{"id":6841,"date":"2025-06-25T23:14:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/?p=6841"},"modified":"2025-06-25T23:14:19","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T23:14:19","slug":"meet-the-doaj-team-head-of-editorial-matt-hodgkinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/2025\/06\/25\/meet-the-doaj-team-head-of-editorial-matt-hodgkinson\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the DOAJ Team: Head of Editorial Matt Hodgkinson"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might have wondered how many people are behind the scenes at DOAJ and what they do. This blog post series will offer our community an opportunity to meet several of our team members and learn more about their roles and responsibilities. In this blog post, we will meet Matt Hodgkinson, Head of Editorial<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hello Matt! Tell us a little about your background before joining DOAJ!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After studying biology and then finishing a Master\u2019s degree in genetics I decided that lab work wasn\u2019t for me. I moved into science editing and got my first position at BMC in 2003 – in the early days of open access, around the time the Berlin Declaration<\/a>, Bethesda Statement<\/a> and Budapest initiative<\/a> were launched. After I worked as a scientific editor on the BMC series, I moved to PLOS One<\/em> and then Hindawi, where I headed the research integrity team. I then worked at UKRIO<\/a>, the advisory charity. I am also on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)<\/a> council and was, until last month, Treasurer at the European Association of Science Editors (EASE)<\/a>. So, I\u2019ve got a background in open access, publication ethics, science editing, and assessment of journals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you found the world of publishing a bit more appealing than the lab work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best part of being a research student was writing up the thesis. My knowledge and understanding of science greatly improved as an editor because it exposes you to a breadth of areas and techniques in science and the disputes and disagreements within fields. You understand the real process of how people arrive at scientific answers, which you don\u2019t necessarily get as a research student when you\u2019re narrowly focused on one topic. I found science editing and communication more rewarding; there\u2019s a more rapid \u2018action-to-result effect\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though one can also argue it\u2019s also sometimes very slow, given publication times?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can be, yes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You started as Head of Editorial at DOAJ in 2025: tell us about this role and what made you want to work for DOAJ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOAJ was founded the year I started working in publishing, so our careers have kind of gone in parallel! I joined DOAJ\u2019s new Editorial Policy Advisory Group<\/a> last year, and saw the Head of Editorial position come up. I thought it was a good opportunity, as it combined my interests in open access publishing and publication ethics. I\u2019ve recently done a similar, voluntary role as Co-Chair of the membership subcommittee with COPE, so I was already really familiar with a lot of the general processes. Both DOAJ and COPE are founders of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing<\/a>, so there\u2019s a lot of similarities, though sometimes the details can differ. <\/p>\n\n\n