Editorial boards consist of experts, scholars, and senior editors. Consulted for their knowledge and experience, editorial boards are responsible for ensuring the academic quality and integrity of journals and their research. Editorial boards can also consist of international members, and this diversity needs to be managed appropriately.
Because of the importance of geographic diversity in academic publishing and its global dimensions, journal editorial board members are often from various different countries. In such cases, careful consideration is needed to navigate things such as scheduling, deadlines, and collaboration across time zones.
What is an editorial board?
An editorial board is a group of experts in a particular field that help to steer a journal. They are generally considered the first point of contact for matters that affect the journal’s publication output and industry reputation.
Editorial boards do many things, but they mostly help steer the journal in the right direction. This may include advising on the journal’s research scope. It may also include providing quality control checks for new submissions, ensuring academic novelty, integrity, and ethical soundness. In this sense, editorial boards help the journal establish its identity and authority in a competitive academic publishing industry.
Managing international editorial boards
It’s common for editorial board members to have diverse perspectives useful for contributing to the growth and reputation of a journal. It’s also common for editorial boards to be geographically diverse.
Because of this, managing editorial boards often involves coordinating with people from different time zones. Consequently, setting up meetings to work through important journal matters becomes a troublesome task, detracting from valuable discussion time.
On top of that, being in different time zones means that basic administrative tasks may start to pile up if communication between editorial board members isn’t maintained in an organized manner.
With these considerations in mind, let’s look at some digital tools that aid in managing international editorial boards.
Using effective collaboration tools
To schedule meetings between international board members effectively, use digital tools such as Google Calendar or Outlook. These tools are easy-to-access and automatically adjusts times for members across different time zones. They also include visual aids in the form of World Clock Meeting Planners, which identify overlapping hours of availability between members.
As well as scheduling meetings across time zones, international board members must also coordinate on the status of submissions and any outstanding tasks for their respective journal. Journal management systems conveniently centralize workflows into one intuitive system, ensuring editorial board members have real-time, 24-hour access to up-to-date manuscripts, editorial files, and review reports from anywhere in the world.
Journal management systems such as JAMS not only centralize workflows for international board members; they also integrate messaging tools and automated notifications to facilitate global collaboration, helping international editorial boards meet editorial and peer review deadlines.
Building inclusivity at every opportunity
Managing an international editorial board will involve situations where compromise and reorganization become essential. It’s important to use these moments to promote inclusivity, making sure that no one feels unheard in important executive and editorial decisions.
Time zone differences may mean that certain editorial board members are unable to participate in timely discussions. Where possible, try to rotate meeting times to share the burden of organizational proceedings and maintain inclusivity. In the long run, this should help build a harmonious environment for executing strategy, supporting team alignment when it comes to editorial direction.
Inclusivity isn’t the only thing to consider, however. Motivation is another key aspect of building a strong editorial board. Clearly define each editorial board member’s role and the journal’s expectations from the beginning. These should always be negotiated (and flexible where possible).
Perhaps the biggest strength of an international editorial board is its diversity. This is something that must be actively nurtured and supported. An editorial board that has a wide range of knowledge, life experience, and geographical contexts provides rich perspectives. And such perspectives consolidate a journal’s global positioning, market understanding, and publishing output in the long term.