Freelance Managing Editor - Ph.D. Translation Studies

Cactus Communications; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 400,000 - 700,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexibility: set your own work hours

Job summary

Cactus Communications is seeking a project-based Managing Editor to oversee editorial decisions across a portfolio of journals. You will make independent post–peer review decisions, uphold journal standards, and collaborate with internal teams to maintain throughput and quality.

Responsibilities include issuing revision requests, ensuring consistency across submissions, and providing clear decision letters to authors. Strong English publications and recent research activity are essential.

Qualifications

• Active researcher with recent publications (3–5 in last 5 years).
• First or last author on publications; English publications preferred.

Responsibilities

• Assess manuscript suitability and issue initial revision decisions after peer review.
• Evaluate peer-review reports and determine need for additional review.

Education

PhD in Translation Studies (Humanities)

Tools

ScholarOne

EM System

SNAPP

REX

Job description

One of our prestigious publisher clients is looking for project-based Managing Editors support to ensure timely, high-quality editorial decisions across a portfolio of journals. In this role, candidates will need to make independent, post–peer review decisions, uphold journal standards, and collaborate closely with internal teams to maintain throughput and quality. Manuscripts will be assigned as required, allowing for flexibility around commitments. We are specifically seeking candidates with a PhD specializing in Translation Studies (Humanities), having 3-5 years of research experience, and currently involved in research/academia.

Job Responsibilities

• Assess the suitability of submitted manuscripts and, following peer review, issue initial revision decisions (minor/major) and final (accept/reject) decisions.
• Evaluate the quality and relevance of peer-review reports and determine when additional review is warranted for borderline or complex cases.
• Synthesize reviewer feedback into coherent editorial decisions that uphold the journal’s reputation through rigorous editorial standards.
• Provide clear, constructive decision letters to authors explaining revision requirements and expectations for resubmissions, whilst maintaining a professional tone in all author correspondence.
• Issue and evaluate revision requests on original submissions, determining whether author responses adequately address reviewer comments.
• Ensure consistency in decision-making across original and revised submissions throughout the appointment.
• Collaborate with the Publisher, Desk Editors, and Reviewer Selection Support primarily via email and other asynchronous channels.
• Attend scheduled regular check-in meetings with the Publisher to provide updates on manuscript processing and any challenges encountered.
• Decision turnaround: complete all manuscript decisions within a maximum of 5 business days from assignment.
• Response times: respond to queries and communications within 2 business days.
• Provide KPI reporting and periodic performance updates.
• Participate in reviews to assess delivery against KPIs and implement corrective and preventive actions where needed.

Qualifications and Prerequisites

• Ph.D. in Translation Studies (Humanities)
• Active (or very recent) researchers with a minimum of 3-5 publications in the last 5 years.
• Publications should be primarily in English.
• Must have at least 2 publications in the last 2 years.
• Publications should not have a retraction note or expressions of concerns related to authorship dispute, plagiarism or research misconduct.
• Should be either the first or the last authors on the publications.
• Should have working knowledge of an editorial management system (Scholar one, EM, SNAPP, REX etc.) [Preferred]

Benefits of the role

• Flexibility: Set your own work hours to match your lifestyle.