Editorial Assistant

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG); Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 31,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexi time

Work from home 1–2 days/week

25 days annual leave

Group Life Assurance

Cycle to work

Employee assistance helpline

Job summary

Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London is seeking an Editorial Assistant to support the Managing Editor for Academic Publications. You will help screen journal submissions, manage communications with authors and reviewers, and assist with proofreading and production tasks.

The role offers a permanent, full-time contract with a 35-hour week and a hybrid working arrangement (South Kensington, with some home-working days).

Qualifications

• Demonstrable knowledge of contemporary academic geography.
• Interest in scholarly publishing.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Systematic approach to tasks.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Ability to prioritise and balance multiple everyday tasks at once.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Basic familiarity with Excel.
• Experience of writing for public audiences.
• Proofreading experience.
• Proven record of working effectively to deadlines.
• Awareness of AI misuse in scholarly publishing.

Responsibilities

• Lead on screening for all journal submissions – conducting initial checks for anonymity,word length, formatting, (mis)use of AI, publishing integrity issues.
• Maintain a record of all submitted papers.
• Lead on checking files of accepted papers for production.
• Assist authors with generating alt text for images and figures.
• Support Managing Editor with day-to-day author and peer reviewer communication and inbox management.
• Assist Managing Editor with proofreading accepted papers.
• Support Managing Editor with finding potential peer reviewers for submitted papers.
• Oversee Special Section administration and regularly liaise with Special Section organisers.
• Upload blog posts to the Geography Directions WordPress website.
• Responsibility for registering DOI numbers for blog posts and online resources.
• Design and format guides and resources for the RGS website.
• Support with social media strategy for the journals and the Book Series.
• Schedule editorial board meetings and take minutes.
• Assist with annual journal prize administration.
• Organise book launch events for Book Series authors.
• Support the journals’ and Book Series’ events at the RGS Annual Conference.
• Support Managing Editor to run workshops for postgraduate students and early-career researchers.
• Writing and editing tasks: Work with selected authors to write monthly research spotlights on journal articles for the RGS website.
• Assess and edit blog submissions to Geography Directions blog from academic authors.

Skills

Geography knowledge

Publishing interest

Attention to detail

Organisational skills

Tools

Excel

Job description

Department: Research and Higher Education (RHED)

Responsible to: Managing Editor

Location: South Kensington, London SW7. Option to work from home one or two days a week, dependent on the event schedule

Hours: Full Time. 35-hour working week

Contract: Permanent. Subject to successful completion of a probationary period of three months.

Salary: £31,200- £32,930 per annum, depending on experience and qualifications

About Us:

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

About You and the Role

The RGS-IBG publish five peer-reviewed geography journals, four of which are managed by the RGS-IBG Managing Editor: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (TIBG), The Geographical Journal, Area, and Geo: Geography and Environment. The Society also publishes an open-access Book Series with LSE Press, the blog Geography Directions and a series of guides and advice on publishing.

The editorial assistant will report to the Managing Editor of Academic Publications, providing support for this suite of publications.

This is an exciting opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the academic peer review and publishing process and provides an excellent opportunity to work with the academic community.

The role is ideally suited to someone with very strong organisational and communication skills and an understanding and interest in contemporary academic geography.

Duties and responsibilities

• Lead on screening for all journal submissions – conducting initial checks for anonymity,word length, formatting, (mis)use of AI, publishing integrity issues.
• Maintain a record of all submitted papers.
• Lead on checking files of accepted papers for production.
• Assist authors with generating alt text for images and figures.
• Support Managing Editor with day-to-day author and peer reviewer communication and inbox management.
• Assist Managing Editor with proofreading accepted papers.
• Support Managing Editor with finding potential peer reviewers for submitted papers.
• Oversee Special Section administration and regularly liaise with Special Section organisers.
• Upload blog posts to the Geography Directions WordPress website.
• Responsibility for registering DOI numbers for blog posts and online resources.
• Design and format guides and resources for the RGS website.
• Support with social media strategy for the journals and the Book Series.
• Schedule editorial board meetings and take minutes.
• Assist with annual journal prize administration.
• Organise book launch events for Book Series authors.
• Support the journals’ and Book Series’ events at the RGS Annual Conference.
• Support Managing Editor to run workshops for postgraduate students and early-career researchers.

Writing and editing tasks:

• Work with selected authors to write monthly research spotlights on journal articles for the RGS website.
• Assess and edit blog submissions to Geography Directions blog from academic authors.

Selection Criteria

• Demonstrable knowledge of contemporary academic geography
• An interest in scholarly publishing
• Excellent attention to detail
• Systematic approach to tasks
• Strong organisational skills
• Ability to prioritise and balance multiple everyday tasks at once
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Basic familiarity with Excel
• Capability of working across multiple online platforms
• Experience of writing for public audiences
• Proofreading experience
• Proven record of working effectively to deadlines
• Ability to take initiative
• Awareness of the (mis)use of AI in scholarly publishing

Salary and Benefits:

This is a permanent, full-time post subject to successful completion of a probationary period of three months. The salary range for this post is £31,200- £32,930 per annum depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with Flexi time, dependent on the business needs.
• Option to work from home one or two days a week, dependent on the event schedule.
• 25 days annual leave per annum plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support.

Closing date: 12 noon on 23 November.

Interviews are planned to take place on 2 or 3 December 2026. The interviews will also include a task.

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The Society is unable to offer work visa sponsorships. We are committed to building an inclusive team and strongly encourage applications from those people who are traditionally underrepresented in the geographical discipline.