Operations Coordinator – Wanted, Durbanville, Northern Suburbs. Operations Coordinator in the Publishing Department who will communicate with authors, reviewers and editors to ensure and meets regulatory quality standards (double-blind peer review) and ensure a complete manuscript for handover. During these stages engage with colleagues and clients (author, reviewer, editor) as to monitor service delivery and customer satisfaction to each journal.

Requirements: Relevant tertiary qualifications or 3-5 years in the role of an editorial assistant. An English, journalism, arts and humanities or communications degree may be advantageous. Other design, proofreading or subbing qualifications may be advantageous. Excellent written, verbal, phone and presentation skills.

Advanced user: Proficiency in Microsoft Office (e.g. Word and Excel, i.e. track changes, version control, removing or inserting author information). Good at spotting trends, report and analyse.

Duties: Co-ordinate with other in-house teams, and production staff to negotiate and monitor timescales for stages in the unassigned and review publishing process. Co-ordinate with authors throughout the unassigned and review process. Manage the Submission and Review administration of authors, of manuscripts, of peer reviewers and editors. Manage the peer-review process from manuscript submission to final editorial decision, including managing the editorial mailboxes.

Collecting reviews and notify and co-ordinate with editors and reviewers. Processing revisions & resubmissions and sending them to the editor and reviewers as needed. Sending reminders to authors, editors & reviewers; transmitting editorial decisions (rejections, invitations to revise, approvals) to the authors. Scrutinizing the manuscript processing & scheduling issue releases to ensure work enters the production process on-time and at the desired quality. Communicate with editors, reviewers and authors to ensure the timely & on-target execution of journal targets for review.

Identifying elements missing in a manuscript and liaise with the author to obtain the material. Preparing articles for review by collating information and changing the manuscript to prepare it for the next relevant publication process. Format and review manuscripts to ensure their accuracy & readability for the production process. Verifying and carrying out plagiarism checks of scientific manuscripts by using Authenticate software, consult with the Editor on any matters of concern.

Ensure rolling acceptances and processes at each journal (to ensure weekly and monthly acceptance output). Ensure that time from review to acceptance does not exceed 90 days. Ensure minimum requirements of indexers are adhered to (e.g. weekly and monthly publication output). Ensure minimum requirements of the Department of Higher Education and Training are adhered to for accepted quantities and institutional ratios (e.g. 25/75 Rule).

Recommend corrective action plans to management to improve review quality. Implement approved action plans within the agreed timeframe as negotiated with management. Inspect, review and monitor the journal platforms, if the journal platform has any technical difficulties it needs to be reported at the publishing manager.

Answer and resolve customer support queries professionally and timeously. Verifying and carrying out plagiarism checks of scientific manuscripts by using authenticate software and search engine platforms. Advise and consult with the Editor on any similarities that is cause for concern. Keep business-related documents confidential; Ensure that all publication processes and corrections of the publication record follows and adheres to the international publication ethics guidelines (Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE), and guide authors/editors accordingly.

Screen all manuscripts for material that may potentially be defamatory, an intrusion of privacy rights, an intrusion of personality rights, illegal, patented, racism, obscene or pornographic, and alert the management of the company about it. Adhere to systems, policies, and procedures. Maintain a safe and healthy work environment and adhering to organization standards.

Adhering to legal regulations; and perform corrective action as required by the Desk Editor. Ensure a positive, professional and productive working environment by personally cultivating the company values in the department. Prepare manuscripts accepted out of review for the sub-editor within 2 working days after acceptance. Obtain all licensing forms and other required forms from the author to assist the sub-editor to issue invoices. Coordinate resource scheduling of reviewers, to prevent bottlenecks.

Support the Editor-in-Chief by finding suitable reviewers for manuscript entering or under review. Support the Editor-in-Chief or Section Editors in review assignment. Maintain the online reviewer profile with the newest/latest user credentials. Merge duplicate accounts and establish with reviewer the preference profile, prior to merging. Compile and issue the reviewer acknowledgement. Compile quarterly, semester or ad hoc reports (e.g. reviewers, review timelines, keywords trends)

Providing input to process and procedure development and ensure that relate agreed-upon processes and procedures are consistently followed. Identify and report opportunities that improves efficiency and waste and non-value-added activities. Provide Editor Training on “In Review” Processes and journal Management Platform.

Coach and consult on the publishing platform for editors, guest editors, managing editors, and all other stakeholders using Skype, Email and/or Phone. Consult on research ethics and cases, as needed. Salary: Please indicate what bracket you are seeking when applying for this position.

NB: If you have not been contacted within 48 working hours, your application has been unsuccessful for this position.

NOTE: Never make payment to any employer, person, company, contractor or agency to get hired for a Job.

CV: sam@personastaff.co.za