Job Description
The Public Culture journal’s Editor acts as the managing editor in overseeing the day-to-day operations and the editorial office for Public Culture, a peer-reviewed journal housed in the Tulane Global Humanities Center. Working closely with the editors-in-chief, the Editor is essential in administering the peer-review process, preparing articles for editing and production, maintaining publication schedules, and serving as a primary point of contact for authors, editors, and the publisher. This position requires excellent project management skills and independent problem-solving. This role bridges the gap between scholarly vision and technical production, ensuring that peer-reviewed research moves efficiently from submission to publication.
Responsibilities
RESPONSIBILITIES
Editorial & Production Workflow Management
- Monitor the backlog of articles and issues to ensure a consistent content pipeline meeting production deadlines, including deadlines set by publisher.
- Prepare and submit complete manuscripts to the publisher, ensuring all components (electronic files, art, permissions, author agreements) are in order.
- Final check of accepted manuscripts for quality, ethical compliance, and completeness (figures, tables, metadata) before passing to the publisher.
- Check for plagiarism and ensure adherence to publishing ethics.
- Manage the journal's page allotment per volume.
- Work collaboratively with the publisher's editorial and production teams to resolve scheduling and production issues.
Manuscript Evaluation & Author Guidance
- Evaluate submitted manuscripts for completeness and adherence to submission requirements.
- Working with the Editorial Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow, may be asked to review submitted manuscripts for initial decision and in collaboration with the Editor-in-Chief, next stage of editorial review.
- Provide clear guidance to authors on finalizing articles, including editorial and reference style, artwork specifications, and required permissions.
- Serve as a primary point of contact for authors and editors, responding to queries in a timely and professional manner.
Peer Review Administration
- Oversee the journal's peer-review process using ScholarOne.
- Assist editors in finding potential reviewers, tracking reviews, and sending reminders to ensure timely feedback.
- Assign reviewers in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief and members of the Senior Editorial Board and track the progress of peer evaluations to ensure timely turnaround.
- Train editorial team members on ScholarOne as needed.
- Advise general editors on system capabilities and best practices.
- Advise authors on rights and permissions issues and review documentation for compliance with publisher standards.
- Communicate editorial decisions and revision requests to authors.
Reporting, Meeting Coordination & Administrative Support
- Prepare editorial reports for the editors-in-chief outlining article and issue progress, identifying concerns, and analyzing submission trends.
- Liaise with the Editorial Board, including preparing reports, managing board meetings, and onboarding new members in consultation with the editors-in-chief.
- Maintain editorial office records and documentation.
- Schedule and facilitate editorial meetings in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief.
- Manage the journal’s correspondence, responding to inquiries regarding copyright, permissions, and submission guidelines.
- Maintain the journal’s social media presence and account, including creating and posting content, promotion the journal and scholarship from/related to the journal.
- Manage the journal’s budget, including processing payments, subscription renewals, or subventions.
- Assist in the preparation of annual reports and grant applications to support the journal’s funding.
Programming Integration with Tulane Global Humanities Center
- Collaborate with Tulane Global Humanities Center staff to organize events, such as issue launches or symposia related to the journal, its contributors, and special journal issues.
- Integration of the journal’s activities into the Tulane Global Humanities Center, working in conjunction with the TGHC director and assistant director.
- Assist in the management of the TGHC Editorial Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow, including mentoring on academic publishing, coordinating review responsibilities, and collaborating on TGHC and community outreach for and involving the journal.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Abilities/Competencies Typically Needed to Perform This Job Successfully:
- Knowledge of scholarly publishing processes, including peer review administration, manuscript preparation, and journal production workflows.
- Project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple manuscripts and production deadlines simultaneously with strong attention to detail and follow-through, coordinating with varied faculty and international scholars.
- Knowledge of editorial and reference style standards, artwork specifications, rights and permissions requirements, and author agreement processes.
- Exceptional proofreading and copyediting skills with a mastery of standard humanities citation styles.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills in order to communicate tactfully and professionally with authors, reviewers, editors, board members, and external publishing partners.
- Experience facilitating the peer-review process, managing reviewer databases, and collaborating with the Editor-in-Chief to make fair, ethical publication decisions.
- Knowledge of academic integrity standards, including handling policies on plagiarism, dual submissions, and conflicts of interest.
- Ability to analyze submission trends and prepare editorial reports that identify concerns and inform editorial decision-making.
- Strong independent problem-solving skills with ability to resolve scheduling and production issues in collaboration with external partners.
- Ability to manage page allotment, content pipeline, and backlog to ensure consistent, on-schedule publication.
- Knowledge of artificial intelligence tools and their application in editorial workflows, including the ability to use AI effectively for tasks such as manuscript review, content summarization, and communications, while exercising sound editorial judgment about accuracy, attribution, and academic integrity.
Qualifications
Required Education and Experience:
- Bachelor's degree in humanities, social sciences, journalism, publishing, or communication is required; advanced degree in a relevant field (humanities, media studies, communication, publishing, or related discipline) and/or publishing certification preferred.
- Five to Seven years experience in editorial work, publishing (commercial or academic), editorial management, or journalism required. Experience working in an academic or university environment is ideal, but not required.
- Demonstrated experience managing editorial workflows and production schedules in a publishing environment.
- Proficiency in editorial management software, preferably experience with ScholarOne . High level of comfort with digital archival standards.
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced degree in humanities, social sciences, journalism, publishing or communication, and/or publishing certification.
- Experience working with a university press or academic journal in a managing editor or editorial coordinator capacity.
- Familiarity with rights and permissions compliance in an academic publishing context.
- Experience preparing editorial reports and communicating editorial analytics to senior editors or editorial boards.
- Familiarity with AI-assisted editing and content tools, with the ability to evaluate AI-generated output critically and apply it appropriately within a scholarly publishing context.
About Us
Tulane University is an equal opportunity educator and employer committed to providing an education and employment environment free of unlawful discrimination, harassment, and retaliation. Legally protected demographic classifications (such as a person’s race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, shared ancestry, disability, genetics, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws) are not relied upon as an eligibility, selection or participation criteria for Tulane’s employment or educational programs or activities.
Tulane University is responsible for providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities throughout the applicant screening process. If you need assistance in completing an application or during any phase of the interview process, please contact the Office of Human Resources by phone at 504-865-4748 or by email at hr@tulane.edu .
