Meet The Team
Who We Are
PA EDitorial’s foundations are born from Pat Anderson’s strong work ethic and determination to succeed when she began her career in academic publishing in the 1990s. As a single mum, Pat sought to build a successful future for herself and her daughter Lizi. With exceptional skills in management and organisation, it wasn’t long before Pat developed a reputation for excellence and was able to create and manage her own editorial business.
Twenty years later, after a career working with and supporting esteemed brands with their sales performance and high-status customer accounts, Lizi Dawes joined her mother, Pat. In 2011, PA EDitorial was established.
We have been providing prestigious editorial services ever since.
Lizi Dawes
CEO
Lizi launched her career dealing with prestige brands, giving her the drive and ambition to provide excellent experiences and a high level of customer service. This, combined with a passion for organisation and administration, led Lizi into the academic world of peer review management.
She has now been working with academic journals since 2010, specialising in training for more intricate workflows and upgrading and updating systems to ensure they work hard for all concerned.
Lizi has grown her wonderful team of highly proficient editorial assistants into a thriving business, working with a variety of clients and managing over 100 different titles using a variety of submission platforms.
Patricia Anderson
Retired CEO
Senior Team
Sarah Hands
Senior Project Manager
Sarah Hands graduated from Oxford University with a Master’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. She then undertook a PhD in Biophysics and Microbiology at The University of Nottingham. She subsequently completed five years of postdoctoral research at The University of Southampton.
Having worked with PA EDitorial since 2014, Sarah is now PA EDitorial’s Senior Project Manager; within this crucial role, she oversees a team of senior staff and assists with the day to day management of our Managing Editors, ensuring the efficiency of over 100 journals.
Senior Support
Claudia Welburn
Senior Support
Claud has worked in Academic publishing since 2009, working on several different publications. She has experience working with multiple systems, including ScholarOne, Editorial Manager and several bespoke publishing platforms.
In addition to her Managing Editor role, Claud handles the quality management service PA EDitorial provide to our clients, and provides training to the team and various stakeholders involved.
Kirsty Vance
Senior Managing Editor
Kirsty has substantial experience within academic publishing having worked on various titles since 2012. Over the years, Kirsty has played an important role in larger journals and has also taken on responsibility for smaller journals, from pre-submission through to accepted articles.
Using her knowledge and understanding of each and every process, Kirsty now supports the Managing Editors within their roles and maintains quality across a large portfolio of journals.
Emma Smith
Senior Support
Emma is experienced in working with ScholarOne and Editorial Manager systems and has managed the peer review process on prominent, busy journals. She also copyedits and proofreads for various clients and is PA EDitorial’s lead copyeditor. In this role, she manages a team of copyeditors, performing quality checks on edits, delegating tasks, troubleshooting and liaising with both clients and copyeditors. Emma also provides internal training for new and existing team members. Away from work, Emma enjoys an active lifestyle; she swims and practises yoga regularly. She loves jazz, Motown, gospel and soul music. Emma is self-taught in piano, saxophone, and clarinet. Emma is an avid reader.
Jac Keron
Senior Support
Jac graduated from the University of Dundee and Ulster University. She has worked in journal management since 2013 working on a wide variety of publications, and has experience in copy-editing, proofreading and transcription.
Jac now manages several journals, including intricate society titles for PA EDitorial. She supports the senior team and the Managing Editors that work on our portfolio of journals.
Emma Smith
Senior Support
Emma is experienced in working with ScholarOne and Editorial Manager systems and has managed the peer review process on prominent, busy journals. She also copyedits and proofreads for various clients and is PA EDitorial’s lead copyeditor. In this role, she manages a team of copyeditors, performing quality checks on edits, delegating tasks, troubleshooting and liaising with both clients and copyeditors. Emma also provides internal training for new and existing team members. Away from work, Emma enjoys an active lifestyle; she swims and practises yoga regularly. She loves jazz, Motown, gospel and soul music. Emma is self-taught in piano, saxophone, and clarinet. Emma is an avid reader.
