Apr 14, 2023 | Company information and news
The 2023 London Book Fair is coming up next week and it is always a highlight in The Editorial Hub directors’ diaries. We caught up with Naomi Conneely and Stephanie Sacharov to find out why.
What are you looking forward to doing at this year’s fair?
We’re planning on attending more of the seminars that appeal to us and our business. It is always a good way to see what others are doing, which services are provided, and what new technologies and advancements have been made. It’s a great opportunity to meet up with publishing colleagues, so if you see us do say hello!
How was last year’s London Book Fair?
It was great to get back to a normal event after recent years with no face-to-face meetings. We attended on the opening day and it was busy, but possibly not as busy as on previous occasions. We made several contacts with new publishers as well as meeting up with existing clients and business partners.
You’ve been to the London Book Fair several times – what keeps drawing you back?
The LBF is a very relaxed event and most publishers are situated in the same area. It’s just a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make new ones. The ALPSP stand is in a central point within the academic publishing area and always draws a large crowd. It’s a brilliant opportunity to see publishing colleagues in a dedicated area.
Had last year’s fair changed since pre-pandemic times?
It did feel completely normal last year. Perhaps there was a little more space in the aisles than in previous years, but generally it felt the same.
How does the London Book Fair compare to other industry conferences and events?
It is a completely different vibe to other meetings, being a fair as opposed to a conference. There are more sales and marketing personnel that attend the LBF so we find it important to contact people in advance to make appointments to meet when we are all there.
What else is on your conference schedule for 2023?
We’ll be at the SSP Regional Meetup in Bristol later this month, as well as the ALPSP annual conference in Manchester in September, so we’re looking forward to catching up with fellow colleagues there. We also regularly attend webinars that are available via ALPSP, COPE, SSP, ISMTE and the submission site providers (e.g. Aries and Clarivate); and of course we are always available at the end of a phone, via email, and to meet up in person with clients. Please get in touch if you’d like a chat!
Mar 15, 2023 | Company information and news
The working relationship between a journal’s Academic Editor(s) and its Managing Editor (ME) is often a very close one. We MEs do all the formatting checks on submissions, handle most enquiries, fix problems as and when they crop up on the submission system, and perform a million and one other little tasks on a daily basis. Often the same ME will work on a particular journal for years and can be relied upon completely to handle all of its little quirks and foibles.
But even MEs need to take time off periodically – be it for ill health, to move house, or simply to go on holiday. When this happens, it can be a little daunting for the Academic Editors suddenly having to deal with somebody new. So what can be done to make the transition as seamless as possible?
Luckily this is something we at The Editorial Hub are rather good at.
Cover notes
Every single journal that we manage has a set of instructions written (and regularly updated) by the ME who works on that journal. The notes cover everything from what needs to be checked at submission to who handles the review process; from where to file correspondence to how often reports need to be run.
No two journals run in exactly the same way so no matter how experienced the ME who is taking over is, it is absolutely vital that they’re given full instructions.
When one of our Managing Editors goes on holiday
We ask our team to give each other as much notice as possible so that we can have cover in place well in advance. The more time there is, the longer the covering ME has to familiarise themselves with the cover notes, ask the regular ME any questions they may have, and arrange a call to go over the notes together.
As we obviously have an experienced team of MEs at our disposal, we are able to ensure that whoever is covering is an expert in using whichever submission system the journal is run from and, ideally, has experience of working with the journal’s publisher.
But what can you do if you don’t have a large team on hand? Don’t worry – we can help you too!
Covering journals that aren’t managed by The Editorial Hub
Did you know that we can provide short- or long-term cover for journals that are usually managed in-house by their publisher or society?
If somebody in your team gets seconded to another department, or goes on maternity leave, or takes a sabbatical and there’s simply nobody available to pick up the slack, we can save you the trouble of recruiting a temporary replacement.
If the above scenario is one you’re currently grappling with, do get in touch with us as we’d love to help!
Dec 15, 2022 | Company information and news
2022 is now drawing to a close, and what a year it’s been for The Editorial Hub! What better time than to have a little look back at everything that’s happened?
Our new website
Let’s begin with the thing that is quite literally staring you in the face as you read this: our fabulous new website! Yes, we launched our new online home early in 2022 – our hub for The Hub, as we like to think of it.
We felt that we needed a website that reflected The Editorial Hub as a company – flexible, dynamic, and user-friendly. Now that it’s been live for a while, we are delighted to say that we think it does just that. You can read more about it here!
Copy-editing and proofreading
2022 was the year that we formally started offering both copy-editing and proofreading alongside our peer-review management services.
From proofing for formatting errors to performing substantive editing of an article’s structure, our fantastic team have been busy making sure our clients’ content is in tip-top condition prior to publication. You can read more about all our services here.
International services
Did you know that we are now able to offer editorial support in more than just English? Well, we are!
Several members of our team are fluent in (or native speakers of) other languages and we are adding experienced Managing Editors from all over the world all the time. So if you’re in need of editorial support on a non-English language journal, get in touch.
Conference organisation
2022 was the year we took our first steps into conference organisation, and we absolutely loved it!
We’ll be adding these services to our website soon, so watch this space – but if you need help with organising your event, or if you are looking to organise a conference around your journal and you aren’t quite sure where to start, we’d love to have a conversation with you so drop us a line.
And last but not least…
… journals! Yes, we’ve added many new titles to our list this year, and we continue to provide world-class editorial support to our ever-expanding portfolio of scholarly publications.
