How We Are Organized

Beyond the responsibilities of Editorial Collective members generally, there are three specific editorial roles (Coordinating Editor, Managing Editor, and Editor-in-Chief) whose functions we wish to make more transparent to the community and do so on our website.

The Coordinating Editor handles the timing, contents, and publication of issues, ensures timely communication with authors in the last stages of publication once materials have moved through peer-review, and coordinates the Collective’s activities. The Coordinating Editor is the only paid position within the Collective, recognizing their labour and, most often, precarious positions as a doctoral student or postdoctoral fellow.

The Managing Editor works closely with the Coordinating Editor and guides the day-to-day handling of submissions to editors, in addition to overseeing key Collective decisions that must be made. As a Collective, we prefer the Managing Editor to hold a tenured position to ensure their safety and protection from the at times difficult conversations that emerge with authors, and in light of the power imbalances that exist within academic publishing. When there is no Managing Editor, the Collective works horizontally to cover the ME's workload as a series of workflow teams.

Finally, the Editor-in-Chief’s role is largely administrative, overseeing ACME’s finances and institutional relationship with UBC, and supporting the Coordinating Editor and Managing Editor as needed. This structure was created strategically following recognition of the time and labour required of these financial and institutional management tasks. The Managing Editor also chairs the quarterly meetings at which ACME Collective committees share updates, continually grow the journal’s vision, and discuss the publication of upcoming issues.