PeerJ Careers

Change 300 years of how science has been communicated

If you have a strong interest in ensuring that academic research remains free to anyone to read, download, and reuse then consider joining PeerJ. Help us build the next set of tools that will advance the current state of scholarly communication.

Publishing Operations Assistant
Full time - California

Background: PeerJ is an award-winning, open access, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal publisher covering biology, life sciences, medicine, chemistry, and computer science.

We need someone with professional communication skills to join our team helping authors, peer-reviewers, and Academic Editors as we move submissions through peer-review and into production via our Content Management System. This role is conducted entirely online. It includes checking manuscripts to ensure they are complete and adhere to our guidelines; troubleshooting and fixing various aspects of the peer-review process; light copyediting of accepted articles before publication to ensure compliance with house style; coordinating with reviewers, authors, Academic Editors and typesetters and responding to their queries; communicating with authors and reviewers.

Reporting to the Head of Publishing Operations, the ideal candidate is motivated to complete their assignments in a timely manner; self-directed; demonstrates good judgment (using common sense, logic, and problem-solving skills); understands when to escalate a situation; takes the initiative where appropriate and particularly where a sense of urgency is required; has the highest standards of customer service; and maintains discretion regarding confidential information.

This is not a writing position.

Starting ASAP, this is a full time entry-level/early career position working from home with flexible scheduling.

Mandatory Skills & Qualifications

• Based in California, preferably in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• Excellent English comprehension and communication skills (written and verbal).
• Proficiency with text document programs (most importantly MS Word).
• Proficiency working with PDF editing tools.
• Working knowledge of Google Docs.
• Demonstrated organizational skills (the ability to prioritize and meet deadlines).
• Excellent attention to detail.
• An interest, and/or experience, in STM (‘Scientific, Technical and Medical’) or academic publishing.
• A university degree or equivalent is preferred.

Skills that would make you stand out

• Prior experience with journal submission systems.
• Prior copyediting experience.
• Prior experience conducting highly detailed quality checks.
• Customer service experience.
• Experience with LaTeX.

Benefits

• Generous holiday policy.
• Flexible working hours and a casual work environment.
• The opportunity to play an active role in improving scientific communication and to make a difference in the world!

How to Apply

• Please submit a cover letter and CV/resume to jobs@peerj.com with the subject: 'Publishing Operations assistant'.
• Clearly describe the relevance of your work experience for this role.
• Please only apply once.
• No agencies please. Agency emails will be reported as spam!

PeerJ Staff Editor in Medicine / Health Sciences
Full time - USA (California preferred) / UK

PeerJ is an award-winning, open access, peer-reviewed, scholarly journal publisher covering many academic disciplines (including biology, life science, medicine, environmental science, computer science and chemistry).

We have a vacancy for a staff editor to work with the authors, editors and peer-reviewers of our peer-reviewed journal publications, predominantly focusing on our medical/health content This position will expose the employee to a broad range of issues related to the mechanics, ethics and day-to-day business of managing the editorial aspects of an effective peer -review process. The role deals with content related issues; it helps to maintain an effective quality control and peer-review process; and it involves frequent interactions with academics worldwide.

Starting ASAP, this is a full time position working from home with flexible working hours.

Mandatory Skills & Qualifications

• Based in USA (preference given to California, but other locations can be considered) or the United Kingdom.
• Excellent English comprehension and communication skills (written and verbal).
• Demonstrated organizational skills (the ability to prioritize and meet deadlines).
• Excellent attention to detail.
• An interest, and/or experience, in STM (‘Scientific, Technical and Medical’) academic publishing.
• An advanced degree (minimum PhD, but ideally postdoctoral).

Skills that would make you stand out

• Postdoctoral experience.
• Strong familiarity with the journal publication process, ideally having published and reviewed journal articles themselves. Relevant experience in similar editorial roles is an advantage, but not required.
• A passion for open science and open access publishing.
• The successful candidate will be capable of understanding complex scientific topics; able to converse with academics on ‘their level’; and able to communicate complex topics to a broader audience. They will be professional and articulate. They will be capable of handling multiple responsibilities, working independently, and meeting strict deadlines.

Primary Tasks

• In collaboration with other team members, responsible for the integrity, speed and smooth running of the Peer-Review process. This includes (but is not limited to) initial staff checks; assigning Editors to papers; responding to Academic Editors and Section Editors; chasing Academic Editors; chasing Reviewers; research and identify peer-reviewers on behalf of some Editors; handling editorial Appeals; recruiting Editors; commissioning and promoting special issues; developing and advising on new content types or partnerships etc.
• Expected to suggest and implement process improvements which will improve the KPIs of the peer-review process.
• Respond to specific emails (relevant to the responsibilities of this position) as they come in to shared inboxes.
• Other editorial tasks as required by the role.
• This role will work closely with colleagues in the Community team and Production team.

Benefits

• Generous holiday policy.
• Flexible working hours and a casual work environment.
• The opportunity to play an active role in improving scientific communication and to make a difference in the world!

How to Apply

• Please submit a cover letter and CV/resume to jobs@peerj.com with the subject: 'PeerJ Staff Editor - Medicine'.
• Clearly describe the relevance of your work experience for this role.
• Please only apply once.
• No agencies please. Agency emails will be reported as spam!