Publisher

Persona Staff; Wes-Kaap; Hybrid; ZAR 550,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Persona Staff is seeking a senior editorial professional to lead scholarly publishing projects, from proposal through to publication. You will oversee peer review, ensure ethical and quality standards, and manage relationships with authors, editors, and institutions.

The role emphasizes editorial judgement, strategic development of open-access publishing, and maintaining scholarly integrity across commissions and series development.

Qualifications

• Excellent editorial judgement and decision-making capabilities.
• Proven track record managing scholarly book projects from proposal through publication.
• Experience evaluating publishing proposals and manuscripts.
• Experience overseeing scholarly peer review.

Responsibilities

• Take editorial ownership of assigned scholarly book projects.
• Guide authors and editors from proposal through peer review and final approval.
• Define reviewer requirements and approve selections.
• Evaluate manuscripts and peer-review reports; decide on revisions or acceptance.

Skills

Editorial judgement

Acquisitions

Scholarly publishing

English communication

Peer review oversight

Open access

Education

Postgraduate qualification

Job description

Key Responsibilities:

Publishing Programme Development and Acquisitions

• Develop and maintain a sustainable pipeline of scholarly books, edited volumes and thematic series.
• Identify suitable publishing opportunities aligned with the strategic direction of the company.
• Evaluate book proposals for scholarly quality, programme fit, feasibility and publication potential.
• Commission appropriate new titles and support the development of suitable proposals.
• Build relationships with authors, volume editors, series editors, researchers, and scholarly communities.
• Identify opportunities for institutional publishing partnerships and new scholarly series.
• Contribute to annual publishing programme objectives and growth priorities.

• Represent the company in relevant scholarly and publishing networks, conferences and events when required.

Editorial Leadership and Decision-Making

• Take editorial ownership of assigned scholarly book projects.
• Guide authors and editors from proposal development through peer review, revision and final editorial approval.
• Define the expertise required from peer reviewers and approve reviewer selections.
• Evaluate manuscripts, peer-review reports, and author responses.
• Make or recommend decisions regarding revision, acceptance, or rejection.
• Approve manuscripts for progression to production.
• Assess and approve material changes to scholarly content.
• Apply sound, consistent, and well-documented editorial judgement.

Peer Review and Publishing Ethics

• Oversee scholarly peer review in accordance with publishing policies and recognised ethical standards.
• Safeguard the independence, integrity, and credibility of editorial decision-making.
• Identify and manage conflicts of interest.
• Address authorship concerns, research integrity matters, and other publication ethics issues.
• Resolve complex editorial, policy, and scholarly disputes.
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality throughout proposal evaluation and peer review.
• Support continuous improvement of peer-review and publishing quality policies.

Author, Editor and Institutional Relationships

• Serve as a senior publishing contact for authors, volume editors, series editors, and institutional partners.
• Establish clear expectations regarding editorial requirements, responsibilities, and publication standards.
• Provide constructive guidance to authors and editors throughout the publishing process.
• Manage difficult or sensitive conversations professionally.
• Maintain productive long-term relationships with key scholarly stakeholders.
• Balance stakeholder expectations with the editorial independence and standards of the company.

Publication Quality and Final Approval

• Maintain oversight of the scholarly and editorial quality of each publication.
• Confirm that manuscripts have completed the required editorial, ethical and peer-review processes before publication.
• Work with publishing operations colleagues and specialist contractors to resolve material quality concerns.
• Review substantive content changes arising during production.
• Participate in reciprocal quality assurance for assigned titles.
• Provide final publication approval once all required quality controls have been documented and completed.
• Ensure that publications comply with applicable publishing, licensing, metadata and open-access policies.

Open Access and Scholarly Communication

• Support the development of sustainable open-access scholarly book publishing.
• Apply appropriate Creative Commons licensing and copyright principles.
• Promote responsible and equitable dissemination of scholarly knowledge.
• Support the discoverability, accessibility, and research visibility of the companies publications.
• Remain informed about developments in scholarly communication, research integrity, and digital publishing.

Policy and Continuous Improvement

• Maintain and improve publishing, peer-review, and scholarly quality policies.
• Approve material exceptions to publishing policies where appropriately authorised.
• Identify opportunities to improve publishing quality, author experience, and programme effectiveness.
• Use publishing information and stakeholder feedback to inform decisions.
• Contribute to the strategic development of the Scholarly Books programme.

Minimum Requirements

• At least five years' relevant experience in scholarly, academic, educational, or professional publishing.
• Demonstrated experience managing scholarly book projects from proposal through publication.
• Experience evaluating publishing proposals and manuscripts.
• Practical experience overseeing scholarly peer review.
• Experience working directly with authors, editors, and reviewers.
• Strong understanding of publishing ethics and editorial decision-making.
• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills.
• A relevant postgraduate qualification or equivalent scholarly publishing experience.
• Experience with continuous improvement of digital publishing workflows and publication processes.
• Experience in digital publishing, scholarly communication, and online dissemination practices.
• Experience in AI use in digital publishing

Advantageous Experience

• Open-access book publishing.
• Acquisitions and publishing programme development.
• Commissioning scholarly titles or developing academic series.
• Developing relationships with universities, scholarly societies or research institutions.
• Creative Commons licensing and copyright management.
• COPE-aligned editorial and publication ethics.
• Scholarly metadata, discoverability, and digital dissemination.
• Working with independent editors, designers, and other publishing specialists.

Skills and Competencies

• Excellent editorial judgement.
• Strong acquisitions and relationship-development capability.
• Strategic and commercially informed thinking.