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Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Editor-in-Chief, Job Description
The Editor-in-Chief is primarily responsible for the technical content, quality, and timeliness of BSSA. As head of this premier journal of seismology, the EIC is in a unique position to encourage new scientists, promote significant scientific contributions, and lead the journal through the challenges of scientific publication in the 21st century.
Role as Editor
BSSA is a peer-reviewed journal. Peer review is handled by the associate editors, who submit recommendations directly to the EIC. Day-to-day operations and oversight of the review, revision, and production processes are handled by the managing editor. The Editor-in-Chief
- Supervises the managing editor and the associate editors;
- Recruits associate editors as necessary and submits their names to the head of BSSA’s Publications Committee;
- Oversees the peer-review process to ensure that it is effective, fair, and timely;
- Screens submitted papers and assigns them to appropriate associate editors;
- Makes final decisions on acceptance or rejection, based on the recommendations of associate editors;
- Communicates directly with authors of rejected papers, establishing procedures for reconsidering editorial decisions, and, if needed, referring disputes to the Publications Committee;
- Acts as associate editor for all comments, replies, and errata;
- Decides which papers will be in an issue and in what order they will appear;
- Works with SSA’s press relations person to choose the papers that will be released early to the media, and gives final approval on press releases;
- Proposes special issues and submits those proposals to the Publications Committee, recruits the guest editors, and makes final decisions on the content of those special issues;
- Makes decisions about waiving page charges, as necessary, within the limits set by SSA;
- Establishes policies and guidelines and regularly reviews these with the managing editor, revising as necessary.
Role as Liaison
- The Editor-in-Chief is an ex-officio member of SSA’s Publications Committee, which works with SSA’s staff, Executive Committee, and Board of Directors to make policy decisions that affect the overall direction of BSSA and that have a financial impact on SSA. In the role of liaison between BSSA and SSA, the Editor-in-Chief
- Prepares an annual report (due in March) on the activities of BSSA;
- Presides over the editorial board luncheon during the annual meeting and solicits input from associate editors on editorial matters and upcoming policy decisions;
- Represents the editorial board at the annual meetings of the Publications Committee and the Board of Directors and recommends policies that could improve the journal.