Editorship - AOCS Lipid Library

The above position will shortly be vacant as the present editor, Dr William (Bill) W. Christie, wishes to relinquish the post after 12 years of service.

The AOCS Lipid Library is a major open-access resource whose aim is to publish web pages dealing with most facets of lipid science and technology. The target audience is usually at a graduate or near-graduate level, but not necessarily in the discipline of the topic.

The duties of the Editor-in-Chief are not especially onerous but require a volunteer with a wide knowledge of lipid science. The appointee will be expected to continue the development of the website in all aspects of lipid science from the industrial to the academic. He/she will provide leadership and oversight of the AOCS Lipid Library and its Associate Editors and will have authority to appoint or remove Associate Editors, when needed. It is expected that he/she will maintain good communication with the AOCS staff and will serve as a liaison between Associate Editors and AOCS staff. He/she will be expected to liaise with the associate editors in seeking new web articles to expand the existing coverage, and to consider the establishment of new major sections/topics of the site. At the same time, he/she should review the existing web pages to determine when and where updates are necessary.

The established system is that each of the associate editors has responsibility for a specific section of the site and in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief selects topics that are relevant to that section and invites contributions from appropriate experts. New unpublished research contributions are not considered and unsolicited contributions are unlikely to be accepted. The associate editors edit the submissions that are eventually received before passing to the Editor-in-Chief, who ensures that they meet the required standards and contain nothing inappropriate. No other system of peer review is considered necessary. Accepted documents are then passed to the Technical Editor for conversion to html and posting online.

At present, Dr Christie combines the duties of Editor-in-Chief and Technical Editor. He is willing to continue as Technical Editor as well as acting as an associate editor for those sections of the site for which he has full responsibility at present (‘About Lipids’, ‘Mass Spectrometry of Fatty Acids’ and ‘Literature Survey’, for example).

The new Editor-in-Chief is expected to be an established research scientist in a major scientific discipline, such as chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition or physics, and with a wide general interest in lipidology. He/she should be accustomed to networking with other scientists in various disciplines of lipid research. It is anticipated that the post should take up only a few hours of his/her time each week – though more if he/she intends to contribute original articles in their own right. The term of the initial appointment is for 5 years.

If interested, please send application to the Search Committee in care of Robert Moreau (Acting Committee Chair; Robert.Moreau@ARS.USDA.GOV) and Jack Wolowiec (AOCS Publications Manager; jackw@aocs.org). The application package should include a brief curriculum vitae and a statement addressing the duties of the position.