Managing Editors
Sadie Thrift
Managing Editor
Sadie started working with PA EDitorial in 2014 and is a highly valued member of the team. In 2019 she joined the senior team and expertly managed a team of ten specialists focusing on selecting and inviting reviewers for an Expert Selection of journals. She now handles a number of society titles within our portfolio.
Emma Fitzgerald
Managing Editor
Emma has over ten years of experience working as a research manager in health science research and managing and coordinating research projects, services and support. In addition, she manages the peer review process for several national and international academic journals using Scholar One and Editorial Manager.
Zoe Walker
Managing Editor
Zoe Walker graduated from The University of Leeds. Possessing excellent interpersonal skills, she establishes and maintains strong customer relationships. In 2007, she decided to become a freelance editorial assistant. She now handles an additional two large journals for PA EDitorial Ltd.
Samantha Ponton
Managing Editor
Samantha graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology from The University of Glasgow. She has over seven years of experience working within STEM publishing, including managing the day-to-day running of journals, the peer review process, as well as copyediting and proofreading research articles.
Jovie Anne Kennette Francisco
Managing Editor
She began her career as an editorial assistant in a large BPO company in the Philippines. There she gained knowledge in the peer review process for academic journals, working on multiple titles using ScholarOne and Editorial Manager. She joined PA EDitorial in May 2018, where she started in the reviewer selection support project and is now managing four journals with varying subject matter.
Catriona Byres
Managing Editor
Catriona graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Natural Sciences. She began her career as a production editor for STM journals, progressing to editorial roles in medical and veterinary book and journal publishing. After ten years in-house, she began managing editorial offices for scholarly journals on a freelance basis.
Paula Potter
Managing Editor
Paula launched her career working on communication projects and implemented the ISO9000 programme within a telecom company. In 2007 she began working as a freelance editorial assistant and has managed the peer review process on a variety of journals.
Rupal Malde
Managing Editor
Rupal has been working in academic publishing ever since leaving university and brings with her over 20 years of experience. She first worked for Current Drugs Ltd on a database product and has since worked for Blackwell Science (now Wiley), Taylor and Francis and Elsevier.
Delia Malim-Robinson
Managing Editor
Delia is proficient in using ScholarOne and Cognos Reporting and prides herself on the excellent working relationships she has built with academic editors, authors and journal teams. In addition, she has more than 30 years of experience in the publishing industry in the roles of copyeditor, proofreader and editorial office manager.
Lou Joseph
Managing Editor
Before joining PA EDitorial, Lou worked as an editorial assistant managing several academic and clinical titles using ScholarOne and Editorial Manager. She also handled multiple helpdesks to simplify the submission to publication process for editors, authors and reviewers.
Sylvia Hales
Managing Editor
Sylvia recently joined PA EDitorial, bringing with her 16 years of experience working within all areas of academic peer review. She has previously worked for a few scientific journals on ScholarOne and on Editorial Manager. She is enjoying the flexibility of work that her new role with PA Editorial offers.
Elly Welburn
Managing Editor
Elly has previously worked for three years in academic peer review, working as an editorial assistant on multiple journal titles. She has experience in both Editorial Manager and AllenTrack.
Jo Ferrier
Managing Editor
Jo is currently managing editor for a range of academic journals and digital products, including the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, AoB PLANTS and Investment Claims, and is proficient in the use of Scholar One, Editorial Express, eJournalPress and spreadsheet-based submission systems.
Laura Grimoldi
Managing Editor
Laura has built her professional experience in different environments, including multinational companies and other organisations (e.g. 3M Italy, MZ Congressi, etc.), in roles ranging from managing director assistant to editorial assistant.
