Position Title: Managing Editor
Position Type: Full-time, Remote
Stipend: Up to $80,000/annual; Compensation will be based on education, experience, and skills relevant to the role.
The International Headache Society (IHS) seeks an experienced and highly motivated Managing Editor to oversee the editorial operations of two international, open-access journals. This role is central to maintaining scientific excellence, editorial integrity, and efficient peer review, working in close collaboration with the Editor-in-Chief, the Society, and the Publisher. The Managing Editor will serve as a trusted operational and strategic partner, ensuring high-quality editorial workflows while contributing to the long-term development and reputation of the journals.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• Manage initial and revised submissions, route the files to the appropriate editor.
• Follow the peer review course of each submission alerting editors to act when necessary.
• When revision papers are sent to the authors provide a templated graphical abstract for the authors to prepare.
• Provide copy editing for accepted papers ensuring correct permissions are obtained for the use of copyrighted and trademarked images, writing, etc. for usage and personal rights.
• Send files to the production team per the publisher guidelines.
• Respond to author and third party inquiries in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Establish and maintain a strong positive relationship with editors, authors, Society members, IHS leaders and
IHS administration team.
• Liaise with IHS administration team, including membership status queries for APC.
• Facilitate the Reviewer Academy course each year: welcoming new fellows; providing necessary resources
for reviewer training; monitor mentor/fellow reviews; provide mentors with quarterly status updates. At
course completion provide each fellow with a certificate and honours requested by the Editor in Chief.
• Collaborate with the Social Media team providing published article content, notices of Editor's Choice and Essential Reading, maintaining the records for review by the Society.
• Oversight of the journal award programmes.
• An understanding of the policies of ICMJE, COPE, Open Access, DOAJ and PubMed.
• Attend Editorial Board meetings serving as liaison with editors and publisher including managing and maintaining requested reports from the manuscript database.
• Provide updates to various partners related to journal content, Editorial Board member changes.
• Other duties as assigned including ScholarOne reporting system, meeting organisations which may include Zoom or Team conference calls upon request.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
• Recommend initiatives and implement changes to improve quality and services.
• Identify and determine the cause of problems; develop and present recommendations for improvement of established processes and practices.
• Maintain contact with authors, editors, publisher and solicit feedback for improved services.
• Research and develop resources that create timely and efficient workflow.
• Prepare progress reports; inform Editor in Chief of manuscript status.
• Prepare and submit reports as requested.
QUALIFICATIONS
To perform this role successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily and fluency in English is required. The items below are representative of the knowledge, skills, abilities, education, and experience required or preferred. The Managing Editor position requires the ability to effectively establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with authors, editors and publisher.
Knowledge
• Demonstrated knowledge of manuscript submission, peer review managing, copyediting and production processes.
• Thorough familiarity with editorial style (APA, Vancouver Reference), grammar, and punctuation, and the highest level of competency in copy editing and proofreading.
Skills
• Proven skills in management of manuscript submission.
• Planning, organising, and following through, with ability to meet deadlines and maintain a high level of performance in a deadline driven environment.
• Outstanding writing and editing skills.
• Demonstrated expertise in manuscript submission systems (ScholarOne strongly preferred). The successful candidate should demonstrate an ability to learn new software and processes quickly.
• Experience and familiarity with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, and other content management systems with investigative skills to analyse submissions that may have been AI manipulated, plagiarised or other deceptive manuscript submissions; reporting of these submissions to the Editor in Chief and research integrity, if necessary.
Abilities
• Proven ability to initiate, lead, and manage manuscripts submissions from beginning to end with a strong understanding of strategy, choice and journal's editorial aim and scope.
• Strong desire to work for solutions when issues arise.
• Experience working with editors, societies, and publishers with the tact, sensitivity and diplomacy that is required to work with a wide variety of professional backgrounds and levels of experience.
• Highly collaborative and communicative member of the team, who is open to and enthusiastic about new ideas and approaches to help the Editor in Chief to achieve the Society goals of maintaining both journals with the highest research integrity.
Education
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent educational career track.
Experience
• Track record of activities related to manuscript publishing.
• Minimum of five years of related work experience.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
• Considerable time is spent at a desk using a computer and phone.
• May be required to travel to medical conferences.
HOW TO APPLY
Send your CV and a brief cover letter explaining motivation and relevant experience to the following e-mail address:
APPLICATION DEADLINE
18:00 BST Wednesday 1 April 2026