About us
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is a global nonprofit membership organization representing professionals who manage the health information essential to delivering quality healthcare. We have more than 67,000 members and credential more than 100,000 AHIMA health information professionals.
In our mission to empower people to impact health, our core values guide our business and our actions.
We have integrity in our work and relationships. Our passion for doing the right thing and sharing knowledge and resources makes us trustworthy, credible, and accountable leaders.
We act boldly with intention. We go after big ideas and big challenges with purpose because we recognize the influence and impact our work on people's health, safety, and well-being.
We are inclusive so that humans are at the center of everything we do. We see the whole person and respect the inherent dignity of every human. We make space for different voices and opinions to help us get the best results.
Diversity and equal opportunity
AHIMA is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, gender identity, race, color, religious creed, national origin, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental health disability, or protected veteran status.
At AHIMA, we come to work every day to help make healthcare better through the trusted use of health information - from the operating room to a smartwatch - no matter when or where it is accessed.
Position Summary:
The Editorial Director will contribute content and strategic direction for AHIMA's portfolio of editorial and research publications, the bi-monthly magazine Journal of AHIMA (JAHIMA) and the Association's scholarly, peer-reviewed research journal, Advances in Health Information Science and Practice (AHISP).
This primary focus of the position is to reinforce AHIMA's reputation as a clear, impactful thought leader for existing and potential members, reporters, academic institutions, C-suite leaders, health policy makers and patients. This person will manage the Association's editorial content calendar with a goal of growing membership and increasing revenue through data-driven editorial strategy and strong cross-functional collaboration. Secondary work may include cross-pollination of AHISP and JAHIMA content with AHIMA's website and various email properties.
For AHISP, this role works closely with the journal's member Editor-in-Chief, editorial board, and publisher, to increase the digital publication's profile while following industry best practices for research publications. This person is responsible for overseeing the full manuscript lifecycle, optimizing peer review workflows, and implementing publishing best practices to improve submission growth, reduce time to decision, and enhance author, reviewer and reader experiences.
For the Journal of AHIMA, the Editorial Director must lead the development of timely, authoritative and engaging editorial content that informs and inspires AHIMA members and health care stakeholders while advancing the Association's mission and strategic priorities. This role is responsible for identifying emerging trends, regulatory changes and workforce issues affecting health information and health care delivery.
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead and manage the end-to-end manuscript submission and peer review process, ensuring quality, integrity and timeliness. Coordinate closely with the Editor-in-Chief, editorial board and reviewers to maintain rigorous scholarly standards. Provide developmental editing support and enforce editorial policies, including ethical publishing and AI usage guidelines.
- Oversee daily journal operations, including management of the manuscript submission system (e.g., PeerTrack) and coordination with the publisher (KnowledgeWorks Global). Implement process improvements that reduce time to first decision (target: 6–8 weeks) and total publication timeline (target: under 6 months). Monitor and report on key performance metrics such as submission volume, turnaround times and acceptance rates.
- Develop and execute a roadmap for journal indexing and discoverability. Ensure compliance with requirements for DOAJ, Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed Central and Web of Science (ESCI). Partner with internal and external stakeholders to strengthen journal credibility, citation performance and readiness for Impact Factor evaluation.
- Expand and support a high-performing editorial board and reviewer pool. Train editors and reviewers on systems, expectations and best practices to ensure manageable workloads and consistent review quality.
- Maintain and enhance AHISP's gold open access model, ensuring compliance with licensing, accessibility and transparency standards. Stay current on trends in open access and scholarly publishing to inform innovation and continuous improvement.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive marketing strategy to increase journal visibility, submissions and readership. Collaborate with AHIMA marketing channels (e.g., SmartBrief, Journal of AHIMA, social media platforms such as LinkedIn and X) to promote published content and elevate author profiles.
- Leverage publisher-provided analytics tools to track manuscript views, citations and engagement. Establish year-over-year growth targets and use data to inform strategic decisions and operational improvements.
- Serve as a key contributor to AHIMA's academic publishing and thought leadership initiatives. Collaborate across departments and provide subject matter expertise on scholarly publishing, journal operations, and research dissemination. Collaborate with partners (e.g., ACHIIM) to offer continuing education (CE) credit opportunities for peer reviewers.
- Create a quarterly content calendar covering high-value topics across domain areas with an appropriate mix of article formats (long-form, short-form, multimedia). Ensure the calendar contains at least four continuing education quiz-granting articles per month. Establish strong relationships with internal stakeholders and to build a stable of contributors who can deliver on the content plan.
- Write articles as needed and edit all articles with an eye for house style and opportunities for cross-linking to other AHIMA content and products in a way that facilitates clear user journeys for members based on their discipline. Post articles to the JAHIMA website no less than once per week.
- Monitor KPIs and metrics on a monthly basis, reporting tracking, learnings, and growth in a strategic format to the AHIMA Executive Team. Work with SEO SMEs on the Marketing/Communications team to optimize article timing and traffic. Provide competitive gap analysis and digital reporting on JAHIMA's market share. Work with the AHIMA Sales team to identify new revenue opportunities including ad sales, branded content, and affiliate revenue.
- Collaborate with the Marketing/Communications team to ensure cross-channel coverage of JAHIMA content, including email and social media. Work creatively to ensure JAHIMA serves member needs while also engaging outside audiences such as prospective members and C-suite healthcare leaders. Identify opportunities for cross-pollination of content between JAHIMA and AHISP to maximize reach and impact of AHIMA's publishing portfolio.
Knowledge and Skills Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in health information management, journalism, digital media, publishing, communications, English or related field.
- At least 8 years of publishing experience spanning editorial strategy, academic or research journal management, and/or digital content development.
- Demonstrated experience managing peer-reviewed journal workflows and editorial processes.
- Experience with manuscript submission and peer review systems (e.g., PeerTrack).
- Strong knowledge of open access publishing models and indexing requirements.
- Exceptional writing, editing and communication skills.
- Proven ability to improve operational workflows and reduce publication timelines.
- Experience preparing journals for indexing in DOAJ, Scopus, or Web of Science.
- Familiarity with health information science, informatics or healthcare research.
- Knowledge of publication ethics, peer review standards and research integrity.
- Experience working with external publishing partners or vendors.
- Demonstrated experience establishing and executing editorial strategy for digital media, including content calendars, style guides, and standard operating procedures.
- Strong, clear writing ability with a passion for spotting trends and keeping abreast of news in the health information management industry.
- Experience with digital publishing platforms, analytics tools, and SEO best practices; experience with HubSpot preferred.
- Proven track record of boosting brand traffic, readership, and revenue through data-driven editorial decisions; professional association experience is preferred.
