Associate Editor

Title: Associate Editor

Location: US Remote

Overview

**Please note that this position does not focus on writing or editing of our content as it primarily supports the business, technical, and administrative aspects of scholarly journal publishing.**

This position is responsible for the financial, editorial management and development of an assigned list of proprietary and society-owned journals. The Associate Editor position is expected to manage a workload of approximately 25-30 titles, but quantity may vary. Many of these titles will be smaller in monetary value to Sage or lower profile titles.

Additionally, Associate Editors are expected to contribute editorial support on additional titles as needed and by assignment. This position, like all other Sage Journals editorial roles, includes strategic project responsibility to improve our content and support our teams and shared processes. We are looking for a candidate who is eager to learn about and grow within the academic publishing industry, and is able to quickly pick up new information, think critically and creatively, and engage meaningfully with the daily work.

This position is based remotely, with the option of working in our Thousand Oaks, California office if local to the area. Ocassional travel is expected to attend internal offsites and conferences.

Essential Job Functions & Responsibilities

Editorial Management

• Service editorial development and performance goals on an individual journal basis, as well as assess holistic performance of department and division level journal portfolio.
• Manage the quotidian operations of assigned journals, including administrative and clerical tasks.
• Conduct research, reporting, tracking, and analysis of various journal performance bibliometrics, disciplines, and industry within scholarly communications writ large.
• Address ad hoc requests in a timely manner and tracking task process through structured workflows.
• Understand and work to include each journal in ISI and other major indices based on each journal’s potential via frequent communication with the journal editor and/or society publications manager regarding editorial practices. This activity will include manuscript submission, peer review process, revision and resubmission policies, and optimal editorial board function.
• Work closely both with the journal editor to increase article usage and citations. This will include helping to explain to and direct journal editors and societies how our marketing efforts may help drive usage and citations, and also encouraging the editorial office to make some changes to help increase citations and journal profile.
• Prepare internal and external reports as required. These reports primarily include publisher reports to societies and editors, varying in frequency from monthly to annual. This also includes various other reports, including ad hoc, Impact Factor, etc., depending on individual journal need.
• Arrange annual editorial board meetings for journals in portfolio where required and permitted by budget and strategy factors.
• Rotate journal editors as needed and oversee contract renewals. This means not automatically renewing editors but instead, reviewing specific journal metrics to gauge how well an editor is doing and then make a decision regarding whether we renew the editor. Maintain plans for editor succession proactively.
• Maximize the number of titles indexed in ISI and/or other relevant A&I services such as Scopus and Medline.
• Maximize the number of cascade submissions via Sage Path from journals on list to other participating Sage journals. Facilitate journal participation to Sage Path as scheduled.
• Support retaining of submissions within Sage family of journals.
• Perform abovementioned tasks in ancillary capacity for journals outside of your list as needed.

Relationship Management

• Manage external relationships proactively with journal editors, society contacts, and others as appropriate.
• Maintain external relationships with sales reps, ed board members, authors and potential authors, and customers.
• Manage global internal relationships with colleagues that influence journal performance. Departments include marketing, sales, production, circulation, art, commercial sales, customer service, IT and finance.
• Manage internal relationships with colleagues in your division and department. Effectively problem-solve and creatively brainstorm in collaborative spaces with other team members.
• Perform abovementioned tasks in ancillary capacity for journals outside of your list as needed.

Financial Management

• Monitor the performance of journals in the assigned portfolio by reviewing finances and profit-and-loss statements regularly to ensure revenues are maximized and controllable costs are at acceptable levels.
• Develop an annual strategic plan for each journal in the portfolio, as requested by manager, that outlines specific actions designed to increase goals of publication or, in cases where journal OP is unacceptable, develop an improvement plan.
• Meet financial targets set on a department, division, and portfolio level, as outlined in annual strategy.
• Perform abovementioned tasks in ancillary capacity for journals outside of your list as needed.

Contract Renewal and Management

• Renew all society contracts SAGE wishes to renew for assigned journals early or before expiration of contract notice period.
• Work with SAGE’s contracts department to ensure that all editor and society contracts are current.
• Issue contract amendments, letters of assignment, renewals, and extensions as required.
• Ensure that all contracts are signed and returned in a timely fashion, preferably within 4 weeks of submission to society or editor.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Participate in SAGE pillar and cross-pillar efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion within our business, both internally and externally.
• Strategize with editors and society partners to improve diversity, equity, and belonging in our author, editor, and editorial board member pools externally
• Support efforts to improve accessibility of scholarship within research domains as well as in public, policy, and practice.
• Enforce and uphold anti oppressive conduct, principles, and content.
• Support DEI workgroups through membership, engagement, or project participation.

