Application deadline is June 18, 2018.

ECS (The Electrochemical Society) is seeking to fill the position of editor of ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology. Candidates should have qualities of leadership, technical breadth, time commitment, creativity, motivation, and international reputation. The successful candidate also will have excellent English-language writing and editing skills. The editor serves at the pleasure of the Publications Subcommittee for an initial, minimum term of two years, renewable for additional terms, up to twelve years. A yearly honorarium is offered by the Society.

The ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology (JSS) has been in existence since 2012. It was created as an outgrowth of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) to deal more exclusively in solid state topics. JES and JSS provide unparalleled opportunities to disseminate basic research and technology results in electrochemical and solid state science and technology. JSS publishes a minimum of 14 regular and focus issues each year. ECS journals offer author choice open access.

The JSS editor’s responsibility is to fulfill the Society’s mission regarding the maintenance and development of its publications. The Society is committed to disseminating research and to advancing electrochemical and solid state science and technology. Toward that purpose, the Society seeks to maximize both the quality and quantity of submissions to the journals, and maximize the value of the journals to both readers and authors. This call for applications is for individuals who can achieve these objectives. The JSS editor is required to make publishing and editorial decisions consistent with maintaining the integrity of these scholarly publications.

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A new article from The Scholarly Kitchen provides a good summary (and a short read) of a recent action against a particular predatory publisher (OMICS) and why that’s important. As the last, independent nonprofit publisher in the top-ranked journals in our field, ECS lives up to its obligations to the community to maintain very high standards: dedication to mission, rigorous peer review, and transparency in our open access publishing practices.

Commercial publishers represent a major challenge for a scholarly society like ECS to uphold those standards and meet our mission; but the open access environment has created even more challenges. Authors have these same challenges. So it bears repeating that there are some “best practices” to which we should all do our best to adhere: carefully vet journals where we are submitting; create awareness with our various constituents (members, students, colleagues) that there are “good” and “not good” places to publish; and do a periodic Web scan of own own names from time to time to make sure we have not been added to an editorial or advisory board without our knowledge, which can compromise our personal identity and standing in the community.

ECS will continue to work toward its Free the Science goals to create a more open, but responsible, scholarly communications ecosystem.