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!