Associate Peer Review Operations Specialist/Peer Review Operations Specialist

PLOS; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 27,000 - 37,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a motivated Associate Peer Review Operations Specialist to join their dynamic team. This fully remote role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the advancement of open science by ensuring efficient peer review processes and maintaining high standards of publication quality. As part of a collaborative environment, you'll work closely with international colleagues and vendors, addressing challenges and driving continuous improvement. If you are passionate about science and possess strong organizational and communication skills, this position is an excellent fit for you, allowing you to make a meaningful impact in the scholarly publishing landscape.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication and presentation skills are essential.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented with a proactive approach to problem-solving.
• Ability to work constructively with diverse international colleagues.

Responsibilities

• Manage timely and efficient peer review of all submissions.
• Troubleshoot manuscript and workflow issues, providing expert advice.
• Contribute to workflow projects and monitor vendor performance.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Highly organized

Problem-solving

Team player mentality

Customer service attitude

Attention to detail

Ability to work under tight deadlines

Interest in science

Education

University degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Excel

Word

Editorial Manager

Salesforce

Job description

Associate Peer Review Operations Specialist/Peer Review Operations Specialist

Remote-UK

This position is fully remote/home based. Applications will be accepted from candidates based in the UK and the following US states: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, MA, MD, NY, OR, PA, TX, VA, VT, WA.

In the US, this is a union represented position as part of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of the NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America.

This role is essential to our ongoing operations. We have openings for both Associate and Peer Review Operations Specialist in both the UK (FTC (fixed-term contract) and Full Time) and the US (Full Time). We look forward to reviewing your application.

*Candidates should submit their application by 19 January. However, applications will be considered as they are submitted, so candidates are encouraged to apply in advance of this date.

PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice. We believe in a better future where science is open to all, for all.

Role Summary

The Associate Peer Review Operations Specialist/ Peer Review Operations Specialist is a confident and highly organized self-starter, motivated by a culture of continuous improvement. This role requires excellent communication skills, teamwork, and collaboration across the team with accountability to meet competing deadlines in a dynamic environment.

Reporting to the Peer Review Operations Managers, you will work as part of the Peer Review Operations team to maintain efficient peer review workflows, ensure high vendor performance standards, and uphold an excellent contributor experience for authors, editors, and reviewers. This role will enforce turnaround time benchmarks for all peer review milestones to protect process integrity and ensure timeliness and quality of publication. You will maintain high standards of professional conduct in the workplace and enjoy working with international colleagues from a range of cultures and settings. You will seek out opportunities for continuous quality improvement in department activities and be an effective champion of the PLOS vision, mission, and brand.

Responsibilities

1. Submission Management
   • Ensure the timely, efficient peer review of all submissions.
   • Ensure that queries or concerns escalated by vendors, Customer Care, or other PLOS colleagues are addressed and resolved professionally and within required timelines, or escalated appropriately.
   • Identify and remove barriers to submission, working collaboratively with colleagues across PLOS as required.
   • Proactively identify workflow inefficiencies, variations, or backlogs to diagnose persistent issues. Ensure that manuscripts meet requirements and follow current policies and procedures.
2. Workflows
   • Troubleshoot persistent manuscript, workflow, or system issues, providing expertise and advice, and exercising judgment to resolve the issue or escalate to the Peer Review Operations Manager or other colleagues as appropriate.
   • Proactively raise data-driven recommendations for continuous journal operations and workflow improvements to the Peer Review Operations Manager.
   • Ensure standard journal workflows are maintained as established, implementing and adopting process updates when approved by the Peer Review Operations Manager.
3. Projects
   • Contribute to workflow projects and initiate proposals as requested, and undertake operations projects and initiatives as directed by the Peer Review Operations Manager.
   • Serve as daily liaison with vendor representatives, monitoring quality and timeliness performance against target thresholds and KPIs.
4. Other
   • Contribute to other operational research outputs related to PLOS’s mission where required, so that our journal workflows are optimized to encourage scientific openness and transparency.

Knowledge and Skills

• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and oral.
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and proactive in solving problems.
• Growth mindset with a collaborative, team player mentality.
• An ability to maintain a positive and professional customer service attitude.
• Able to work constructively with vendors, authors, editors, customers, and colleagues from a range of international settings.
• Knowledge of Excel, Word, file types, and file conversions.
• Able to work under tight deadlines whilst achieving a high standard of quality and accuracy.
• Able to set priorities and work independently.
• Upholds high standards of professionalism in the workplace.
• Embraces change with a positive attitude.
• An interest in science and in advancing scientific knowledge.

Candidates who have the following skills and experience will be considered for the more senior Peer Review Operations Specialist role. However, those without experience in scholarly publishing are still encouraged to apply and will be considered for an Associate Peer Review Operations Role.

• Prior experience in peer-reviewed scholarly publishing.
• Knowledge of and expertise with peer review and manuscript management database systems; proficiency with Editorial Manager a plus.
• Knowledge of customer relationship management (CRM) software such as Salesforce.

A university degree or equivalent experience is required.

The base salary range we’ve established for these positions is (UK) £27,000 - £36,800 or (US) $55,000 - $75,000. PLOS also offers a comprehensive benefits package that will be shared with candidates in the interview process.

About PLOS

Building on a strong legacy of pioneering innovation, PLOS continues to be a catalyst in open science, reimagining models to meet open science principles, removing barriers and promoting inclusion in knowledge creation and sharing, and publishing research outputs that enable everyone to learn from, reuse, and build upon scientific knowledge.

Our work is supported by a highly skilled global in-house team, partnerships with local scholarly organizations, and the valued contributions of a diverse, international community of scientific researchers.

We’re committed to equal opportunity

We’re working to create a more equitable system of scientific knowledge and understanding. Removing barriers to inclusion and facilitating broad participation of voices is core to our success, 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 strongly encourage applicants of all identities to join us as we work towards a future where science is open to all, for all.