Discover Developmental Biology is a fully Open Access, peer-reviewed research journal that provides a platform for the rapid dissemination of multidisciplinary research across all fields of biological development relevant to animals, plants and microorganisms. Discover Developmental Biology is a new journal within the Discover portfolio, part of Springer Nature, and launched in January 2025.

Like other journals in the Discover portfolio, Discover Developmental Biology has been created with research community needs in mind. We provide a fast, reliable and inclusive publishing service while maintaining integrity at the heart of everything we do.

We now have Section Editor position available for Discover Developmental Biology, which is two-year contracted with an annual honorarium.

What will you do as a Section Editor at Discover Developmental Biology?

Section Editors are members of our academic leadership at the journal, and while the option to handle papers regularly is still available, and may be called upon for certain delayed or complex submissions, the focus of the role is on the development of the journal with an eye to the research community that it serves. Section Editors advise the publisher on key developments in their field, play an active role in the academic scope of the journal, engage in Editorial Board meetings and represent the journal to the community and their peers. 

As a Section Editor, you will be asked to support the Journal by:

• Advising the publisher and the Board on aspects of journal development such as academic scope, diversity of our papers and editorial board, and standards within the field
• Supporting authors and the Journal by reinforcing an inclusive ethos: quality, integrity, relevance are essential for consideration - novelty and impact are nice to have, but not required
• Assessing manuscripts’ suitability for the journal: Is the paper in scope and scientifically suitable? Should it be sent to peer review?
• Making occasional editorial decisions on manuscripts after peer review, with a focus on manuscripts that have been delayed or complex cases; our publishing team can support completing the reviewer invitation and secure reports for you if you wish
• Being available to act as a reviewer on occasional manuscripts that require objective reports on quality, when members of the Editorial Board are unavailable or unsuitable for specific manuscripts
• Advocate for your journal within your community and network to increase awareness of publications, collections and other developments on the journal
• Inviting your peers to join the Discover community as editorial board members, guest editors, and authors
• Working with the publisher to maintain an active community of Senior Editorial Board Members
• Attracting submissions to the journal by inviting your peers to submit, or occasionally submitting your own work
• Attending and actively contributing to the Editorial Board meetings
• Engaging with our community outreach and discussions

Who are we looking for?

We are seeking candidates with excellent backgrounds in one of the research fields below:

• Plant developmental biology
• Development disorders
• Cell biology of development
• Microbial development

If you are an expert with a high research profile in one of these research fields, are active in your areas in recent years, have had editorial experiences, and are keen to support the growth and development for an open access journal, please do not hesitate to contact me (yao.guo@springernature.com) for applications and/or questions.

Please supply a most recent CV, highlighting any relevant publications and editorial experiences to the post, should you be interested in applying.

Look forward to hearing from you.