Assistant Publisher

Company : IOP Publishing
Location : Bristol / Hybrid / UK Remote
Closing Date : 8th January 2023
Website : https://www.ioppublishingcareers.org/vacancy/assistant-publisher-503837.html

As an Assistant Publisher, you will provide commissioning, administrative and title management support and coordination for the Journals Development team so they can achieve profitable growth in output, quality and reputation of our journal publishing.

What will you be doing?
Key job accountabilities include:

  • Acting as the first point of contact for external stakeholders - answering and escalating queries from authors, guest editors, and partners.
  • Carry out desk-based commissioning for a list of journals, in line with journal commissioning plans
  • Day-to-day management of special issues, liaising with external Guest Editors as necessary
  • Regularly inform Publisher and Senior Publisher of commissioning activity progress
  • Keep databases, as well as commissioning and contact databases up to date to ensure the accuracy of the information and effective communication.
  • Coordinating the activity of external journal stakeholders as directed (e.g. coordinating the content for Board meetings).
  • Monitoring and running reports for Senior Publishers on journal performance against agreed targets.
  • Assist with data retrieval for custom reporting and analysis for journal strategies and commissioning plans, by using both internal reporting systems and external resources.

About you:

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

  • An awareness of the role of academic research journals, as well as interest in scientific developments.
  • Excellent communication skills (verbal and written) to work effectively with internal colleagues and external stakeholders (authors, referees, editors, board members and society partners).
  • Strong working knowledge of Excel.
  • Strong customer service ethos.
  • An ability to work autonomously and also as part of a team.
  • Good attention to detail.
  • Excellent organisational skills with the ability to prioritise effectively.
  • Well-developed analytical skills with the ability to independently solve problems.
  • Publishing experience in STM publishing (books or journals) is desirable but not essential.

We know it is unusual for someone to tick every box so if you don’t meet all the criteria, but demonstrate most of the skills and experience we are looking for and have the enthusiasm to work with us, go ahead and apply.

What we offer:

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer employees an excellent pension scheme (up to 12% company contribution), discretionary annual bonus scheme, 25+ days holiday (not including bank holidays), standard 35-hour working week, volunteering days, and a comprehensive benefits package including private medical insurance, life assurance, and a range of flexible benefits such as cycle to work scheme, discounted gym membership, healthcare cash plan, and payroll giving.

Our modern and contemporary offices are based in the thriving city centre of Bristol, a stone’s throw away from Temple Meads train station, and within walking distance of Cabot Circus shopping centre, and numerous cafés and restaurants. Named on more than one occasion as the best city in the UK to live in, Bristol is a cosmopolitan and creative city boasting a historic harbour, internationally renowned cultural institutions and home to world-class festivals and events.

Flexible Working:

The contractual location of this role is our Bristol office, but we have recently moved to a hybrid working model with a dynamic and blended combination of office and remote working, dependent on business and team requirements. As there will not be a requirement for the person in this role to be in the office every week, we are open to considering applicants from a wider geographical area who are happy to travel to Bristol regularly.

To apply, please submit your CV and cover note through our careers site.

We aim to review applications soon after they are received, and will arrange interviews when there’s someone we’re keen to meet, so please don’t hold off applying until the closing date is approaching - we don’t want you, or us, to miss out!

About us:

IOP Publishing is an international scientific publisher, through which leading-edge research is distributed worldwide. Our rapidly expanding journals programme is published alongside other sources of scientific information in the form of eBooks, magazines and conference proceedings. Other publications include easily accessible community and regional websites. We are a world leader in the development of electronic publishing for the scientific community and have offices in Europe, Asia and the US. Working in the interests of science and scientists, we aim to maximise the impact of the research we publish.

IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics, a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to supporting science through the activities of the Institute. With a continuing focus on growth, we recognise that every single person has a real part to play if we’re to achieve our aim of becoming the world’s leading publisher in our field.

Vision Our vision is that diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are built into our identity in a way that is both natural and sustainable and that is visible through the work we produce, our Ways of Being, our company branding, our professional networks and the colleagues and communities we serve and support.