Publishing Technology Specialist – Peer Review

Company : Canadian Science Publishing
Location : Ottawa - Hybrid
Closing Date : 12th August 2022
Website : https://cdnsciencepub.com/about/careers

The Publishing Technology Specialist (Peer Review) has two key areas of responsibility:

1. Administering and maintaining the peer review platform, which entails

o supporting ongoing peer review system development and enhancement,

o troubleshooting problems,

o overseeing product releases, and

o supporting peer review analytics

2. Championing continuous process improvement, which entails

o assessing existing workflows and making recommendations to optimize processes

o nurturing a culture of continuous improvement

o documenting workflows and processes, keeping documentation up to date, and providing training as needed

This position reports to the Director, Publishing Technologies, and has no reports.

SPECIFIC DUTIES

Responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:

1. Administers the peer review platform for all CSP journals and its clients.

a. Completes configuration changes and troubleshoots issues.

b. Oversees peer review platform updates and/or major releases, coordinating the testing and reporting of issues and ensuring that changes are communicated to colleagues and clients.

c. Maintains expert knowledge of the capabilities and configuration options of the peer review platform.

d. Responds to employee inquiries about the peer review platform, providing technical support and troubleshooting problems that colleagues or clients have identified.

e. Supports ongoing peer review platform development and enhancement, e.g., assists with the review of new and existing platform features, services, and integrations and assists with the implementation of platform changes to support new initiatives and peer review strategies.

f. Liaises with platform and integration vendors as needed.

2. Champions continuous improvement to ensure processes are efficient, cost-effective, and meet current standards.

a. Collaborates with colleagues to assess existing workflows and make recommendations to optimize processes.

b. Identifies and develops continuous improvement strategies that will drive operational excellence, increased capacity, and cost reductions.

c. Develops and nurtures a culture of continuous improvement by facilitating process improvement exercises (e.g., Kaizen events), providing training and advice, soliciting suggestions, and leading implementations of improvements.

d. Develops and reports on KPIs as required.

e. Documents workflows and processes and keeps documentation up to date.

f. Creates and maintains training materials, trains users on the use of platform tools and on general platform operations relevant to their roles.

3. Researches and assists with the implementation of new third-party tools and services for the publishing technology group.

4. Stays abreast of industry developments related to submission and peer review products and processes, and of publishing technologies in general; and makes recommendations on whether CSP and its journals would benefit from the adopting them.

QUALIFICATIONS

Requirements

· Successful completion of a post-secondary diploma or degree or related experience with an emphasis on information and/or publishing, preferably in a scholarly publishing environment

· Experience with online peer review platforms; familiarity with ScholarOne platform preferred

· Experience developing production workflows and processes as well as an understanding of XML-first publishing workflows

· Experience with project management tools and processes

· Experience re-imagining business processes and implementing process changes

Skills

· Possesses a keen understanding of peer review platforms and processes in scholarly publishing.

· Actively stays abreast of developments in their domain and pursues continuous learning through a variety of channels.

· Gains confidence and trust of others by demonstrating integrity, transparency, and authenticity in all interactions, and by contributing to a psychologically safe environment.

· Driver for continuous improvement, able to support and influence change, motivate others, and establish team consensus.

· Excellent facilitation and communication skills with the ability to engage diverse audiences and work effectively diverse technical and non-technical stakeholders.

· Ability to work independently and in a collaborative environment.

· Ability to manage and prioritize work to meet deadlines.

· Excellent critical thinking, analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

· Ability to clearly and accurately document workflows and procedures.

· Data-driven: able to conduct research and testing, summarize findings, and make evidence-based recommendations.