PA EDitorial Celebrates 13 Years!

Can you believe it has been 13 years since the journey of PA EDitorial began? Pat and I sat on the sofa with big dreams and aspirations, wondering where this venture could go. Could it succeed? Would people take a mother-daughter duo seriously? And most importantly, what should we call our business?

We deliberated hard over the name. It needed to be relevant, clearly indicating the type of business we had, but we also wanted it to be personal. Eventually, we settled on PA EDitorial, with ‘PA’ capitalised for Patricia Anderson and ‘ED’ for Elizabeth Dawes—although no one, except my Nanna, has called me Elizabeth since I was about seven years old! Still, it looked nice and felt right.

Our growth hasn’t been conventional. We didn’t have a business plan, targets, or forecasts. We just worked as hard as possible to provide the best level of service and client care we could facilitate.

About a year in, I was comfortably working full-time alongside Pat. One afternoon, during my sister-in-law’s wedding, we received a call from a client. “Hi Lizi, I hope you’re well. We have a new Society coming on board. They have six journals needing approximately 40 hours of support each week. Do you have the capacity to take them on?”

As a business owner, you either say, “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any spare capacity at the moment,” which we didn’t… or “Absolutely, we would love to support these journals. Let’s arrange a meeting and discuss the details,” whilst simultaneously implementing a new recruitment process and hunting down suitable candidates.

Growing a business isn’t easy. It’s impossible to know which choices are right or wrong, but you’ve got to give everything a try. If you're confident in what you do and how well you do it, and if you know what your team needs to do to succeed, you’re on the right track.

We are still working with that same client today. They have continued to send new journals our way, and our relationship has grown from strength to strength. Our portfolio has expanded, and we now support over 200 titles with multiple publishers.

Over the decades, the landscape of our industry has transformed dramatically. Gone are the days of mailing manuscripts to reviewers and using Tipp-Ex to anonymise an author’s credentials. Our team, many of whom have over 30 years of experience in this field, have had to adapt to an ever-changing technological world. Today, we all expect immediate information dissemination, meaning the need to deliver faster turnaround times and navigate busier schedules. Our business sits within a climate where we must welcome new technologies and implement tighter ethical standards due to an increase in unethical practices within the publishing world.

We move and change with the times, adapting and embracing these changes—changes that benefit us, academic publishing, and the wider audiences we serve.

As the academic year comes to an end, we wish you all a wonderful summer break. Rest assured, our team will keep working, the cogs will keep turning, and our next newsletter, featuring all you need to know about Peer Review Week, will be released next month!

Here’s to many more years of success!

Lizi Dawes - CEO PA EDitorial

The Spotlight

Today, I'm taking the reins to highlight the outstanding contributions of Sarah Hands, who typically manages this segment. Sarah has been an integral part of PA EDitorial for over a decade.

She began her journey with us working on small journals, gradually advancing to handle larger, more complex titles. Over time, she transitioned into the role of a senior managing editor and currently excels as our senior project manager, providing invaluable support across the entire business.

Sarah's deep understanding of our operations, combined with her tireless dedication, benefits every individual involved as well as our journals, clients, and the company as a whole. Her hard work and commitment consistently earn her gratitude and praise from everyone she collaborates with, including myself.

Thank you, Sarah, for your incredible dedication and support. We deeply appreciate everything you do!