The ecological journal Oikos, published by the Nordic Society Oikos, is seeking to recruit a new Editor in Chief, following the departure of Professor Tim Benton. Oikos is among the top international journals in its field and will endeavour to further improve its status in the coming years. Under the auspices of the Board of the Nordic Society Oikos, the Editor in Chief will oversee the journals overall strategy, its academic benchmarks and continuing innovation, the distribution of incoming manuscripts to the board of ca. 50 subject editors, and any other matters of general significance for the journal.
The position of Editor in Chief for Oikos requires a considerable time investment. Manuscript handling is in the process of moving to Manuscript Central, which will alleviate the burden of routine work, leaving a net workload of an hour per day on average. The Editor in Chief will also be expected to be proactive in raising the journals profile through attendance of 2‐3 conferences per year. In recent years 170,000 SEK has been available as remuneration for the joint services of the Editor in Chief and his two Deputies. The Editor in Chief works closely with the Managing Editor and other staff based at the Editorial Office in Lund, Sweden, but can be located anywhere geographically. The new Editor in Chief will be expected to steer the journal towards a sustainable increase in performance at all levels within the set framework of the internationally well‐known Oikos brand. The position will be filled for three years, with a probationary period of one year and the possibility for renewal for a further two years. Informal enquiries about the position can be directed to the managing editor, Linus Svensson and to the resigning Editor in Chief, Professor Tim Benton ([email protected]). Applications should be sent to Professor Gísli M. Gíslason, Chair of the Nordic Society Oikos ([email protected]) with cc to Linus Svensson ([email protected]), and include a full CV and a cover letter outlining relevant expertise and ambitions for the future development of Oikos. The closing date for applications is the 9th of January 2012. Interviews will be held via Skype. Detailed specifications of the Editor in Chiefs profile and duties Professional editorial judgement across the field of ecology, based on internationally recognized scholarship, research leadership qualifications, editorial experience, and previous positions of trust Excellent time management and decision‐making skills to handle the ca. 1000 manuscripts that are received every year. Incoming manuscripts often need to be handled on a daily basis to avoid undue delays in the further processing A good combination of strategic judgement and attention for relevant details in the daily management of editorial matters The willingness and ability to prioritize availability for editorial work, periodic travel for attending meetings on behalf of Oikos, and other occasional duties to promote the journal Enthusiasm for the international dissemination of the field of ecology Details of the journal Oikos Scope: Oikos aims to publish papers that are fundamentally novel and of interest to the broadest possible readership of ecologists. The Editorial board prioritizes submitted work that explicitly tests ecological concepts, connects theory and data in a novel way, synthesizes a fragmented set of ideas into a more accessible framework, or reports field studies and experimental data that address questions of broader importance than a specific taxonomic group or geographic area. Oikos publishes both Standard and Forum papers. There is a strict set of formatting rules for Standard papers, but a relatively free format for Forum papers as long as they address issues that are of broad interest. Profile: Oikos is one of a large handful of European ecology journals, with the Journal of Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology, parts of Functional Ecology (all British Ecological Society), Oecologia (Springer), Ecology Letters (Wiley Blackwell), and parts of Proceedings Royal Society B as main peers and competitors. Oikos published 228 papers in 2010 (2011 printed pages) which, compared to Oecologia (312), Journal of Animal Ecology (140) and Ecology Letters (140), makes Oikos the second largest ecology journal in Europe. The main other ecology journal with a global perspective is Ecology, published by the Ecological Society of America (2000‐2500 pages per year). While remaining the flagship journal of the Nordic Society Oikos, the journal Oikos thus has a global reputation to live up to for a large international community of authors and readers. Strategy: Many leading ecology journals have in recent years increased both their rejection rates and their impact factors by a focused strategy in favour of high quality papers with broad impact. Oikos is now moving in the same direction, as being more selective will increase the average quality of submissions when such a strategy is accompanied by rapid and professional editorial processing. By simultaneously establishing a blog community based on a focused on‐ line presence, it is expected that this new editorial policy will lift the Oikos impact factor to 4‐5 in the coming years.