Shirley Letts
Managing Editor
Shirley has worked in this field for over 15 years. She currently manages six journals with varying subject matters, including medical and mathematics, and uses her extensive knowledge and professionalism to enable the journals to run smoothly.
Dianne King-McGavin
Managing Editor
Dianne has worked in the scholarly publishing industry for over 20 years, most notably overseeing the peer review process for several scientific journals. In addition, she has worked extensively with various submission systems.
Helen Johnson
Managing Editor
Helen has worked in peer review management, managing several journals using paper-based systems, ScholarOne and Editorial Manager since 1991. In addition to her role as an editorial assistant, she has also worked as a personal assistant spanning 33 years, giving her excellent organisation and communication skills.
Samantha Beckingham
Managing Editor
Since joining PA EDitorial, Samantha has worked with both Editorial Manager and ScholarOne. In addition, she has worked on a range of journals across various subjects. As a result, she is proficient in processing papers through the entire peer review process, from the original submission, through to acceptance.
Kami Bates
Managing Editor
Kami earned a Professional Editing Certification through the University of California, Berkeley Extension Program. Since then, she’s provided freelance writing and editing services for SAGE Publishing, Publishers Weekly, IndieReader and independent authors.
Jennifer Norman
Managing Editor
Jennifer has worked in a variety of roles within the scientific publishing industry. Her role includes liaising with authors, editors and contacts within OUP, monitoring the work of external editorial assistants, checking manuscripts and ensuring the timely processing of manuscripts through to acceptance.
Jessica Ashdown-Hyde
Managing Editor
Jessica is highly experienced in the use of Editorial Manager and ScholarOne. She is knowledgeable in all stages of academic peer review. With strong attention to detail, she has been responsible for shepherding manuscripts through all stages of the process.
Jonna Gilbert
Managing Editor
Jonna is an experienced journal administrator with over ten years of experience managing journal administration processes on ScholarOne, liaising with authors, reviewers and editors. In her previous role, she worked as a peer review coordinator.
Saraswathi Sabapathy
Managing Editor
Saraswathi handles journals ranging from high copy flow to complex workflows with ease. She enjoys interacting with different users of the journals and aims to cater to their diverse needs while being mindful of the resources at hand.
Sue Hedges
Managing Editor
Since joining PA Editorial, Sue has found that she thoroughly enjoys the peer review process. In addition, she is passionate about providing a professional service and maintaining respectful, efficient and courteous working relationships with colleagues and clients.
Steve Cavanaugh
Managing Editor
Steve has worked in academic publishing since 1995. He has experience with many different journals, managing the peer review process and working closely with all journal contributors. Steve has a wealth of knowledge of a variety of submission systems.
Priti Nagda
Managing Editor
Priti completed her BSc in Biomedical Science with an Extramural Year in Industry in 2009. She has worked at Future Science Group, Frontiers and BMC in various roles. In addition to working with PA EDitorial, Priti is a senior editor in Medicine & Health.
Juliet Cooper
Business Admin and Accounts
Juliet has extensive experience in business support work and has worked in a variety of industries, including sports marketing, media, education, financial services and the public sector.
Julie Pinborough
Editing
An experienced freelance copyeditor, proofreader and copywriter, Julie has expertise in academic materials, journals, peer review, content management and digital and social media content. She is a professional member of The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading (CIEP).
Lynsey Harrison
Social Media Marketing Specialist
Lynsey has been working with PA EDitorial for over three years and has used innovative marketing techniques to increase brand awareness for PA EDitorial’s target audience. Through strategic and consistent marketing, PA EDitorial has significantly increased its online visibility and, consequently, client base. Due to this successful partnership, PA EDitorial now offer social media services to publishers, societies and journals. Please click here to find out more.
Get To Know Us
We pride ourselves on promoting flexible working for all staff. We trust the professionals we work with. PA EDitorial have a successful history of supporting our team with the flexibility they require.
If you would like to know more, please see the ‘Advice Centre’ by PA EDitorial.