Current Opportunities at HSRC

• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires a freelance cartographer to provide high quality maps for its scholarly publications. In addition to the responsibilities and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• Proven experience in drawing maps for academic and scholarly books
• Attach a portfolio of a variety of maps, including both simple and complex examples
• In your CV, include a list of publications in which your maps have been published (state publisher and date of publication)

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Draw draft maps as set out in the artwork brief for submission to the author and project manager.
• Provide specialist advice as might be relevant.
• Implement the feedback from the author and/or project manager.
• Once signed off, submit print ready files in JPEG or TIFF or another agreed file format.

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires a freelance translator to provide high quality translation services for its scholarly publications and for its database. In addition to the duties and requirements set out below, the freelancer will receive a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• Must be an English mother tongue speaker with and excellent grasp of English grammar, English syntax and general English usage
• Proven high competency in source languages, i.e. any one or more of the indigenous South African languages and any language spoken on the African, European, South American and Asian continents (provide qualifications or list experience here)
• Proven minimum of THREE years translation experience in scholarly/academic/non-fiction publishing as well as a minimum of TEN published scholarly or academic books or academic journals translated into English

In your CV, provide a list of

• Language/s that you’re able to translate from into English along with an indication of the years’ experience and level of competency in each language
• ten relevant books/journals that you have edited (state publisher & date of publication)
• for all titles in your list of relevant books, state which of the following referencing styles you followed: Oxford, Harvard, Modern Language Association (MLA), American Sociological Association (ASA), American Psychological Association (APA).

The following are not essential, but will be an advantage:

• A major in English language/literature/linguistics or a tertiary qualification in any of the social- or health sciences
• Proven accreditation from a bona fide translation institute
• Translation or editing experience in the field of the social sciences will be an advantage.

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Using the MSWord files of the text supplied, translate the content according to the Press guidelines. Translations are mainly from source language to English but occasionally back-translation may be required to check the accuracy of a translation.
• On completion of a translation, check the English text for grammatical errors and flag any content queries for the attention of the author.

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires a freelance publicist for its scholarly publications and its database. In addition to the responsibilities and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• A bachelor's degree in public relations, journalism, communications, business or English
• Proven experience as a publicistin the industry
• Include at least two contactable references.

In your CV, include a list of relevant publicity campaigns

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Generate and manage publicity (brands and books as required).
• Generate print and social media coverage for new publications (press releases, interviews, blogs).
• Design appropriate publicity strategies.

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires a print and reprint controller for its scholarly publications. In addition to the responsibilities and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• Minimum proven experience in print and reprint of at least five years.

In your CV, include a list of your responsibilities and relevant projects, including publication date and publisher, but do not exceed twenty items.

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Perform a pre-flight check of final files.
• Check imposed pages at printers and manage corrections.
• Check cover proofs and manage corrections.
• Check printed blocks for accurate section placement.
• Check advance copies prior to distribution

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires suitably qualified open access and website managers for its scholarly publications to be on its database. In addition to the responsibilities and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• Minimum proven experience in open access and website management of at least three years
• Proficiency in Adobe CS, Adobe Pro, HTML and CSS.

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Prepare all material for uploading to Open Access and the website.
• Check all uploaded material.
• Manage website queries.
• Prepare monthly web stats.
• Prepare (meta) data for index platform.

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires a freelance fact checker for its scholarly publications. In addition to the responsibilities and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• Relevant experience in journalism, publishing or an independent writing career.
• In your CV, include a list of projects (state publisher and date of publication as relevant) and your function. Do not exceed twenty items.
• A tertiary qualification in any of the following: humanities, social sciences, economics, hard sciences or information sciences.

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Using the manuscript supplied, determine the correctness of the factual statements in the text with the aim to remove content errors before publication.

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires freelance text and photo permissions researchers for its scholarly publications and for its database. In addition to the responsibilities and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• Proven experience in obtaining text/photo permissions for a minimum of THREE books/projects
• Familiarity with completion of online permissions forms
• In your CV, include a list of publications where you were responsible for text/photo permissions
• Tabulate the range of permissions (e.g. photos, poetry, prose, source material, maps etc.)

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Source text and photo permissions as set out in the brief.
• Provide weekly feedback on your progress in a cumulative tracking document.
• Submit a high-resolution file for each photograph with relevant caption and permissions information.
• Submit photo and text licenses and invoices as relevant.

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires freelance indexers to provide high quality indexing for its scholarly publications and to be on their database. In addition to the responsibilities and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief.

Minimum Requirements    

• Proven experience in indexing a minimum of FIVE academic/scholarly books in the fields of the social sciences and humanities.
• In your CV, include a comprehensive list of relevant books/journals that you have indexed along with the publisher details.
• A tertiary qualification in any of the following: humanities, social sciences, economics, hard sciences or information sciences.
• Attach examples of three indexes that you’ve completed as PDFs.

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Using the PDF of the manuscript as supplied, the indexer must compile a single or double index as relevant, with one level of subentry, in MSWord format. Other details will be specified in the brief.

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• The Publishing unit of the Human Sciences Research Council requires freelance editors to provide high quality editorial services for the editing of its scholarly publications and research surveys. In addition to the duties and requirements set out below, there may be a project-specific brief. 

Minimum Requirements    

• Excellent grasp of English grammar, English syntax and general English usage
• Proven experience in general editing as well as editing a minimum of FIVE published scholarly or academic books or academic journals in English.

In your CV, provide a list of

• up to twenty relevant books/journals that you have recently edited (state publisher & date of publication)
• alongside each of the titles in your list, state which of the following referencing styles you followed: Oxford, Harvard, Modern Language Association (MLA),

Duties & Responsibilities    

• Using the MSWord files of the manuscript as supplied, edit the content (text and artwork) according to the Press guidelines and project brief with track changes operative.
• Edit the references according to the Press referencing guidelines or as briefed
• Mark up all queries for the authors, using the electronic COMMENTS feature or in a separate MSWord document.
• Implement the author feedback.
• Prepare the manuscript for setting.
• Check first pages and mark up all corrections for the setter in the PDF.