Associate Editor, PRE

Associate Editor, PRE

Who we are:

The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance physics by fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and around the world.

Position Summary:

Physical Review E (PRE), published by the American Physical Society’s (APS), is a trusted and interdisciplinary journal for high-quality, significant developments in the interrelated areas of statistical, nonlinear, complex systems, biological, soft matter, fluids, plasma and computational physics, including machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Would you like to join our close-knit team of editors running one of the world's premier journals in statistical physics and related areas? As an Associate Editor of Physical Review E, you would handle all phases of the peer review process and ultimately decide which papers we publish. For this important work, we seek a dynamic and personable individual with a strong scientific background in one or more of these areas: statistical physics, nonlinear physics, complex systems, biological physics, soft matter, fluids, plasma physics, computational physics.

Our editors stay engaged with the physics community and abreast of the latest research by attending meetings and visiting research institutions around the world. In addition, editors participate in various editorial initiatives and cross-departmental APS projects. No editorial experience is required, though we do expect familiarity with the review process as an author and referee. We will train you to develop the editorial skills needed to be part of our team.

Candidates with considerable editorial experience in handling manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals, and demonstrated impact in that role, may qualify for a senior position.

Responsibilities:

• Manage all aspects of peer review for a suite of manuscripts. This includes determining if review is warranted, selecting referees, evaluating responses, and deciding whether to publish.
• Maintain close contact with the other PRE editors and with the editors of other journals in the APS portfolio.
• Help select and briefly summarize papers to highlight.
• Keep up with current and emerging physics research, and communicate such information with editors across the portfolio.
• Support the manuscript post acceptance process, as needed, including the acquisition of editorial summaries and images and the resolution of production issues.
• Perform editorial checks to ensure the overall quality and timeliness of published papers.
• Maintain high ethical standards and fairness at all editorial stages, ensuring that decisions align with editorial policy and practice.
• Gain mastery of the peer-review management system.
• Represent the journals and APS at scientific conferences.
• Actively engage and develop strong relationships and trust with a broad network of researchers.
• Contribute to journal-level projects and strategy, such as content commissioning, social media, organizing outreach events, and data analytics.
• Actively contribute to ensuring the journals are diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

Education:

• A PhD and postdoctoral experience in one or more of these areas: statistical physics, nonlinear physics, complex systems, biological physics, soft matter, fluids, plasma physics, computational physics.
• PRE covers a large chunk of physics research, so we seek those with a broad background and outlook.

Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• A minimum of one year of postdoctoral experience.
• Excellent knowledge of the science and literature in their field.
• Familiarity with existing research groups in that area.
• Strong sense of integrity.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to make prompt independent evaluations and decisions.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to work well both alone and as part of a team.

Travel:

This role involves occasional travel, approximately up to 10%, for meetings with APS staff, departmental gatherings, and interactions with colleagues in the Long Island, NY, Washington, DC and College Park, MD areas. Additionally, the position requires world-wide travel to attend conferences and events, and to interact with researchers at their institutions and…