VACANCY DOAJ Ambassadors

UPDATE: APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED AND THE POSITIONS FILLED.

The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) indexes more than 11 000 open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities. It is a community-curated list of reputable, open access journals and aims to be the starting point for information searches for quality, peer reviewed open access material. Publishers must apply for their journal(s) to be indexed in DOAJ and each application is reviewed manually by the editorial team. We receive approximately 80 new applications every week.

DOAJ has been awarded a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to improve open access publishing practices in the Global South. We are now seeking 8-10 full time Ambassadors (10 month contract) who are residents in the following regions and are native speakers of the indicated languages and fluent in English:

Region	Languages
Latin America	Spanish and/or Portuguese
Middle East & Persian Gulf	Arabic (Farsi also useful)
Africa (North/West)	Arabic and French
Africa (South/East)	English
India/Pakistan	Hindi (Urdu also useful)
Indonesia	Indonesian
China	Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese)

Tasks: to promote DOAJ in their respective regions; to discover and assist open access publishers in their region in good publishing practices; to identify questionable publishers and practices; and to review and actively solicit new applications and reapplications from journals in their region to be listed in DOAJ. The role requires knowledge of academic publishing, in particular online journals, editorial processes, best practices and publishing technology standards.

DOAJ is a virtual organization so the role is based from home. The successful applicant will be expected to provide their own work space and equipment. Most meetings are conducted virtually but expenses will be paid if you attend any physical meetings.

Start date: As soon as possible

Hours of work: 40 hours per week. You will be expected to manage your own time but to be available for team meetings as needed (may be outside of your normal working hours due to time differences)

Pay: rate negotiable

Language: fluent in English and native speaker of the indicated language(s) for the region

ROLE PURPOSE

The main role of the ambassadors is to promote good publishing practices with regional publishers, to identify questionable publishing practices and to advocate the use of DOAJ infrastructure with the publishers and academic community in their region. The ambassadors will also undertake the assessment of new journal applications and reapplications to DOAJ from publishers in their region and advise on approval or rejection of these applications.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Promote awareness of DOAJ, its resources and services to publishers and the academic publishing community in their region.
Review new applications from the region against the DOAJ criteria for acceptance.
Manage all communication with publishers and academics and respond to their queries.
Monitor publishing practices in their region, identify questionable publishers and offer support to open access publishers who wish to be indexed in DOAJ.
Attend online team and editorial Hangouts every week.
Liaise with the Editor-in-Chief and DOAJ team as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Higher education or graduate (a qualification in library science is an advantage)
At least two years experience in academic journal publishing
Previous experience of manuscript submission systems or large databases is desirable
Current knowledge of open access and its development
Understanding of scholarly publishing standards and best practices
Good IT competence
Publisher relations experience an advantage

PERSONAL QUALITIES/SKILLS

Native and resident of the region where you want to work
Fluent in English and the other language(s) indicated for the region
Good communication skills in those languages, both written and oral
An understanding of how to handle confidential and/or sensitive information
Good organizational skills
Ability to produce accurate work, demonstrate good attention to detail and meet deadlines
Strong team player
Ability to work on own initiative; Motivated and resourceful; Adaptable and flexible
Experience in building effective working relationships