AE Peer Review Manual

Responsibilities of Associate Editors

ANR Associate Editors have a critical role in ensuring that educational materials published by ANR are accurate, useful and up-to-date. Their subject area expertise enables AEs to make informed decisions about submitted material and knowledgeably communicate with authors. They are the representatives of the ANR peer review process to authors and peer reviewers, and the primary link between them.

Specifically, Associate Editors

• are responsive to potential authors inquiring about ANR peer review
• understand the clientele and/or audience of the material, including what information they need, whether the submitted material is appropriate to the educational level of the audience and, ideally, what similar published information may already exist
• ensure timely, high-quality and substantive peer reviews of new manuscripts and other educational materials per ANR peer review guidelines
• when asked, provide an informed assessment of large publication proposals for the Communications Advisory Board
• if needed, work with ANR academics to identify the educational needs of their clientele, and encourage development of materials to meet these needs
• cooperate with CS staff in managing the review of existing publications and products on a cyclical basis per ANR guidelines.

In general, Associate Editors should

• understand the mission of ANR and the role of ANR peer review and educational materials in that mission
• know their subject area in a broad sense
• know the people working in this subject area, ideally on a UC, statewide and national level
• be responsive to author and reviewer questions
• have the ability to get things done, make decisions and act on them
• have the ability to evaluate and reconcile diverse points of view
• be fair, objective and possess good judgment
• communicate well, particularly in writing
• be respected by their peers

Personal upheaval and professional workload do, at times, intrude on best intentions. Associate Editors should let Janet Hartin, Associate Editor chair or Jim Downing, Director of Publishing, know if they are overwhelmed or are faced with problematic peer review concerns.

Associate Editors are also encouraged to use the Associate Editor Collaborative Tools group (found on their Portal page) to communicate with or get ideas from their fellow AEs, some of whom may have dealt with the same issues.