Project Management Methods
Workflow in the Publishing Process
In publishing houses, the workflow—that is, the publishing process—is a structured sequence of editorial tasks, beginning with the submission of a manuscript by the author and a discussion of their expectations, and ending with publication. A typical workflow includes organising materials, peer review, editorial and technical processing (or at the very least, proofreading and typesetting), preparation of metadata according to an accepted standard, and distribution of the text in both print and electronic formats. A well-designed and flexible workflow is crucial to ensuring timeliness, quality, and transparency throughout the entire process.
Scrum in Publishing
Agile is a way of organising work that involves breaking tasks down into smaller stages and introducing regular improvements. One of the most popular Agile methods is Scrum, which is now widely used in project management. Although it originated in the IT sector, this approach can be successfully applied in academic publishing as well. Thanks to its flexibility and iterative structure, Scrum helps improve collaboration between authors, reviewers, and editors throughout the publication process.
Scrum is particularly well suited to editorial teams that publish articles in regular cycles or use the early view model. The publishing process is divided into so-called sprints—short time-boxed stages during which key tasks are carried out, such as verifying submitted manuscripts, peer review, proofreading, and typesetting.
Scrum is based on clearly defined roles and a work rhythm structured around recurring events (known as ceremonies), which can be successfully adapted to editorial workflows. Below is an overview of how typical Scrum elements can function within the context of publishing work:
Editor-in-Chief as Product Owner – sets the direction for the editorial team: determines the order of publications, decides which articles should take priority, and ensures thematic consistency with the journal’s focus or the specific issue theme. This person may also collect and analyse feedback from readers or authors to improve the publication process.
Scrum Master – in a publishing context, this is typically someone like the managing editor or a senior editor who coordinates the team’s work, removes organisational obstacles (such as delays in peer review), maintains the pace of work, and supports the team in applying Agile practices—for instance, by reminding them of meetings, helping implement improvements, and ensuring process transparency.
Scrum meetings (daily, weekly) – brief team meetings to discuss progress, current challenges, and plans for the coming days.
After each sprint, the completed tasks (e.g. articles ready for publication) are reviewed, followed by a retrospective—a meeting in which the team reflects on what went well, what could be improved, and how to better organise the next cycle of work.
How to Implement Scrum in an Editorial Team? Tasks to Test with Your Team
Scrum can be gradually introduced into editorial workflows by experimenting with selected elements of the method. Below are a few tasks your team can try out to see how the Scrum framework supports editorial work:
Map the current workflow Draw a process diagram from the moment a manuscript is submitted until its publication. Identify stages where delays most frequently occur.
Designate roles
Assign someone as Scrum Master (e.g. managing editor) and another as Product Owner (e.g. editor-in-chief), each with clearly defined responsibilities.
Organise a test sprint
Select, for example, a two-week period and plan which tasks will be completed.
Implement a Kanban Board It’s easier to work when you can visually track ongoing tasks. Use tools such as Trello, Jira, or Asana to visualise the stages of work. (You can learn more about these tools in the section Task Management in the Publishing Process.)
Plan a retrospective after each sprint
At the end of every sprint, conduct a brief review and summary of work using the following questions:
What went well?
What needs improvement?
How can we collaborate better?
Not Just Scrum – Other Management Methods
Depending on the nature of the journal, the publication model, and the editorial team’s working style, other management methods can also be applied:
📌 Kanban – focuses on visualising the stages of the editorial process (e.g. “submitted,” “under review,” “after proofreading,” “ready for publication”) and facilitates tracking the progress of individual texts. It can be used on its own or combined with Scrum elements in the so-called Scrumban, offering greater flexibility in organising the editorial workflow.
📌 Waterfall model – a linear approach where successive stages of the process (e.g. manuscript acceptance → review → proofreading → typesetting → publication) follow one another in a fixed sequence. It works particularly well for editorial teams producing closed journal issues with clearly defined deadlines and schedules.
💡 Questions for Reflection
Does everyone on the team know what stage each manuscript is at?
Does our working model allow us to respond flexibly to changes?
How often do we analyse and improve the editorial process?
Which elements of Scrum are we already applying intuitively?
Last updated