The editorial office in transition

1
The editorial office in transition

• Council of Science Editors
• 5 May 2003
• Cara S. Kaufman

2
www.kaufmanwills.com

• Cara S. Kaufman, Partner
• Alma J. Wills, Partner
• Kaufman-Wills Group, LLC
• 24 Aintree Road
• Baltimore, MD 21286
• 410 821 8035 (ph)
• 410 821 1654 (fax)
• ckaufman_at_bellatlantic.net
• www.kaufmanwills.com

• Selected clients
• Am Acad Ped
• Am Assoc Immunol
• Am Coll Cardiol
• Am Coll Radiol
• Am Soc Clin Onc
• ASPET
• ASTRO
• Intl Anesth Res Soc
• NEJM
• Proj Hope/Hlth Affairs
• Alma former President, Periodicals Division,
  Williams Wilkins
• Cara former Publisher, Am Heart Assoc Jrnls, The
  Lancet

3
Overview

• Recruiting editor, editorial office staff
• Office location
• Establishing a transition timeline
• Financial planning
• QA

4
Editor recruitment

• Plan for transition with current Editor
• Communicate time line clearly
• Account for any sensitive issues
• Establish search committee
• Network letters to reviewers, authors
• Request editorial plan from candidates
• Interview and hire
• Review job expectations, incentive package
• Review conflict of interest and financial
  disclosure
• Communicate directly with other candidates
• Outgoing Editor, Pub Cte Chair, Pres or Exec Dir
  to write editorial announcing new editor
• Handout sample editor agreement

5
Editorial staff recruitment

• Communicate openly with current staff
• Share timeline
• Set up stay incentive bonus
• Begin search
• Society HR, professional recruiter
• Involve new Editor, outgoing staff in search and
  hiring
• Determine staffing levels number qualifications
• Interview and hire
• Pre-qualify by phone, personal interview, second
  interview with finalists, references!
• Handout sample job descriptions for managing
  editor, editorial assistant interview questions,
  candidate evaluation form

6
Office locationEditor? Society? Publisher?

• Editor
• Pros
• Eases communication with face-to-face meetings
• Less dependency on email/ms mgmt system
• Cons
• Potential difficulty in finding qualified
  individuals
• Space becoming more of a premium at universities
  and medical centers

7
Office locationEditor? Society? Publisher?

• Society
• Pros
• Permanent office location
• Communication eased with Web-based manuscript
  mgmt system
• Minimal if any editor transition costs
• Cons
• Potential of editor relying on other in-house
  staff (eg, secretaries)inefficiencies
• Lack of fit, possible isolation within society
  offices?

8
Office locationEditor? Society? Publisher?

• Commercial publisher (if one)
• Pros
• Permanent office location
• Trained staff, with built-in back-ups
• Communication eased with Web-based manuscript
  mgmt system
• Minimal if any editor transition costs
• Cons
• Potential of editor relying on other in-house
  staff (eg, secretaries)inefficiencies
• Perceived lack of separation of editorial and
  business operations possible loss of
  independence, procedural control

9
Establish transition timeline

• Outgoing office
• Edl contract lease extended
• Editorial re new editor/system
• Info to authors changed
• Forward new manuscripts
• Log in last manuscripts
• Send last manuscripts for review/stop accepting
• Compile final issue
• Make, log in decisions
• Forward ms backlog
• Final office cleanup
• Editor contract, office lease expires stay
  bonuses paid

• Incoming office
• Edl contract signed
• Managing editor hired
• Space leased
• Addl office staff hired
• Ms mgmt system procured data conversion as
  needed
• Meeting/s with outgoing staff training on system
• Begin receiving new manuscripts and sending for
  peer-review
• Receive ms backlog
• Writes intro editorial
• Compiles first issue

10
Transition triumphs!

• Attend to staff sensitivity and training
• Thank staff ensure staff enjoy sufficient
  incentives to stay until and be available beyond
  transition
• Early meetings, frequent communication between
  outgoing/incoming editors and staff
• Pre-determine no. of backlogged mss
• Intervene to reduce to acceptable levels
• Reject more manuscripts
• Publish more pages (budget?costly)
• Or if manuscript flow insufficient, plan to grow
• New editor recruiting papers soliciting reviews
• New editor call for manuscripts

11
Financial planning

• Budget transition costs for outgoing office
• Lease extensions, pay-outs
• Stay bonuses
• Budget start-up costs for incoming office
• Recruiting
• Training, travel
• Office lease
• Furniture, equipment, and supplies
• Web-based manuscript management system
• Data conversion
• Training

12
Financial planning

• Prepare annual budget for new office
• Handout editorial office budget template
• Dont be caught off guard
• Expect 50-100 additional cost of current
  editorial office to run concurrent offices
• 6-12 month transition/overlap of offices
• Ongoing, not including start-up costs

13
QA

• Dear CSE attendees
• Thank you very much! My apologies for not being
  able to be with you today. Please do not
  hesitate to contact me with any follow-up
  questions that you might have. I hope that you
  enjoy the conference.
• Best wishes, Cara
• 410 821 8035
• ckaufman_at_bellatlantic.net
• www.kaufmanwills.com