Editorial Associate

The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a vibrant non-profit professional membership association of more than 14,500 materials researchers from academia, industry, and government, and is a recognized leader in the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research. Headquartered in the north hills of Pittsburgh in Warrendale, Pennsylvania (USA), MRS has more than 35 employees. MRS membership spans over 90 countries and includes members in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and engineering—the full spectrum of materials research—and they choose MRS because it is important to their work and their careers. 

As the Editorial Associate, you will have the opportunity to reimagine your career by working with a collaborative hybrid team that has global non-profit reach. MRS’s friendly environment and work-life balance approach allows our staff to flourish while working together to advance the Society’s mission “to engage members across generations to advance their career and promote materials and research innovation.”

What will I do?

The Editorial Associate will be the Primary liaison for assigned journals in the MRS portfolio. Will serve as the point-of contact for the respective Editor-in-Chief (EIC)/Editor regarding manuscript peer review and publication process. Supports strategic and operational efforts for MRS journals.

• Responsible for the peer review process of manuscripts from receipt to acceptance and ensuring that regular and special issue manuscripts flow through the editorial process in accordance with schedules and deadlines. Communicates with EICs and Editors to resolve author, reviewer and editor questions or problems. 
• Coordinates article acquisition for technical themes. Assists EIC in special issue and theme development efforts. Coordinates special issue/technical themes workflow from Call for Papers (or invitations, as appropriate) through schedule development, submission, peer review, and final decision of complete lineup. Instructs and advises Associate and Guest Editors on editorial process, journal peer review procedures, policies, and system usage and communicates regarding the status of each issue.
• Secures additional editorial materials (introductions, cover images, etc.) that are not submitted via the regular content submission site.
• Guides and advises Springer Nature Journal Editorial Office support to ensure adherence to policy and practice for MRS journals. Communicates with Springer Nature regarding operations of and updates to manuscript submission website and maintenance of accurate information on the Springer platform.
• Assists in coordination of invitations, author responses, and results reporting for targeted invitation campaigns.
• Provides regular reports on journal and issue status, publication metrics, editor performance, campaign results, and special inquiries as needed.
• With Manager, facilitates EIC and Editor onboarding process. 
• Serves as staff liaison between authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial workflow support vendor. Fields and responds to questions regarding manuscript status and submission guidelines, feedback from authors and reviewers, and questions and comments on journal policies.
• Manages social media content, in coordination with the marketing department. Assists with collection of author input for promotion, as well as encouraging promotional opportunities to authors. 
• Develops familiarity with scholarly publication practices, including Open Access developments, and participates in research to identify and benchmark practices among competitive journals.
• Serves as backup for other MRS archival journal editorial processes within cross-functional journals team. Supplements editorial staff team on all practices listed above for consistency among journal portfolio.

What will make you a great fit:

• Associate or Bachelor’s degree in communications, English, journalism or related field.
• 3 years of office experience, preferably in a publishing environment
• Proficient in Microsoft Office software such as Word, Excel, and Outlook along with using the internet and manuscript types (i.e., PDF.)
• Familiar with graphics types (TIF, JPG files, etc.).
• Ability to handle, coordinate and manage multiple priorities.
• Excellent organizational, reporting, and project coordination skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to adjust to changing situations and priorities.
• Excellent customer service skills, detail skills and teamwork.
• Ability to travel inside of the United States, approximately 10% annually.

What we offer you:

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience
• Outstanding benefit package including:
• Fully paid health, vision and dental benefits (employee portion)
• 401(k) 5% employer contribution (no employee contribution required)
• Life Insurance/AD&D
• Long Term Disability and Short-Term Disability
• Generous PTO plus paid Holidays
• Excellent work environment, including telework (hybrid) in the Pittsburgh, PA region and flexible schedule opportunities.

Materials Research Society Is an Equal Opportunity Employer