Publication Operations Specialist (PeerJ)

Company Description

Taylor & Francis Group is an Informa business.
Informa is a leading academic publishing, business intelligence, knowledge and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers all over the world. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.

Taylor & Francis Group produces high-quality, peer-reviewed books and journals. We produce unique, trusted content by expert authors, spreading knowledge and promoting discovery globally. We aim to broaden thinking and advance understanding, providing academics and professionals with a platform to share ideas and realize their individual potential.

Our purpose is to foster human progress through knowledge. We strongly believe that this requires us to encourage and examine different ideas and voices so that any work that meets our exacting levels of quality deserves to be included in our publications. This requires open minds, the opportunity for robust debate, and the courage to defend perspectives that stand up to scrutiny, even if they conflict with our personal beliefs or values. Because that’s the only way to find the best obtainable version of the truth and, ultimately, foster human progress. If you agree, then we’d love to hear from you.

Job Description

This mid-level position helps authors, peer-reviewers, and Academic Editors as we move submissions through peer-review, into production and ultimately to final publication 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.

What you'll be doing:

The job holder will be expected to make independent decisions regarding complex logistical and workflow issues; will be able to train and mentor new staff; manages junior staff; and will be able to advise and deputize for the Head of Publishing Operations.

• Depending on the exact responsibilities of the individual:
  • Complete internal checks on resubmissions
  • Accepted article “V1” checking; & “V2/V3” checking
  • Approval / disapproval and processing, of Major and Minor Corrections on publications
  • Minor copyediting as needed
• Author correspondence
• Responsible for some training of new staff and supervision of staff in their exact job area
• Resolving issues that arise for both internal and external stakeholders, in a timely fashion.
• Cross trained, and able to provide staffing coverage across the team
• Answer emails/customer service inquiries via Freshdesk and email
• Provide feedback on internal checks completed by others
• Proactive follow up with authors with submissions that have author list discrepancies
• Responding to waiver requests
• Answering author enquiries regarding any changes that they need to make to their submissions to meet technical requirements
• Conducting resubmission technical checks and providing feedback to external freelance partners regarding their own resubmission technical checks
• Working with authors to ensure that they have answered all of the queries of our technical checks
• Assisting with documentation
• Collaborating on workflows and processes. Expected to proactively suggest and be capable of implementing, new efficiency improvements
• Liaison and collaboration with colleagues primarily in the Editorial group

Reporting to the Head of Publishing Operation

Qualifications

What we're looking for:

• Excellent English comprehension and communication skills (written and verbal)
• Proficiency with text document programs (most importantly MS Word)
• Proficiency working with PDF editing tools
• Demonstrated organizational skills (the ability to prioritize and meet deadlines)
• Excellent attention to detail
• A university degree or equivalent is preferred
• Good analytical, decision making and problem-solving skills.
• The potential ability to mentor and supervise other contributors
• Ability to work independently, contribute to building a positive team spirit and support everyone’s efforts to succeed.
• 6+ years of experience in STM (‘Scientific, Technical and Medical’) academic publishing in this operational area
• Able to complete their assignments in a timely manner
• Self-directed
• Demonstrate good judgment (using common sense, logic, and problem-solving skills)
• Capable of understanding when to escalate a situation
• Take initiative where appropriate and particularly where a sense of urgency is required
• Demonstrates the highest standards of ‘customer service’, tact and diplomacy
• Maintains discretion regarding confidential information.

Additional Information

What we offer in return:

• Hourly pay rate ranging from $32.97 - $38.46 (about $60,000 - $70,000 annually) 
• An excellent work/life balance with a fantastic, flexible working culture.
• 15 days paid vacation 
• 10 paid sick days
• 2 Paid floating holidays + paid day off for your birthday each year
• 3 additional discretionary days off during the holiday season at the end of the year
• 4 paid volunteering days each year
• Up to 8 weeks of paid parental leave
• Paid leave for significant life events; i.e. moving or wedding
• Medical, vision, dental, and other voluntary benefits
• 401(k) + employer match
• Seasonal social and charitable events

What you should know: 

• Applications are shortlisted on a rolling basis, and we will be interviewing alongside advertising. We therefore encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity.
• Have the right to live and work in the United States 
• Location: The successful candidate will be able to utilize our balanced working model. We ask that candidates live within a commutable distance of our offices in either Philadelphia PA, New York NY, or Boca Raton FL to ensure that as a balanced worker they can make it to our office locations to collaborate as required. Time spent in the office is likely to range from 10%-80% of working hours with an expectation for a minimum of 2 days per week spent working from an office.

  • Internal candidates will be eligible to continue their current working arrangements.

• Closing Date for applications: 07 February 2025

Work/life balance:

At Taylor & Francis we care about our colleagues, promoting work-life balance, wellbeing, and flexible working. You will be joining a thriving business, working alongside an exceptional group of people. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities, and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about.

Training And Professional Development:

We’re passionate about ensuring you have all the tools and resources at your fingertips to reach your short and long-term career goals. We’ll support you in your journey by working together on your own bespoke Taylor & Francis Development Plan, ensuring you have the resources, tools, support and coaching that will get you where you want to be.

Interview process:

Once you have submitted your application, we may get in touch with you for an initial screening conversation or ask you to complete a short video interview to enable us to better understand your skills, experience, and motivation. Following this, you will be invited to attend a competency-based interview, either virtually or in person. Typically, we’d then finish the interview process with a final, 2nd stage interview before extending an offer to the successful applicant.

We want all our candidates to shine in our recruitment process. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to ensure you are able to show us your best self. This could include having the application form in a different format, more time for questions, or anything else – please ask us, we are happy to be flexible! Please contact [email protected]

Being ‘you’ at Taylor and Francis:

Here at Taylor & Francis, we know that many times the 'perfect candidate' doesn't exist, and that people can feel discouraged about applying for a job if they don't fit all the requirements. We encourage you to apply if you're excited about working for us and have some of the skills or experience we're looking for. We believe in the notion that many skills and experiences are transferrable, and you could be just what we need! Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We strongly believe in the value of diversity of people and thought. We strive to foster a supportive and inclusive environment where our colleagues can learn, develop, and succeed, all while feeling comfortable with being their true self. We embrace all walks of life regardless of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, veteran status, citizenship, or any other protected characteristic under local law.

We genuinely care about our colleagues, promoting work-life balance, wellbeing, and flexible working. We believe that the skills and experience you bring to Taylor & Francis are invaluable. We want you to have the opportunity to develop your abilities, and to innovate and develop in areas which you are passionate about. To find out more about our business and the great career opportunities please go to our Careers Site: http://www.taylorandfrancisgroup.com/careers

Or better yet check out our LinkedIn ‘Life’ Page, highlighting our accomplishments, employees, and company culture. It’s also a good way of meeting our recruitment team, who will be happy to advise you on your journey here at T&F.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/taylor-&-francis-group/life/79e0c27c-afdf-4bbb-84e6-5f8ed5e10bb8/