I started working at the RSC a year and a half ago on the Science, Education and Industry Graduate Training Scheme, then 5 months ago I moved to the role of Development Editor in the Publishing Department.  A Development Editor is part of the Journals Development department in RSC Publishing; we are responsible for getting the best quality work submitted to RSC journals and for ensuring that this content is highly accessed and visible.

To increase the number and quality of submissions I do a lot of commissioning, both for original research and review content.  This involves following leads on topics or people we are interested in submitting to our journals, we get these leads from all sorts of sources such as Editorial Board members, investigating who is speaking at the best conferences and simply searching online.  I read about what work they do and if it fits with the scope of a journal I then invite them to contribute a paper.

Another important aspect of my role is increasing the visibility and usage of our published content.  One way we do this is through the Journal’s Blogs.  We highlight hot articles and also use the blogs to communicate news about the journal and the field to those in the community.  I have been writing for two of RSC publishing’s newest journals, on the Food & Function Blog and Metallomics Blog.

Having come to the RSC from a PhD in biochemistry I have now worked on a variety of journals covering topics from materials science (Journal of Materials Chemistry) to analytical science (Analyst) and finishing up on food (Food & Function)!  It’s great to be learning about cutting edge science, across a variety of topics.  Philip was absolutely correct in his blog piece earlier this month, working in publishing allows you to keep in touch with a broad range of science without having to specialise to the extent required in research.  In addition, RSC Publishing is part of a non-profit scientific society and having worked in a variety of roles at the RSC I have seen first hand the value, quality and range of the work that the RSC carries out; I enjoy working for an organisation whose work I believe in.