnered Collections or cross-journal Calls for Papers.
Qualifications and Experience
- Editorial experience in scientific or medical journal publishing; experience developing and delivering against editorial strategy is desirable
- Familiarity with peer review, editorial decision making and publishing standards for original research publications
- Experience managing relationships with academic Editorial Board members and Editors in Chief
- Demonstrated evidence of a strong and active network of professional contacts in a relevant subject area
- Ability to work effectively with a wide variety of colleagues, in peer-to-peer and management relationships
- Strong collaboration skills; demonstrated ability to seek input and make a decision
- Commitment to excellent researcher service and demonstrable skill in responding to customer need
- Excellent analytic, communication, and presentation skills, both written and oral
- Embraces change with a positive attitude
- Organized and efficient with a strong problem-solving ability
- A degree in a relevant scientific discipline; a post-graduate degree in a field within PLOS Water’s scope is desirable
The base salary range we’ve established for this position is (UK) £50,000-£61,000 (US) $82,000-$91,000. The final salary will depend on several factors, including the candidate’s relevant work experience, skills, education, and other qualifications; the region in which the candidate resides, and internal pay equity with current PLOS employees in similar jobs.
The Organization:
PLOS is a non-profit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. PLOS journals propelled the movement for OA alternatives to subscription journals. We established the first multi-disciplinary publication inclusive of all excellent research regardless of novelty or impact and demonstrated the importance of open data availability. As we continue to lead the way in making research content more open, we need to make it a system that’s open for everyone. We are intentionally spreading our roots deeper, globally.
We believe in pushing the boundaries of ‘Open’ to create a more equitable system of scientific knowledge and understanding—it’s core to who we are, inside and out. Beyond accepting distinct perspectives, we seek and support divergent backgrounds among our staff because we know differences strengthen our teams, our work, and our communities. We’re ever-evolving in our journey for representation and equity, and strongly encourage applicants of diverse identities to apply: you’ll find a group of critical thinkers eager to challenge the status quo and learn with you as we continue breaking barriers to open science.
