Managed Editorial Office — Monthly

Overview

“I am a full professor and I spend eight hours a week chasing reviewers and answering authors who want to know where their paper is.” A managing editor is the difference between a journal that runs and one that limps, and most journals cannot fund the post. The monthly term of the Managed Editorial Office gives you that function without a hire, with the flexibility to scale up in busy periods and down in quiet ones.

NeucitePress screens every submission, sources and manages reviewers, handles the correspondence, keeps the OJS records complete, and reports monthly on where everything stands. Your editors decide; the office makes sure every decision has what it needs, on time.

Who this is for: journals with seasonal submission patterns, journals trying managed operations before committing to a year, editorial teams in transition, and journals that need temporary capacity.

What’s Included

• Submission screening — completeness, scope, formatting, ethics declarations and checklists, with return-to-author letters where needed
• Reviewer management — reviewer shortlists for editor approval, invitations, reminders, replacements and escalation, and compilation of completed reviews for the editor
• Correspondence — author status enquiries, reviewer communication, decision letters sent on the editor’s instruction, revision tracking
• OJS records — every action logged in the submission record; system upkeep as needed
• Production hand-off — accepted articles passed to production, proofs tracked, publication queue maintained
• Reporting — monthly dashboard of submissions, turnaround and decisions, a pipeline report of every active manuscript, and a monthly review call
• Dedicated coordinator for continuity, and full hand-over documentation if you discontinue

How It Works

What Stays With Your Editors

The journal’s editors keep final authority over reviewer selection, editorial assessment and acceptance. The office proposes reviewers, compiles reviews and drafts letters; no reviewer is invited and no decision is sent without the editor’s approval. NeucitePress runs the process and the OJS infrastructure.

Important Limitations

• The monthly submission allowance and the active-manuscript limit are agreed in the proposal; submissions beyond the allowance are charged at the per-submission rates stated there.
• Response times for author enquiries, reviewer follow-up and escalations are stated in the SLA in your proposal.
• Production services (copyediting, typesetting, XML) are separate; the office hands off to them.
• Requires access to your manuscript system (OJS, Editorial Manager, ScholarOne or similar) and editor availability for decisions, with a 48-hour response to escalated issues.
• Cancellation with 30 days’ notice; in-progress manuscripts are completed and documentation handed over. One journal; portfolio pricing on request.

Common Questions

How does this compare to the annual term?
Same service. The annual term adds a larger allowance, a formal annual operations review and quarterly strategy calls at a lower effective monthly rate, and includes production services.

What if we exceed the allowance?
Additional submissions are handled at the per-submission rate in your proposal; we alert you as you approach the limit and can adjust the allowance for sustained higher volume.

Can we move to annual later?
Yes. After three or more months on the monthly term, 50 percent of the monthly fees paid are credited toward an annual contract.

Every engagement can begin with the Journal Health Check.