SUMMARY:
My client based in the Northern Suburbs, focusing on the Academic industry is seeking to employ an Operations Coordinator to join their Journal department. The ideal candidate will have excellent communication and grammar skills, attention to detail and be able to work within a team environment. We are looking for someone that is self-motivated and result orientated. The following will apply;
POSITION INFO:
Job Summary:
Operations Coordinator assist in the day-to-day coordination and management of operational activities of all in-process and forthcoming manuscripts. Build and maintain strong interpersonal relationships with authors, reviewers, Section Editors and Editors-in-Chief. Maintain regulatory quality standards (double-blind peer review and ethical review practices) and ensure all forthcoming operations documents are complete upon its release to production staff to ensure project delivery is within allotted timelines.
Journal production targets
- Communicating with the publications department, and production staff on timescales and manuscript progress to manage deadlines for stages in the unassigned and review publishing process.
- Preparing documentation for weekly and monthly publications meetings with the supervisor.
- Actioning Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors editorial decisions and/or requests.
- Follow-up on reviews and revised manuscript progress.
- Liaise with authors throughout the unassigned and review process, as to keep them informed on the status of their manuscript on a bi-weekly basis.
- Communicating with authors in allocated journals to clarify the requirements and obtain missing information for the manuscript to meet the submission standard, set out in the company policies and author guidelines.
- Planning and management of forthcoming manuscripts, as set out in the deliverables brief, scheduling and actioning processes to ensure timeous release to production staff.
- Obtaining permission to publish forms, prior to the commencement of the review, from authors to protect both companies, Editorial Board and the authors against plagiarism claims.
- Receiving, coordinating, executing and finalising administration tasks and emails of authors, of manuscripts, of peer reviewers and editors.
- Manage and be responsible for the running of, to meet objectives, of the peer-review process from manuscript submission to final editorial decision, including managing the editorial mailboxes.
- Collecting reviews to translate into a collated reviewer report to be considered by the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editor.
- Regularly test the company workflow of the journal, to determine whether it is a valid and true representation of the operational flow of the manuscript in the submissions and review processes. Alerting the supervisor if deviations occur as to inspect and resolve.
- Compile and release an updated weekly status action list for the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors to perform, without any interruptions, at the date and time as indicated on the company workflow of the journal.
- Processing manuscript revisions and resubmissions from authors and releasing them to the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editor and reviewers, as needed or instructed by the Editor(s).
- Closely monitoring action requests (e.g. reviewer invitations, revisions required), and sending gentle reminders to the authors, Editor(s) and reviewers.
- Transmitting editorial decisions (e.g. rejections, invitations to revise, approvals) to the authors, in a timely manner.
- Scrutinising the manuscript processing timelines and requirements on contractual deliverables brief, drafting scheduling requirement and identifying releases needed to ensure work enters the production process on-time and at the desired quality.
- Communicating in a professional manner with Editor(s), reviewers and authors to ensure the timely and on-target execution of journal targets for review.
- Identifying elements (e.g. tables, figures, ethical considerations) missing or not disclosed in a manuscript and liaise with the author to obtain the material before the commencement of peer review.
- Preparing and format manuscripts for review by collating confidential information (e.g. remove it from the review copy, or add it back for production) and changing the manuscript (e.g. line numbers, review page) to prepare it for the next relevant review process or production release.
- Format (e.g. font style, sizing) and assess manuscripts accuracy in accordance to the company publishing policies, focus and scope, and author guidelines (e.g. abstract structure) – ensure and their readability for the next relevant process.
- Verifying originality of the manuscript and carrying out plagiarism checks on the manuscripts by using iThenticate software, consult with the Editor(s) on any matters of concern and include observations within the weekly action list released for the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors.
Journal production standards
- Ensure continuously (e.g. daily rolling) acceptances and the continuation of operational processes at each allocated journal as to ensure daily, weekly and monthly acceptance output, as set out in the deliverables brief of quality manuscripts.
- Maintain and manage the time from review to acceptance and/or decline does not exceed 90 days.
- Maintain and manager the minimum requirements of indexers are adhered to (e.g. weekly and monthly forthcoming manuscripts output).
- Maintain minimum requirements of the Department of Higher Education and Training are adhered to for accepted quantities and institutional ratios (e.g. 25/75 Rule) to maintain accreditation, informing supervisor if trends in affiliation acceptances are not in align with the rule.
- Recommend and consider possible corrective action plans to be submitted to supervisor to improve the company review quality or the review process.
- Implement approved action plans within the agreed timeframe as negotiated with the supervisor and requested by management.
- Maintain and implement ethical review practices, by ensuring a blinded review version is available to reviewers for assessment, keeping author names and reviewer names confidential to either parties or the public.