Open Access (OA)

• Stay abreast of OA trends and developments and SAGE’s position and activities, which could include listening to webinars on the topic, reading various reports such as Outsell reports, and listening to colleagues who report on SAGE’s OA activities.
• Stay current with trends specifically in the way of transformative agreements, as well as the state of market and government policies around OA, both locally and globally.

List and Discipline Expertise

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of each journal on list, which includes understanding the business model, finances, audience, etc. The expectation is that this position be familiar with the paper flow of each journal on his/her list, the current circulation, the overall financial health, and have an understanding of the general objectives for each publication.
• Develop an expertise in core discipline(s) which includes understanding industry and discipline trends, competitors, related societies, etc.
• Develop an expertise in industry developments.
• Travel and provide support for conferences as determined in conjunction with your manager and leadership.

General Office Management

• Monitor T&E expenses and other controllable operational costs.
• Maintain and process expense reports and check requests per company policy and department budgeting restrictions in a timely fashion.
• Maintain accurate files and logs for each journal.

Administrative Support for Publications

• Pull data for pub reports; draft and review final reports before distributing.
• Take accurate minutes on calls with editors and societies.
• Process T&E reports for self through online expense reporting tool.
• Handle podcasts and other social media responsibilities.
• Prepare updated Impact Factor packets once per year.
• Run various reports such as the citation analysis, which would be done on an ad hoc basis (no more than 1X/year) for select journals on your list.
• Respond to miscellaneous inquires in a timely manner.
• Support external journal editor visits and meetings as approved and needed.
• Update internal and external databases, websites, and resources as required.

Departmental Participation

• Pitch and complete ad hoc special projects as needed.
• Engaging with new, emerging, or otherwise untapped technologies to develop efficiencies and streamline existing work processes.
• Leverage technology solutions in the Microsoft suites and otherwise inventively and proficiently.
• Perform ancillary work on department-wide projects and journal acquisitions.

Qualifications & Education

Required

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• At least two years of publishing experience required, preferably with an academic or scientific journal publisher.
• Demonstrated excellent English verbal and written communication skills.
• Working knowledge of the journal publication process.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite
• Effective public speaking and interpersonal skills.
• Exceptional organizational, problem-solving, critical thinking, and analytical skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to follow directions, learn, and understand departmental procedures required.
• Understanding of how scientific research is conducted.

Preferred

• Previous experience as editorial assistant, associate editor, assistant editor, managing editor, production editor or related positions.
• Microsoft Power suite experience.
• Intermediate-to-advanced Excel skills, including VBA and Macros.
• Working proficiency with HTML
• Familiarity with large language and deep learning models (GPTs)

Pay Transparency and Benefits Package

SAGE Publishing is committed to being an inclusive employer where all individuals are treated with fairness and respect. SAGE is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer.

Compensation at SAGE is influenced by several factors, including but not limited to skill set, nature and level of experience, qualifications, and other relevant considerations. We anticipate the minimum full-time salary range for this position to be between $22.90 per hour – $26.34 per hour. Please note that the compensation details listed in U.S. role postings reflect the base salary only and do not include bonuses or benefits. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range and additional aspects of the compensation/benefits package for this position during the hiring process. If your desired salary falls outside of this range, we hope you’ll still apply as there may be other positions that better align.

In addition to compensation, SAGE offers a highly competitive and comprehensive PPO medical, dental, and vision care benefits package with SAGE covering most of the premium costs. Unique program benefits that support a healthy life, a company-sponsored anniversary trip every 5 years, a 401(k)-matching program of 100% up to 5% of pay, and other significant meaningful benefits. In alignment with our value for education, SAGE offers financial support for bachelors and graduate-level degree programs as well as learning for personal interest.

SAGE offers freedom and autonomy in your day-to-day with hybrid or remote work, depending on the role. Join the nearly 2,000 SAGE employees worldwide who deliver products and services that serve to fulfill our noble goal of education and dissemination of knowledge globally. We’d love to meet you!