Nordicom has a job opening for a scientific editor to join their editorial team. Read about Nordicom’s academic publishing operations and the vacant role below, with contributions from editor-in-chief Jonas Ohlsson, continuing scientific editor Johannes Bjerling, and outgoing scientific editor Karin Hjorthen Zelano.
Nordicom is a non-profit academic publisher at the University of Gothenburg dedicated to publishing new, high-quality media and communications research with relevance for the Nordic region. The line of academic publications includes monographs, edited anthologies, and two peer-reviewed journals, Nordicom Review and the externally edited Nordic Journal of Media Studies.
Nordicom is now seeking a new member for the editorial team, as one of the scientific editors has the opportunity to continue her research at the University of Oslo. Though leaving, Karin Hjorthen Zelano, scientific editor for almost four and a half years at Nordicom, highly recommends the position.
– The role is an intriguing mix of, on the one hand, working alone – making decisions and assessing the scientific quality of manuscripts and peer reviews – and on the other, cooperating closely with others – within our editorial team as well as with external editors and authors, Zelano shares.
The Role
Nordicom’s two scientific editors oversee the evaluation process of Nordicom Review and published books from start to finish, ensuring scientific integrity and providing support to authors and external editors throughout the writing and evaluation processes. The scientific editors’ tasks include assessing manuscript submissions, managing the peer-review process, and making final acceptance decisions.
The fact that Nordicom is publicly funded allows unique opportunities to pursue topics of particular relevance to society, and the smallness of the editorial team promotes personalised involvement from an early stage in the development.
– Being small and publicly funded enables us to spend much time with each and every manuscript that is under consideration. We strive for quality in all the different steps that come with a new submission, Johannes Bjerling, scientific editor at Nordicom, states.
Zelano also emphasises the collaborative aspect of Nordicom’s publishing process:
– What I have enjoyed most is connecting with so many brilliant researchers in the media and communications sciences, mainly in the Nordic region, but also in the rest of the world. It is after all a huge trust to manage someone’s publication, as it is often the result of years of data collection, writing, and re-writing.
An important part of the role as scientific editor is to create, cultivate, and maintain a diverse network with media and communication scholars in the Nordic region and internationally.
This network is crucial for all stages of the process, from working with authors and external editors, to finding peer reviewers, to enlisting assistance in spreading the word – not to mention being the first to know about new research projects with the potential for an eventual anthology, monograph, or special issue.
– We try to visit as many seminars and conferences as possible. Be where the researchers are, so to speak. Nordicom is an institution within the academic community of Nordic research on journalism, media, and communication, and I think our way of working makes us a bit different from most other publishers out there, Bjerling explains.
The Team
Nordicom hosts a complete in-house editorial team made up of a managing editor, two scientific editors, a manuscript editor, a graphic designer, and communication officers, led by an editor-in-chief. Over the past few years, the tight-knit group has developed their process to be involved in the publications from the initial idea all the way through to dissemination and promotion.
– We remain a super small player in the world of academic publishing, but based on the various analytical metrics that we use to we asses our development, and not least the feedback we get from external editors, authors, and peer reviewers, we are quite confident that what we are doing is working, editor-in-chief Jonas Ohlsson asserts.
As an Open Access publisher, Nordicom publishes research without charges or processing fees for authors or external editors and offers this full-package publishing service as part of a strategic partnership with the Nordic Council of Ministers.
– We aim to compete for the best Nordic media research for our books and journals, and by doing so, make a positive impact in both the scientific arena and the broader public discourse. And that is only possible if we are able provide the researchers who publish with us a premium publishing experience from start to finish, Ohlsson says.
Apply for the Position
Are you interested in joining the Nordicom editorial team as a scientific editor? If so, read the posting in Swedish or English at the University of Gothenburg’s job portal and apply.
Applications must be received by 9 October 2022.
