The Genetics Society of America is seeking candidates for the position of Editor-in-Chief of GENETICS. As the flagship journal of the Society, GENETICS publishes high-quality, original research of interest to a broad range of genetics investigators.
The GENETICS Editor-in-Chief (EIC) leads an Editorial Board of Senior and Associate Editors who are practicing scientists. The EIC works closely with Senior Editors to recruit and retain Associate Editors to cultivate an Editorial Board that represents a broad, deep, and diverse range of researchers and scientific expertise.
The EIC is responsible for fostering consistent decision-making across the journal, delivering clear, timely decisions and feedback to authors, and ensuring that the highest scientific and ethical standards are maintained. The EIC consults on submissions, collaborates with editors on decisions, and oversees consideration of authors’ appeals.
The EIC collaborates with Editorial Office staff (Executive Editor, Assistant Editor, Managing Editor), GSA staff, the Senior Editors, the Publications Committee, and the Editor-in-Chief of G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics to set journal strategy that supports GSA’s mission and core values.
The new EIC will build on existing strengths of the journal and identify opportunities for continuing development of the journal. The ideal candidate will have a vision to grow GENETICS, including increasing its visibility in the international community and attracting new groups of authors, readers, and reviewers. The EIC will help identify trending and emerging topics for publication as journal sections or in a series, and continue to develop the journal as a valuable forum for publication and discussion of important discoveries and ideas. The EIC will work toward a culture of inclusivity, keeping in mind the diverse audiences served by GSA and its journals, conferences, and programs.
Terms of contract
The position officially begins January 1, 2021, but to provide for overlap with the current Editor-in-Chief, the appointee should start on or around October 1, 2020. The Editor-in-Chief serves a five-year term, with the option to renew. GSA offers a stipend.
The EIC is expected to attend biannual meetings of the GSA Board of Directors, some GSA conferences, and publishing- or journal-related conferences (such as the National Academies Journal Summit or the Council of Science Editors Annual Meeting). Additionally, the EIC travels at least once each year to meet with editorial staff, Senior Editors, and the G3 EIC. While it can vary, typically the EIC will serve 10-20 hr per week.
The EIC of GENETICS is a member of the GSA Board of Directors, reports directly to the Board, and is an ex officio member of the Publications Committee.
Qualifications
Candidates should be established researchers with strong ties to the genetics and scientific community and a demonstrated track record of service, leadership, collaboration, and innovation. They should have a broad understanding and appreciation of topics in genetics and genomics, with a keen sense of emerging areas of inquiry. They should have an understanding of and empathy for the interests and needs of authors at all career stages.
At least 7 years of previous editorial experience, preferably at the Senior Editor level, is required. Candidates should have an interest in current topics relating to scholarly communications, such as publication ethics, public access mandates, open science, peer review, and reproducibility.
About GENETICS
Since 1916, GENETICS has published high-quality, original research presenting novel findings bearing on genetics and genomics. The journal publishes empirical studies of organisms ranging from microbes to humans, as well as theoretical work.
While it has an illustrious history, GENETICS has changed along with the communities it serves: it is not your mentor’s journal. The editors obtain reviews and make decisions quickly—in around 35 days—without sacrificing the excellence and scholarship for which the journal has long been known. All editorial decisions are made through collaboration of at least two editors who are practicing scientists.
GENETICS is constantly innovating: content includes Investigations (original research), Reviews, Commentary (current issues of interest to geneticists), Perspectives (historical issues of interest to geneticists), Primers (introducing primary literature into the classroom), Toolbox Reviews (describing methods and resources), Communications (for particularly time-sensitive results)—plus YeastBook, FlyBook, and WormBook. As part of our mission to serve the genetics communities, we publish thematic collections on topics such as Genomic Prediction, Multiparental Populations, Genetics of Immunity, and Genetics of Sex.
More than just a publisher, the Genetics Society of America is mission-driven and places a high priority on responding to community needs. The GSA journals were the first to partner with Cold Spring Harbor Press to enable seamless manuscript transfers to and from our submission platform and the bioRxiv preprint server. We have accepted submissions from preprint servers since 2012. Articles in the GSA journals feature links to model organism databases like SGD, FlyBase, and WormBase. We have also partnered with Overleaf to provide custom templates for authors who use LaTeX, saving them time and effort at submission. Our collaboration with protocols.io encourages authors to document and share methods from GENETICS articles, helping to increase research reproducibility. The annotation tool Remarq is available on both the GENETICS and G3 websites and allows for collaborative commenting and article sharing. Our collaboration with figshare ensures that supplemental material and data files are permanently associated with an article—and that authors aren’t limited by file type or size when providing data that support their work. Our Early Online publication means that research investigations are freely accessible and in PubMed within days of acceptance, eliminating delays in disseminating the latest science.
About the Genetics Society of America
GSA serves an international community of scientists who use genetics to make new discoveries and improve lives. We advance biological research by supporting professional development of scientists, by communicating advances and fostering collaboration through scholarly publishing and conferences, and by advocating for science and for scientists. We seek to cultivate an inclusive, diverse research community that engages with the public, communicates the excitement and implications of discovery, and serves as an authoritative source of information.
See genetics-gsa.org for more information about GSA.
Application deadline: March 1, 2020
Interested candidates should send a letter of intent and CV to Tracey DePellegrin, Executive Director of GENETICS, at genetics_eic_search@thegsajournals.org.