The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) of the South African Journal of International Affairs (SAJIA) invites applications to this post with the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), a non-profit non-governmental organisation (www.saiia.org.za). The successful applicant must have an excellent command of English, work well independently and demonstrate meticulous follow through on agreed upon work plans. Experience in academic writing/publishing and a general knowledge of international affairs are an advantage. This 30 hours per week post is based in Cape Town.
Description
The Managing Editor (MEd) will work an average of 30 hours per week. This work includes monitoring SAJIA’s Scholar One account, maintaining SAJIA’s active presence on social media platforms, liaising with peer reviewers and authors in the publication process, and working to send articles and book reviews forward to production. The MEd must also be ready to provide specific assistance to the EIC as needed, i.e. for special issues, launch events and other non-routine work. The work of the MEd will require facility with online research tools as well as a working knowledge of Word, Adobe Acrobat and Excel. In addition, an excellent command of the English language and good communication skills are required. The MEd will become familiar with the SAJIA style guide, and will be offered training in optimising social media platforms (X, LinkedIn) by the SAIIA Media Team. Training in the publisher’s online manuscript management tools (Scholar One and Central Article Tracking) will be provided.
Responsibilities
- Managing the Journal’s social media strategy, via the SAIIA website, X and LinkedIn and any other platforms that seem suited for broad dissemination of SAJIA issues/articles
- Creating, updating and storing in a shared folder a set of status reports tracking article submissions under consideration for each issue
- Monitoring Scholar One for new submissions, checking peer review deadlines and tracking other matters that require action by the editorial team
- Vetting newly submitted manuscripts to check for suitability to SAJIA (ie, relevance of topic, currency, academic rigour, signs of AI content generation, CrossRef similarity report assessment, suitable word count range) and outlining points for EIC’s consideration
- Identifying potential expert peer reviewers suited to the content of manuscripts under consideration by conducting online research and drawing on available databases
- Inviting peer reviewers approved by the EIC, via the SAJIA Scholar One site, and following up with peer reviewers for responses and comments, as needed
- Monitoring Scholar One for receipt of reviewer comments and proposing a decision (accept, revise or reject) based on those comments, for the EIC’s consideration
- Forwarding review comments to the authors via Scholar One
- Assisting the EIC in setting up and managing special issues. This entails developing the timeline for the issue, completing relevant forms on the publisher’s site, sending out the guest editor agreement and following up for signatures, tracking abstracts and article submissions, and maintaining a detailed status report for updating the guest editors
- Working with the SAIIA events and media teams to organise webinars or other events to launch a special issue
- Checking revised articles for style points, response to PR comments, and readiness for language editing and where necessary doing basic editing tasks ahead of the substantive language edit by the EIC
- Preparing the final manuscripts for forwarding to production by T&F
- Responding to queries from the production team and liaising with authors where additional materials or points of clarification are needed prior to the preparation of proofs
- Checking proofs of typeset articles and sending through any corrections to proofs via CATS; and following up with authors to ensure proofs are corrected by them as well in good time
- Preparing the text announcing a new issue of the journal on the SAIIA website
- Preparing Open Access articles that will appear on the SAIIA website, one per issue
- Monitoring and updating the SAJIA page of the SAIIA website as needed
- Provide support to the EIC during conference travel or agreed periods of annual leave
Experience, Skills and Qualifications
- Applicants should have a knowledge of international affairs and a proven track record of reliable delivery of high quality work.
- Some familiarity with the publishing process, as well as an academic qualification at the level of a Master’s degree and at least five years of work experience, will be required.
- The successful applicant will be expected to be responsive to EIC email or phone/WhatsApp communications during weekdays.
- Weekly on-site or online meetings with the EIC will be held to provide guidance and oversight, as well as identify the tasks for the week ahead.
- Hours are flexible, so long as tasks are completed. A laptop and independent internet access is required.
- The incumbent may choose to work at the SAIIA offices in Cape Town.
Applicants may submit their CV, including their academic qualifications, current employment, past work experience and contactable references, with a cover letter motivating why they believe they are an excellent applicant, to sajia.editor@saiia.org.za by 7 February 2025.
The applicant should be available to work for at least one year from the date of appointment, preferably from around 15 March 2025. A three-month probation period will apply. Remuneration is on a commissioning contract basis and will be commensurate with that of mid-level publishing professionals (R240,000 – R360,000 p.a.).
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be called in for an interview.
SAIIA reserves the right not to make an appointment.