Editorial Assistant

Editorial Assistant
Department: Research and Higher Education (RHED)
Responsible to: Managing Editor
Location: South Kensington, London SW7. Option to work from home one or two days a week, dependent on the event schedule
Hours: Full Time. 35-hour working week
Contract: Permanent. Subject to successful completion of a probationary period of three months.
Salary: £31,200- £32,930 per annum, depending on experience and qualifications

About Us:

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

About You and the Role

The RGS-IBG publish five peer-reviewed geography journals, four of which are managed by the RGS-IBG Managing Editor: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers (TIBG), The Geographical Journal, Area, and Geo: Geography and Environment. The Society also publishes an open-access Book Series with LSE Press, the blog Geography Directions and a series of guides and advice on publishing.

The editorial assistant will report to the Managing Editor of Academic Publications, providing support for this suite of publications.

This is an exciting opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the academic peer review and publishing process and provides an excellent opportunity to work with the academic community.

The role is ideally suited to someone with very strong organisational and communication skills and an understanding and interest in contemporary academic geography.

Duties and responsibilities

Administrative tasks:

• Lead on screening for all journal submissions - conducting initial checks for anonymity,word length, formatting, (mis)use of AI, publishing integrity issues.
• Maintain a record of all submitted papers.
• Lead on checking files of accepted papers for production.
• Assist authors with generating alt text for images and figures.
• Support Managing Editor with day-to-day author and peer reviewer communication and inbox management.
• Assist Managing Editor with proofreading accepted papers.
• Support Managing Editor with finding potential peer reviewers for submitted papers.
• Oversee Special Section administration and regularly liaise with Special Section organisers.
• Upload blog posts to the Geography Directions WordPress website.
• Responsibility for registering DOI numbers for blog posts and online resources.
• Design and format guides and resources for the RGS website.
• Support with social media strategy for the journals and the Book Series.
• Schedule editorial board meetings and take minutes.
• Assist with annual journal prize administration.
• Organise book launch events for Book Series authors.
• Support the journals' and Book Series' events at the RGS Annual Conference.
• Support Managing Editor to run workshops for postgraduate students and early-career researchers.

Writing and editing tasks:

• Work with selected authors to write monthly research spotlights on journal articles for the RGS website.
• Assess and edit blog submissions to Geography Directions blog from academic authors.

Selection Criteria

Essential

• An undergraduate degree or equivalent in Geography
• Demonstrable knowledge of contemporary academic geography
• An interest in scholarly publishing
• Excellent attention to detail
• Systematic approach to tasks
• Strong written language skills
• Strong organisational skills
• Ability to prioritise and balance multiple everyday tasks at once
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team
• Basic familiarity with Excel
• Capability of working across multiple online platforms

Desirable

• Experience of writing for public audiences
• Proofreading experience
• Administrative experience
• Proven record of working effectively to deadlines
• Ability to take initiative
• Awareness of the (mis)use of AI in scholarly publishing

Salary and Benefits:

This is a permanent, full-time post subject to successful completion of a probationary period of three months. The salary range for this post is £31,200- £32,930 per annum depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with Flexi time, dependent on the business needs.
• Option to work from home one or two days a week, dependent on the event schedule.
• 25 days annual leave per annum plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Pension scheme - 3% employee, 7.5% employer.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Corporate eye care vouchers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support.

Closing date: 12 noon on 23 November.
Interviews are planned to take place on 2 or 3 December 2026. The interviews will also include a task.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The Society is unable to offer work visa sponsorships. We are committed to building an inclusive team and strongly encourage applications from those people who are traditionally underrepresented in the geographical discipline.

No agencies please.