In particular we’ve been delighted to take on an entire suite of journals (which include some particularly high-volume journals) and our team has risen to the challenge with a level of professionalism we can really take pride in.
If you’re in need of editorial support on your list – be it just the one journal, or dozens of them – contact us now.
Here’s to a wonderful 2023 all round!
Nov 15, 2022 | Company information and news
Naomi Conneely and Stephanie Sacharov started The Editorial Hub Ltd back in 2014 and the company is now recognised as a leading global supplier. With the launch of our new website this year we thought it’d be a good opportunity to find out a little bit more about our founders!
How long have you known each other and how did you meet?
Naomi: 35 years – an introduction through family.
Steph: Although we both went to the same school in Harrogate (different years).
What made you decide to start a business together?
Steph: An interesting chat in Pret A Manager at Bicester Village!
Naomi: I knew we would make a formidable working partnership and the rest is history.
What’s your favourite thing about working together?
Steph: That we can chat for hours about absolutely anything and everything!
Naomi: Ditto the above, my bestie! We do everything we can to help each other out and we trust each other. We are totally comfortable with each other and have open and honest conversations.
What’s the worst thing about it?
Steph: Forgetting to not talk shop when on a social night/day out and the things we can work out when we are.
Naomi: Getting the giggles at the most inappropriate moments and just not being able to stop. Living so far apart (though we do make the most of our time when we do get together). When speaking to new clients whilst having to silence noisy dogs who decide that’s the moment they are going to chase their tails or bark at something!
You guys work really well together, what do you each think is the key ingredient to a good management duo?
Steph: Taking the ‘mickey’ at every opportunity first and foremost! Knowing how the other would handle a situation so we are on the same page, which only comes from having a long history with that person.
Naomi: We each have things that we are better at. And we do talk every day at least once (sometimes for the whole day….!).
Sep 15, 2022 | Company information and news
The Editorial Hub Ltd has been going from strength to strength since it started in 2014, so we caught up with our founders, Steph and Naomi, to find out a little bit more…
Q. Why did you decide to start The Editorial Hub?
We decided that we wanted to work together and set up a business together. We both believed that there were a lot of opportunities to work with publishers, societies and institutions to provide them with editorial management services.
Q. What were the first steps towards setting it up – what was exciting/scary?
We got ourselves out to networking events, and started approaching publishers and contacts. It was extremely scary, but when we got that first call we were beside ourselves with excitement!
Q. What are you most proud of achieving with The Editorial Hub?
Being able to work with such dynamic freelancers every day and providing work for them all. And it’s always exciting to win new work!
Suddenly realising that The Editorial Hub was not only a marketable enterprise, but one that was being recognised as a leading global supplier. That was amazing.
Q. What’s next for The Editorial Hub?
We have lots of new business coming our way and …… watch this space!
Feb 20, 2022 | Company information and news, Scholarly publishing
Welcome to The Editorial Hub Ltd’s new home, a website that reflects the organisation we are today: flexible, dynamic, and globally recognised.
The Editorial Hub Ltd as a company is constantly growing in terms of our portfolio, which currently stands at over 200 journals; our client base, which encompasses a wide range of publishers, institutions, and societies; our team of highly-skilled freelance publishing professionals who make up our Hub of Excellence; and the range of services we are pleased to provide.
New Services
We are delighted to now be offering both copy-editing and proofreading services to our existing and future clients.
Our team of highly-skilled copy-editors are standing by to offer you:
- Light touch copy-editing – correcting spelling, punctuation, and grammar as well as checking referencing and style consistency.
- Standard copy-editing – as above, plus checking consistency of style and tone as well as key terms used, and also ensuring that glossaries and indexes are in line with the publication’s protocols.
- Substantive editing – as above, but with suggestions of more substantial additions/deletions be made to both the text and structure to ensure clarity and readability.
- Proofreading – ensuring no errors remain in the spelling, punctuation, grammar and formatting of manuscripts before publication.
More information on all of the services we offer can be found on our Services page.
New Faces
Many of our fantastic team have been part of The Editorial Hub Ltd family for years, however we are always delighted to welcome talented new freelancers into our Hub of Excellence. Our most recent recruits boast a wealth of publishing experience, a range of academic backgrounds, and are based all over the world.
Under the guidance of our management team, our freelancers are able to take advantage of a flexible way of working which not only attracts highly-skilled and experienced publishing professionals, but ensures that we are able to offer our clients a reliable and continuous service 52 weeks a year.
If you are an experienced publishing professional looking for a new challenge, we would love to hear from you. Our ever-expanding client base means that we are always on the lookout for talented individuals based around the globe.
New Membership
The Editorial Hub Ltd has been an active member of UKSG, the International Society of Managing and Technical Editors (ISMTE), and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) for many years, and we are now delighted to be adding the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to this list.
COPE brings together all those involved in scholarly research and its publication with the aim of moving the culture of publishing towards one where ethical practices become a normal part of the publishing culture. Through our corporate membership of COPE, we demonstrate that The Editorial Hub Ltd, both on an organisational level and at the individual level of each of our team members, intends to follow the highest standards of publication ethics and to apply COPE principles of publication ethics. Through being fully informed by, and involved in, COPE’s activities, we apply best practice and advise our clients and their editors, referees and authors of optimal ethical peer-review practices.
New Website
We are therefore delighted to be bringing you this new website as a hub for all our activities. Our new online home will allow us to grow, evolve, and expand as we continue to find new ways to engage with the world of scholarly publishing and support each of our clients on their individual journeys.
