The Role of Managing Editor – Robert Alfis, ETBI

1. ROLE OF A
MANAGING EDITOR
R ob e r t A l f i s
L i b r a r y D ev e l o p m e n t O f f i c er – E d u c at i o n an d T r ai n i n g B oar d s I r el a n d ( E T B I )

2. Main Duties
MANAGE THE
JOURNAL
PLATFORM
OVERSEE THE
COPYEDITING
PROCESS
PREPARE THE FINAL
ISSUE BEFORE
PUBLICATION
ORGANISE
EDITORIAL BOARD
MEETINGS

3. Managing the
Journal Platform
◦ Making sure everything is up-to-date
◦ Checking for new submissions
◦ Bringing issue through each stage of publication
process
◦ Submission
◦ Peer Review
◦ Copyediting
◦ Publication
◦ Set up each new accounts (editors, editorial board
members, copy editors, peer reviewers)

4. Finding Peer Reviewers
Anonymise the article
Check institutions’ staff pages
Look for those who have published in the relevant area
Send reminder emails through the journal platform

6. Reviewer
Feedback
Accepted with no changes
• Very rare
Accepted with major changes
• You will need to make some big changes
before being published. Your work may need
to be sent back to peer review again before
publication
Accepted with minor changes
• If you make the suggested changes, your
work can be published. It usually won't need
to be sent back to peer review
Rejected

7. Copyediting
◦ Manage the copyeditors and ensure
consistency across articles
◦ Make final decisions on tough calls.
◦ Record any decision made and add it to
the style guide for future reference
◦ Contact authors with queries
◦ Referencing, tables and figures
◦ Organise final run through of full issue.

8. Journal Promotion
◦ Twitter and LinkedIn
◦ Journal website
◦ Library website
◦ Liaise with marketing
◦ Internal promotion

9. Print on Demand
◦ Lulu.com
◦ Journal needs to be properly formatted.
◦ Ensure fonts are embedded – Adobe Acrobat
◦ Front and back covers are uploaded separately
◦ Provides a physical item for promotion

10. DOAJ
◦ Have each article indexed on DOAJ
◦ OJS plugin – allows you to export article information
as XML
◦ Easily uploaded to the DOAJ platform

11. ARCHIVING

12. Benefits of the Librarian as Editor
Indexing
Archiving
Impact
Continuity