- Maintain clear and accurate operations documents, file structures, file naming and procedures aligned with approved workflows, for dereferencing purposes. Alert the supervisor if updates need to occur.
- Manipulating and editing onscreen text by updating indexed metadata of the manuscript entry, ensuring that it is in alignment with the submitted manuscript. Ensure metadata styling and format is in the correct the company format before the review procedure commences (e.g. to prevent the assignment of authors as reviewers).
- Inspect the author revisions of the revised manuscript received and determine whether all relevant files were submitted and whether the changes requested were made and was implemented, and in instances where it was not implemented a clear explanation for its omission has been given.
Organisation expectations
- Inspect, review and monitor the journal platforms, if the journal platform has any technical errors occur it needs to be reported at the publishing manager within 48 hrs.
- Answer and resolve customer support queries received in the mailbox and on email, within 48 hrs of receipt.
- All documents (e.g. policies, procedures, workflows, emails, manuscripts) are kept confidential and never shared to the public.
- Recommend improvements to enhance the customer experience of our service or platform, by submitting a recommendations report on a monthly basis to the supervisor, with supporting material.
- Perform assigned tasks of all in-process and forthcoming manuscripts to ensure its delivery is within allotted timelines –managing all operational activities by creating assignments, tracking progress and resolving issues.
Confidentiality and ethics
- Verifying and carrying out similarities’ checks (e.g. plagiarism) of manuscripts by using iThenticate software, searching on engine platforms and other published platforms (e.g. company Library).
- Advise and consult with the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors on any similarities that is cause for concern and their further inspection.
- Keep ethical concerns-related to an active and published manuscript confidential, and never shared to the public.
- Implement and maintain the international publication ethics guidelines (e.g. Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE), on ethical processes of the manuscript record and advise and manage authors (e.g. change requests), reviewers, Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors accordingly.
- Screen all manuscripts for material that is outside the company Publication Policy - that may potentially be defamatory, an intrusion of privacy rights, an intrusion of personality rights, illegal, patented, racism, obscene or pornographic, and alert the Supervisor, Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors for their further inspection.
- Report to supervisor any suspicious behaviour by authors, reviewers, Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors that is not in line with the company publication policies and practices.
- Downloading and removing all company licensing and declaration statements uploaded as supplementary files from the journal platform, per article, prior to the commencement of the review.
- Ensure, manage and maintain a double-blinded peer-review process, by uploading a blinded peer review Version of the manuscript, prior to the commencement of the review.
Employee morale
- Adhere to company values, 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 supervisor.
- Ensure a positive, professional and productive working environment by personally cultivating the company values in the department.
Forthcoming manuscripts (Accepted)
- Actioning the release of forthcoming manuscripts (accepted work) for the production staff within 48 hrs after formal acceptance thereof as to ensure timeous publication.
- Ensure a smooth running of the electronic release of forthcoming manuscripts by validating records of licensing forms for the purpose of issuing invoices within 48 hrs of the work released to the production staff.
Reviewer database management
- Capturing reviewer details on the manuscript management system, and ensure a complete profile is recorded.
- Removing duplicate accounts, by merging duplicate accounts after establishing with reviewer the preference profile, prior to merging.
- Sourcing new reviewers find suitable reviewers for manuscript entering or under review.
- Coordinate resource scheduling of reviewers, to prevent bottlenecks.
- Support the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors in review assignment, sourcing and reporting on manuscript statuses.
- Verify and maintain the online reviewer profile with the newest/latest user credentials, always.
- Compile and issue the reviewer acknowledgement in accordance with the policy timelines.
Author database management
- Capturing corresponding author details on the manuscript management system, and ensure a complete profile is recorded.
- Removing duplicate accounts, by merging duplicate accounts after establishing with the author the preference profile, prior to merging.
Reporting
- Compile quarterly, semester or ad hoc reports and submit to Supervisor or Management for consideration (e.g. reviewers, review timelines, keywords trends) – making recommendations.
Processes
- Providing input to process and procedure development and ensure that relate agreed-upon processes and procedures are consistently followed.
- Identify and report opportunities that improve efficiency and waste and non-value-added activities to the supervisor.
Training
- Coach and train Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor or Section Editors, Authors and Reviewers to navigate the journal manuscript platform all other stakeholders using Skype, Email and/or Phone.
- Be equipped and knowledgeable to consult on research ethics and cases, as needed, in line with the Committee on Publication Ethics. Refer and report serious transgressions cases to the supervisor.
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
To apply send your CV to craig@------
Please note only shortlisted candidates will be contacted
NB! This job is now closed. You can apply for other jobs by uploading your CV.
