Publisher

Roles and responsibilities

• Manage the HBKU Press Journals program, editorial direction and content management, and delivery of the relevant operational and strategic KPIs.
• Contribute to commercial and strategic objectives of the business through recommendations of new projects including P&L accountability.
• Develop the aims and scope of new and existing journals and be proactive in recruiting advisory board members and supporters within the academic community.
• Responsible for building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships between HBKU Press and external & internal stakeholders in key geographical and subject areas.
• Evaluate the suitability of submitted manuscripts in terms of content and similarity index level.
• Evaluate peer review reports as submitted by experts and provide constructive feedback to authors to improve their content.
• Generate work completion certificates and invoices in accordance with the agreements for the published journals.
• Train clients in using Editorial Manager and provide technical support when needed.
• Work with head of academic & journal publishing to improve processes and workflows.
• Coordinate with editors/translators to ensure the integrity of all published content; including management of the peer review process and copyediting.
• Report and track technical problems to the production team and solve them where relevant.
• Support the planning of events related to academic outreach and business development.
• Other reasonable tasks as assigned by the supervisor.

Desired candidate profile

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, science, or a relevant area.
• 6 - 8 years of work experience in publishing or research with scholarly outcomes.
• Experience in Journal article submission and review processes.
• Excellent knowledge of STM publishing processes and models.
• Excellent knowledge of Editorial Management (EM) systems.
• Excellent understanding of various citation and reference styles used in the journals.
• Strong understanding of open-access publishing and its benefits.
• Excellent verbal and written English and Arabic language communication skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications.
• Editorial Skills: Ability to work closely with editors, authors, and reviewers to manage content flow, ensure accuracy, and maintain quality.
• Digital Literacy: Familiarity with digital publishing platforms and content management systems (CMS), such as Open Journal Systems (OJS), Scholastica, or proprietary platforms.
• Marketing and Sales: Knowledge of how to promote academic journals and increase visibility within the academic community.
• Communication: Strong writing, speaking, and interpersonal communication skills to engage with authors, researchers, editors, and customers.
• Data Analysis: Understanding of journal metrics (impact factor, citation indexes) and experience in using tools like Google Scholar, Scopus, or Altmetric for journal performance tracking.
• Customer Service: Providing support to authors, reviewers, and readers in the journal publishing process.