Publications Officer

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) is an independent research center at the University of Washington. Its mission is to deliver to the world timely, relevant, and scientifically valid evidence to improve health policy and practice. IHME carries out its mission through a range of projects within different research areas including the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors; Future Health Scenarios; Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency; Resource Tracking; and Impact Evaluations. Our vision is to provide policymakers, donors, and researchers with the highest-quality quantitative evidence base so all people live long lives in full health.

IHME is committed to providing the evidence base necessary to help solve the world’s most important health problems. This requires creativity and innovation, which is cultivated by an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment that respects and appreciates differences, embraces collaboration, and invites the voices of all IHME team members. 

IHME has an outstanding opportunity for a Publications Officer to join the Scientific Publications team. The primary purpose of this position is to support the development of high-quality peer-reviewed scientific papers for IHME’s work in fields including epidemiology, biostatistics, survey methodology, health economics, demography, and social determinants. This position will track progress against established key performance indicators and operational metrics of success. This position will increase the quality and accuracy of all manuscripts by maintaining strong attention to detail while planning around and creatively adapting to contingencies and supporting other Scientific Publications functions as needed.

The individual in this position must manipulate and manage Salesforce, Qualtrics, Web of Science, and other datasets. This position is primarily responsible for liaising with internal and external stakeholders and will often be the first point of contact for a global collaborator network. This requires the individual in this position to be proficient in various technology platforms (Salesforce, Qualtrics) and comfortable running and troubleshooting code, have keen project management skills, and embody a customer service viewpoint in order to both respond to and escalate inquiries. Additionally, this position will play a key role in evaluating the success of IHME’s scientific publications, being primarily responsible for tracking key performance indicators and visualizing data for quarterly and annual reports. This position is contingent on project funding.

Responsibilities:

Scientific Publications Metric Tracking and Evaluation

• Establish, maintain, and review paper production, tracking, and management processes and systems; proactively seek out and identify necessary improvements, modify systems and tools to increase efficiency.
• Develop, collect, produce, format, and collect metrics to evaluate the current success and reach of IHME scientific publications and to facilitate the targeting of future publications for maximum impact. Prepare annual and ad hoc summaries of strategic publications metrics reporting by journal, subject area, research team, or other groupings as requested.
• Maintain dashboards and standard reports that help to track, summarize, and prioritize ongoing publications. Produce summary process metrics, including timelines and success rates.
• Synthesize Scientific Publications metrics to prepare detailed reporting materials on progress toward strategic targets for the IHME Board, Global Burden of Disease Independent Advisory Committee, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other partners annually and as requested for specific needs, including presentation materials, donor reports, and related narratives. Customize reports and materials by Principal Investigator, or through other parameters, as needed.
• Provide information needed to monitor key performance indicators related to research strategy as it relates to publications for IHME overall.
• Systematically track and update publication metrics by IHME-affiliated authors. Keep website and other public dissemination avenues current with information.
• Prepare materials and presentations, and conduct background research as needed to support IHME’s scientific publications.

Editorial Command

• As the subject matter expert, develop internal video trainings and walkthroughs for research and non-research staff on editorial and publication processes.
• Plan and conduct user research and testing on internal and external stakeholders to better understand audience needs for editorial processes.
• Leverage user research to streamline editorial processes and implement them in conjunction with the Editorial Manager, the Scientific Publications Data Analytics Team, and Global Engagement and Outreach.
• Monitor and manage the progression of papers through the editorial process and proactively anticipate needs of publication teams and journal editorial staff, informing necessary stakeholders as appropriate.
• Contribute to the onboarding and training of Editorial Coordinators in collaboration with the Editorial Manager.
• Develop and maintain documentation and resources related to editorial processes, including processing collaborator comments, generating authorship and related publications materials, invoicing and licensing of publications, and publications-related policies and procedures, in conjunction with the Editorial Manager.
• Create and design electronic surveys and campaigns to capture comments, author forms, and contributions from internal and external stakeholders; execute tasks related to paper production, as delegated by other members of the Scientific Publications Team.

Engagement and External Communications

• Oversee customer service processes and systems to ensure collaborator requests are resolved in a timely manner, serving as the primary liaison to the Global Burden of Disease Collaborator Network.
• Design and draft messaging to share publications-related updates with members of the network; develop messaging and communication strategy working alongside members of the Global Impact Group.
• Operate as the primary reviewer of publications-related GBD Secretariat inquiries, ensuring the delivery of prompt, courteous, and knowledgeable replies to internal and external stakeholders, escalating as necessary.
• Manage the collaborator affiliations database, continuously reviewing, updating, and tracking collaborator affiliations in Salesforce, escalating questions as necessary.
• Analyze collaborator inquiries to devise updates to policies and procedures and engagement strategies in collaboration with the Editorial Manager and the Global Engagement and Outreach Team.
• Assist the Editorial Manager in developing and maintaining a library of template communications for use in communicating with IHME’s collaborator network or with journal editorial staff.
• Speak to diverse technical and non-technical audiences in a language and manner that connects with their interests while explaining in clear terms IHME’s work and mission.
• Other duties as assigned.

As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in English, Social Sciences, Health Science, or related field and three years of experience, OR equivalent combination of education/experience.

Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.

Additional Requirements:

• Demonstrated ability to quickly learn and command complex, multidisciplinary material.
• Skilled time management in urgent and deadline-driven environment in collaboration with a range of individuals.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with international audiences.
• Maintain excellent attention to detail while planning around contingencies. 
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to develop positive relationships with external constituents and IHME colleagues from a diverse set of disciplines, expertise, and backgrounds.
• Experience with CRM tools such as Salesforce.
• Experience designing and creating electronic surveys.
• Experience with project management tools such as Asana.
• Demonstrated comfort learning new technologies.
• Ability to compartmentalize, illustrate, and explain editorial processes and procedures.
• Experience with scientific publishing and editorial processes.
• A commitment to working to alongside others at IHME to illuminate the health impacts of systemic racism and to work within IHME to make our organization more diverse and inclusive. See IHME’s DEI statement here: http://www.healthdata.org/get-involved/careers/dei.

DESIRED

• Editorial experience and familiarity with copyediting principles and terminology as they relate to preparing publication proofs.
• Experience with managing complex projects.

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

• Weekend and evening work sometimes required.
• This position is open to anyone authorized to work in the US. The UW is not able to sponsor visas for staff positions.
• Office is located in Seattle, Washington. This position is eligible to work fully remote in the US; work schedule required to overlap 50% of IHME office hours, between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific Time.

Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, the University of Washington will honor your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

Application Process:

The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process. These assessments may include Workforce Authorization, Cover Letter and/or others. Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.