Front Section Senior Editor
*This role is to be filled by an employee working from a remote location within the UK. This role is a 12 month fixed-term contract.
To apply, send us your CV/resume, writing samples, and a brief cover letter explaining your interest in the position.
Role Summary
We are seeking a highly motivated Senior Editor to join the PLOS Biology team as our locum front section editor. Your mission will be to build upon the success of the journal's front section, commissioning, assessing and developmentally editing short and long-form content that strategically helps the journal grow into new communities and addresses the most timely and significant issues in the life sciences. You will interact with the rest of the editorial team and with key scientists and opinion-makers to identify and commission impactful content that speaks to our readership and helps us grow.
This is an exciting opportunity to lead PLOS Biology’s front section, overseeing our pipeline of non-research content, with key input into setting the journal's agenda and editorial voice. It is an intellectually stimulating position that calls for a keen interest in the practice and communication of science, as well as in the interface between science, society and scientific policy.
The locum front section editor will report to the Editor-in-Chief.
Responsibilities
- Identify, commission and developmentally edit front section collections and stand-alone content of strategic importance for the journal. Assess direct submissions to the front section.
- Manage the peer-review of front section content.
- Oversee the front section pipeline, ensuring a consistent output, with a dotted line to the rest of the editorial team.
- Contribute to writing editorials, blog posts and other related materials.
- Engage in social media conversations around the content, increasing its reach and impact
Qualifications
- An advanced degree in the life sciences or significant experience in commissioning, assessing and developmentally editing front section or reviews for scholarly communication in the life sciences.
- Experience working in life science/biomedical journals or comparable outlets.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills.
- A good handle of social media platforms.
- A keen eye for detail and excellent time-management and organizational skills.
- Comfortable with working in a fast-paced collaborative environment and interacting with colleagues with different expertise spread across multiple locations.
- Flexibility to take on new challenges and deliver against firm deadlines.
- A passion for science, scientific communication and open access.
The base salary we’ve established for this position is (UK) £50,346, (DE) €58,903. The final salary will depend on several factors, including the candidate’s relevant work experience, skills, education, and other qualifications; the region in which the candidate resides, and internal pay equity with current PLOS employees in similar jobs. PLOS also offers a comprehensive benefits package that will be shared with candidates in the interview process.
The Organization:
PLOS is a non-profit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. PLOS journals propelled the movement for OA alternatives to subscription journals. We established the first multi-disciplinary publication inclusive of all excellent research regardless of novelty or impact and demonstrated the importance of open data availability. As we continue to lead the way in making research content more open, we need to make it a system that's open for everyone. We are intentionally spreading our roots deeper, globally.
We believe in pushing the boundaries of 'Open' to create a more equitable system of scientific knowledge and understanding—it’s core to who we are, inside and out. Beyond accepting distinct perspectives, we seek and support divergent backgrounds among our staff because we know differences strengthen our teams, our work, and our communities. We’re ever-evolving in our journey for representation and equity, and strongly encourage applicants of diverse identities to apply: you’ll find a group of critical thinkers eager to challenge the status quo and learn with you as we continue breaking barriers to open science.