Editing in a rapidly evolving publishing landscape
Key editorial roles
Editors play a crucial part in attracting high-quality submissions, ensuring fair and rigorous peer review, guiding editorial boards and championing their journal in the scholarly community. Key editorial roles include:
- Editor-in-Chief: Sets the journal’s direction, appoints board members, makes final publishing decisions and works closely with Cambridge and society partners on new initiatives and journal development.
- Editorial board member: Contributes subject expertise to shape the journal’s content and community, delivers reviews and/or handles papers and advocates for the journal at key conferences and within their networks.
- Supplement Editor: Commissions and manages special issues or funded supplements, ensuring they meet the journal’s high editorial standards and rigorous peer review.
- Social Media Editor: Builds the journal’s online presence, sharing journal initiatives and new research to engage the scholarly community.
Building and engaging your editorial board
A diverse, engaged editorial board strengthens your journal’s relevance and credibility. Diverse boards help deliver more innovative publications that advance their fields and better reflect the community they serve. We follow COPE’s best practice guidance on diversifying editorial boards .
A diverse, engaged editorial board strengthens your journal’s relevance and credibility. Diverse boards help deliver more innovative publications that advance their fields and better reflect the community they serve. We follow COPE’s best practice guidance on diversifying editorial boards .
Top tips for selecting and engaging a diverse board:
- Appoint respected, well-connected scholars aligned with your journal’s scope.
- Review your board’s expertise regularly. Update membership to match any planned changes to scope.
- Balance experienced leaders with emerging voices; support early career board members with opportunities to learn from others to build their expertise.
- Ensure broad representation in terms of location, gender and race/ethnicity.
- Assign key roles to individuals interested in certain aspects of journal development (e.g. social media or commissioning)
- Keep in touch regularly to share updates, goals and new opportunities.
- Encourage board members to actively commission new content and promote the journal.
Top tips for selecting and engaging a diverse board:
- Appoint respected, well-connected scholars aligned with your journal’s scope.
- Review your board’s expertise regularly. Update membership to match any planned changes to scope.
- Balance experienced leaders with emerging voices; support early career board members with opportunities to learn from others to build their expertise.
- Ensure broad representation in terms of location, gender and race/ethnicity.
- Assign key roles to individuals interested in certain aspects of journal development (e.g. social media or commissioning)
- Keep in touch regularly to share updates, goals and new opportunities.
- Encourage board members to actively commission new content and promote the journal.
Supporting journal development
Encouraging submissions
Encouraging submissions
Board meetings
Board meetings
Conferences
Conferences
Open research for Editors
We are transforming our publishing to align with open research best practices. Editors play a key role in encouraging open access publishing, supporting early sharing of results and promoting data transparency. Our resources help you support authors and uphold open research principles.
Explore our open research resources
Explore our Editor Toolkit, offering practical ideas on promoting your journal, including social media, blogs and press releases.
Resources for peer review
Our online peer review systems (OPRS) make it easy to run a robust, transparent and seamless peer review process that upholds the highest standards of integrity and quality. Find practical guides and tools for the system your journal uses: