A journal is not its publisher. It is the group of academics who decide what belongs in it, who is asked to review, and where the standard sits. We are opening editorial board applications across our titles in engineering, science, medicine, management and law.
What a board member actually does
- Handles manuscripts in your area. Reading for scope, choosing reviewers, weighing their reports, and taking the decision.
- Reviews occasionally. Board members are not exempt from reviewing; they are usually the best reviewers we have.
- Shapes the scope. Aims and scope get stale. Boards are how a journal notices that the field has moved.
- Proposes special issues. If there is a conversation happening in your field, a special issue is how a journal joins it.
- Holds the ethics line. Authorship disputes, undeclared conflicts, image or text reuse — board members are who we ask.
The honest version of the commitment
A board seat is a real obligation, not a line on a CV. Expect a handful of manuscripts a year on a quiet journal and considerably more on an active one. The people who find it rewarding are the ones who wanted a say in their field's literature; the people who find it a burden are the ones who expected the title without the reading.
What we look for
A doctorate or equivalent standing, a publication record in the journal's area, and ideally some review experience — including reviews done elsewhere. We weigh an active, current record more heavily than a long one, and we are deliberately trying to widen the geographic spread of our boards.
How applying works
You apply through the manuscript system, and you can name up to three journals in one application. Each journal's editors read and answer it separately, so three choices mean three independent decisions rather than one verdict copied three times. Pick the three where your work genuinely sits — spreading an application across unrelated titles reads exactly as it is.
You will need your affiliation, your subject areas and a link to your publication record. Decisions come from the journals themselves, and you will hear separately from each.
Before you apply
Read the journal you are applying to. Look at the last two issues and ask whether you would have accepted those papers. If the answer is no, that is worth saying in your application — a board that disagrees with itself in public is healthier than one that does not.