Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

As a Publishing Editor I carry out the peer review and publication processes for articles submitted to our journals, from initial submission through to final publication, providing excellent customer service and upholding the RSC's high quality standards.

I support a team of Associate Editors who are academics based around the world, and manage their workflow. Additionally, I deal with other tasks such as ethical cases, commissioning cover artwork, editing manuscripts etc.

I begin a typical day by assessing new manuscripts that have been submitted to our journals. If I feel that they meet the standards of the journal then I send them to reviewers to begin the peer review process. If I do not feel that they meet the standard I discuss them with my colleagues in an editorial meeting and then reject them without peer review, potentially offering the authors a transfer to one of our other journals if I think that it would be more suitable.

For the remainder of the morning I make decisions on any submissions that have received reports from reviewers. Depending on the reviews, I will accept or reject the manuscripts, ask the authors to carry out revisions before acceptance, or ask the reviewers for further information to help me reach a decision. If I have any particularly interesting work then I commission the authors to create artwork to appear on the front or back cover of the issue their manuscript appears in.

In the afternoon I talk with my Associate Editors by phone and email to discuss any issues they might be having with conducting the peer review for a manuscript or to provide them with my feedback on their work. My Associate Editors are based around the world so we have limited time to talk due to different time zones and their own busy schedules - they are all working academics.

The rest of the day is spent dealing with any additional tasks, such as investigating ethical cases, coordinating themed issues, making up issues, and even editing the occasional manuscript.

Every day I read cutting-edge science and really enjoy the direct contact with the scientific community, whether they are authors, readers, or other stakeholders. I particularly like working with my Associate Editors, with whom I have built great relationships.

The creative and technical aspects of the job - such as commissioning cover artwork and making up issues - are fun and add variety to the job. I also feel that I am learning more about the scientific publishing and production processes every day, and enjoy the challenge that comes with dealing with more complicated cases or situations.

There are a lot of opportunities to gain experience outside my main job description through the wider organisation, such as writing research news articles for our monthly magazine, promoting membership at universities and supporting outreach events.

Times to publication are a key metric in scientific publishing so we have tight production deadlines. Additionally, we have high quality standards for our journals so it is very important that we make the right decisions and perform our best work consistently.

External contact can be difficult at times, such as when we have an upset or angry author. Additionally, Associate Editors can require a lot of work which is hampered by the difference in time zones or their busy schedules.

The job can occasionally feel a bit repetitive too. We publish around 40,000 articles a year, and many more are rejected, so that is a lot of new manuscripts to assess, find reviewers for etc. Thankfully this is avoided to some extent by the variety of tasks that we carry out and the changing of responsibilities within a team.

The vast majority of my time is spent sat at my desk working on my computer, which takes some getting used to after working in a lab or other more active environments.

I am motivated by the business focus of publishing, yet really appreciate that my work supports a charity. Publishing at the RSC directly fulfils our Royal Charter objective of disseminating chemical knowledge, and generates around 80% of our income which is redistributed within the organisation to support our many charitable activities, such as education, professional standards, conferences, policy and membership.

I feel that I can have a long and varied career in publishing. There are numerous roles that I could move on to from this job, each with a different focus (production, business development, training etc). The wide number of skills that I use and am further developing as a Publishing Editor will set me up well for roles in other departments within the organisation or externally.

I also take satisfaction in creating a finished product, and seeing the progress of a manuscript from initial submission to publication in a physical issue or online.

I wouldn't be able to carry out my responsibilities without my degree in chemistry (or closely related science, for example biochemistry or chemical physics). Some of my colleagues have a PhD but this isn't needed - a Bachelor's or Master's degree is fine.

I feel that my communication skills are used most, although attention to detail, relationship building, prioritisation and problem solving etc are very important too.

July 2013 - Graduated from the University of Sheffield.

July 2013-May 2014 - Gap year: travelled and worked around the world.

June 2014-September 2014 - Director of Wacky Science at Pali Adventures Summer Camp, California, USA.

January 2015-February 2017 - Outreach Coordinator at the University of Greenwich

February 2017-date - Publishing Editor, Journals at the Royal Society of Chemistry

I intend to continue my career in science publishing for the foreseeable future, and hope to focus my work on business development, i.e. contributing more to the strategic direction of our journals.

I hope to remain at the Royal Society of Chemistry, as I enjoy the charitable nature of the organisation as well as it's professionalism. I would not rule out other job roles outside of publishing.

Talk to someone who's in the job role so you can learn more about it and how you could fit in if you were interested. I would be happy to discuss the role further if contacted.

I thoroughly enjoy being a Publishing Editor at the Royal Society of Chemistry and can highly recommend it to anyone as a first job after university or to those who already have a few years professional experience (like myself when I started). This is very much a chemistry focused job which sets you up well for a career within science or out of it.

I welcome contact from anyone who would like to learn more.