Editor in Chief

Maine Veterinary Medical Center; United States; Remote; USD 30,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

Maine Veterinary Medical Center seeks an experienced editorial leader to serve as Senior Editor for JAAHA, guiding scientific direction and content strategy in veterinary medicine. You will oversee peer review, editorial standards, and collaboration with AAHA staff, driving timely decisions and responsible publication practices while growing journal visibility.

Fully remote with occasional travel to AAHA meetings; requires a DVM or equivalent and strong leadership and communication skills.

Qualifications

• DVM or equivalent veterinary degree required; advanced editorial experience preferred.
• Strong understanding of peer review, research methodology, and ethics.
• Ability to manage editors, reviewers, and author relations with integrity.

Responsibilities

• Serves as senior editorial leader for JAAHA and directs content strategy.
• Oversees acceptance decisions, peer review quality, and ethical standards.
• Leads editorial board management and reviewer recruitment.
• Collaborates with AAHA staff on guidelines, scope, and priorities.
• Monitors metrics and contributes to journal operations and budget.

Skills

Editorial leadership

Strategic planning

Communication

Decision making

Education

DVM or equivalent veterinary degree

Board certification preferred

Tools

Editorial Manager

ScholarOne

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Editorial leadership & strategy

Serves as the senior editorial leader for JAAHA, providing strategic, scientific, and editorial direction.

Works with AAHA staff to establish and oversee the journal's editorial vision, scope, and priorities, guiding content strategy to align with AAHA's mission and members' needs.

Identifies emerging trends and research areas relevant to clinical veterinary medicine, and collaborates with AAHA leadership on long-term journal strategy.

Manuscript oversight & peer review

Holds final authority over acceptance, revision, or rejection of submitted manuscripts.

Oversees a fair, timely, unbiased, and rigorous peer-review process, working with the managing editor to assign manuscripts to associate and section editors.

Resolves complex editorial decisions, disputes, and ethical concerns, with support from AAHA's legal team when necessary.

Editorial board management

Works with associate editors and the managing editor to recruit, appoint, and mentor section editors and peer reviewers.

Defines roles, expectations, and performance standards for the editorial team, and maintains regular communication with section editors.

Scientific & ethical standards

Ensures compliance with accepted standards for scientific integrity, authorship, conflicts of interest, and research ethics.

Addresses plagiarism, data integrity, duplicate publication, and other misconduct; works with AAHA staff on corrections, retractions, and expressions of concern.

Content development & special initiative's

Solicits high-quality submissions — reviews, clinical studies, case studies, and special-topic content — and oversees special issues or themed sections.

Develops new authors, recruits editors for new sections, and encourages contributions from diverse authors and perspectives.

Reviews AAHA Guidelines prior to publication and offers recommendations to the AAHA Director of Guidelines.

Collaboration & communication

Works closely with AAHA staff, the managing editor, and the associate editor; communicates effectively with authors, reviewers, and other stakeholders.

Serves as the public editorial voice of the journal when appropriate, and coordinates with the ABVP editor on submissions related to the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners.

Operational responsibilities

Monitors editorial performance metrics (submission volume, acceptance rates, turnaround times) and contributes to editorial policy and journal operations.

Participates in budgetary or resource discussions related to editorial functions and supports initiatives to grow the journal's visibility and impact.

Qualifications & Experience

DVM or equivalent veterinary degree required; advanced training and/or board certification preferred.

Significant experience in clinical practice, academic medicine, research, or scholarly publishing.

Prior editorial experience (editor-in-chief, associate editor, or similar role) strongly preferred.

Demonstrated understanding of peer review, research methodology, and evidence-based medicine.

Strong leadership, communication, and decision-making skills.

Familiarity with a manuscript management system (e.g., Editorial Manager, ScholarOne, or the platform JAAHA currently uses) preferred.

Willingness to disclose personal, financial, or professional conflicts of interest relevant to editorial decisions, consistent with AAHA's editorial conflict-of-interest policy.

Compensation, Time Commitment & Term

Compensation: $30,000–$45,000 per year, commensurate with experience, paid quarterly.

Time commitment: Estimated at roughly 0.2 FTE (approximately 8–10 hours/week).

Term: A renewable term, expected to be three years.

Start date: December 2026-January 2027.

Location & Reporting Structure

Location: Fully remote. Occasional travel to AAHA annual meeting may be requested.

Reports to: the AAHA CMO, with close working relationships with the JAAHA Associate Editor, Managing Editor, and AAHA editorial staff.

Editorial independence: Consistent with standard journal governance.

AAHA is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from candidates of all backgrounds who meet the qualifications above.