The role of the editor: The case of Springer

Springer, as one of the largest commercial academic publishers, merged with Nature in 2015, and now has a new name: Springer Nature. The merger combines strength of two publishers, with strong book publishing plus strong journal publishing in one publisher. However, the merger does not affect the working modes of the editors at Springer or Nature. Different from the in-house editors at Nature who are handing peer-reviewing process of every article, what are the responsibilities of the editors at Springer? What skills should the editors at Springer have? How can one be a qualified editor at Springer? Facing the new trends in publishing, including big data, open access policies, information exposure, competitive markets, among others, what challenges are awaiting these editors? In particular, in the fast-growing Chinese market, with its enormous output of scientific documents, how can editors based in China work to address this challenge? This report describes the role of editors at Springer regarding the Chinese market, from skills to experiences and from opportunities to challenges.