The Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS) has become an essential part of the research software ecosystem. Built from the start to be a developer-friendly place for publishing research tools, we’ve always strived to be a venue that respects the work of developers, recognizes software as a first-class research output, and provides an efficient review process that authors consistently tell us they love. Since launching in May 2016, JOSS has published over 3,500 articles, supported by an incredible team of volunteer editors and reviewers who make the whole thing possible. JOSS is free to publish in and free to read (diamond open access), with operating costs of a few dollars per paper, sustained by volunteer labor and occasional modest grant support rather than article processing charges.

After a decade of building and running JOSS, our founding Editor in Chief is stepping down. Arfon Smith will continue as the JOSS/Open Journals tech lead, maintaining the infrastructure and publishing pipeline that JOSS depends on, and will remain an active JOSS editor. The new EiC takes over editorial leadership with strong technical and institutional continuity in place.

The incoming EiC arrives at a genuinely interesting moment for research software. On the face of it, JOSS looks like a prime target for a wave of “vibe-coded” submissions, i.e., projects spun up in days with the support of an LLM. This is a real challenge for a journal built on giving research software scholarly credit. But we believe open-source research software has a critical role to play in this new landscape, and we have updated our scope in response: moving away from proxies like lines of code toward the things only humans contribute: problem framing, design judgment, durable abstractions, and the open collaborative practices that make software trustworthy and reusable. The new EiC will be in the front seat for helping the research software community through all of this.

About the role

The Editor-in-Chief leads JOSS’s editorial operations. This is a volunteer position with a term of three years, renewable once.

The EiC works closely with a team of Associate Editors-in-Chief (AEiCs) who handle day-to-day submission flow, and with the broader editorial board. The EiC sets editorial direction, safeguards the integrity and quality of the review process, and represents JOSS to the wider research community.

This role has recently been scoped to focus exclusively on editorial leadership. Technical infrastructure and development are led separately by the Open Journals tech lead (Arfon Smith, founding EiC of JOSS).

JOSS is an OSI affiliate and a POSI adopter. Candidates who want to understand JOSS in more depth may find the following useful:

• Editorial Guide: the full review workflow, from submission triage through publication, including how editors, AEiCs, and the EiC team hand off work.
• Cost models for running an online open journal: how JOSS operates as a free, diamond open-access journal at a fraction of the cost of commercial publishing. Stewarding this model is a core part of the EiC role. (While this document is now somewhat old, it’s still correct at a high-level.)

Responsibilities

The EiC is responsible for the editorial health of JOSS. In practice that means supporting the AEiC team as they manage submissions, recruiting and onboarding new editors, setting and refining editorial policy, handling escalated decisions and disputes, and representing JOSS externally. The EiC also participates in Steering Council decisions affecting Open Journals and JOSS’s place within it.

The EiC doesn’t typically handle individual submissions, though many AEiCs remain active on a small number of papers to stay close to the review experience.

Time commitment

With an editorial team of 100+ editors and about 500 submissions in or awaiting review, the role is a significant time commitment: to do it well likely requires up to one day per week. The AEiC team handles day-to-day submission flow; the EiC’s role is to support that team and hold the editorial process together. That said, JOSS has invested heavily in automating common tasks in the editorial process which keeps the job tractable at this scale.

Candidates should have the capacity to commit the time this role requires. For those in institutional positions, we ask for a brief letter or statement from your employer or supervisor confirming support for this commitment. Independent researchers, consultants, or others without a traditional institutional affiliation should include a brief statement describing how they plan to allocate the time.

Who should apply

We’re looking for candidates with a clear vision for JOSS’s next several years: one grounded in the principles of open source, open science, and open scholarship that JOSS embodies as a POSI adopter and diamond open-access journal. Strong candidates will also bring experience leading or coordinating distributed volunteer communities (e.g., open source community governance, conference organizing, scientific society leadership), good judgment in handling editorial disputes and policy questions, and the communication skills to represent JOSS externally.

Hands-on familiarity with the JOSS review process is essential. JOSS is unusual enough among academic journals that the EiC needs to understand it from the inside. Many strong candidates might already have this through prior JOSS editorial work. Candidates without it are welcome to apply and, if selected, would undertake a period of active editing (typically three months) before formally taking on the role.

We welcome applications from candidates at any career stage and from any institution (or none) or country, and we actively encourage nominations and applications from people underrepresented in scholarly publishing leadership.

How to apply

✨✨✨ To apply, please fill in this short form by June 19, 2026. ✨✨✨

Applications should include:

• A vision statement (up to two pages) describing how you would approach the role and what you see as JOSS’s priorities over the next three years
• A short CV or biographical statement
• A short statement (a paragraph or so) explaining how your experience demonstrates that you would be effective in this position
• A brief description of your JOSS editorial experience, if any
• A letter or statement confirming support for the time commitment (from your employer or supervisor if applicable, or a personal statement describing how you plan to allocate the time).

Selection Process

Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee composed of the JOSS AEiCs who are not themselves candidates. The committee will review applications, interview shortlisted candidates, and make a final selection in consultation with the outgoing EiC.

Timeline

• Applications open: May 5, 2026
• Applications close: June 19, 2026
• Shortlist interviews: July – August 2026
• Announcement: September 2026
• Transition period: through end of 2026