Associate Peer Review Operations Specialist/Peer Review Operations Specialist

*This position is fully remote/home based. Applications will be accepted from candidates based in the UK and the following US states: FL, IL, MA, MD, NY, PA, TX, VA.

In the US, this is a union represented position as part of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, Local 39521 of the NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America.

PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice. We believe in a better future where science is open to all, for all.

Role Summary

The Associate Peer Review Operations Specialist/Peer Review Operations Specialist, is a confident and highly organized self-starter, motivated by a culture of continuous improvement. This role requires excellent communication skills, teamwork and collaboration across team with accountability to meet competing deadlines in a dynamic environment.  Reporting to the Peer Review Operations Managers and will work as part of the Peer Review Operations team to maintain efficient peer review workflows, ensure high vendor performance standards, and uphold excellent contributor experience for authors, editors, and reviewers. This role will enforce turnaround time benchmarks for all peer review milestones to protect process integrity and ensure timeliness and quality of publication. This role will maintain high standards of professional conduct in the workplace and enjoy working with international colleagues from a range of cultures and settings. This role will seek out opportunities for continuous quality improvement in department activities and be an effective champion of the PLOS vision, mission, and brand.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• No direct reports.

Responsibilities

Submission Management 40%

• Ensure the timely, efficient peer review of all submissions
• Ensure that queries or concerns escalated by vendors, Customer Care or other PLOS colleagues are addressed and resolved professionally and within required timelines, or escalated appropriately
• Identify and remove barriers to submission, working collaboratively with colleagues across PLOS as required
• Proactively identify workflow inefficiencies, variations or backlogs to diagnose persistent issues 
• Ensure that manuscripts meet requirements and follow current policies and procedures

Workflows 30%

• Troubleshoot persistent manuscript, workflow or system issues, providing expertise and advice, and exercising judgement to resolve the issue or escalate to the Peer Review Operations Manager or other colleagues as appropriate
• Proactively raise data-driven recommendations for continuous journal operations and workflow improvements to the Peer Review Operations Manager
• Ensure standard journal workflows are maintained as established, implementing and adopting process updates when approved by the Peer Review Operations Manager

Projects 25%

• Contribute to workflow project and initiate proposals as requested, and undertake operations projects and initiatives as directed by the Peer Review Operations Manager
• Serve as daily liaison with vendor representatives, monitoring quality and timeliness performance against target thresholds and KPIs

Other 5%

• Contribute to other operational research outputs related to PLOS’s mission where required, so that our journal workflows are optimized to encourage scientific openness and transparency

Knowledge and Skills

• Peer Review Operations Specialist will have 2+ years’ experience in peer review scientific journal publishing
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and oral
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and proactive in solving problems
• Growth mindset with a collaborative, team player mentality
• An ability to maintain a positive and professional customer service attitude
• Able to work constructively with vendors, authors, editors, customers, and colleagues from a range of international settings
• Knowledge of Excel, Word, file types and file conversions
• Able to work under tight deadlines while achieving a high standard of quality and accuracy
• Able to set priorities and work independently
• Upholds high standards of professionalism in the workplace
• Embraces change with a positive attitude
• An interest in science and in advancing scientific knowledge

 Qualifications

• A university degree or equivalent, scientific discipline is a plus.

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

• Prolonged periods stationary at a des