Business Analyst - Publishing (Open Access Business)

We are seeking an experienced Business Analyst with strong publishing domain expertise, specifically within the Open Access (OA) publishing ecosystem. The ideal candidate will have hands‑on experience working with editorial, production, rights, contracting, pricing, and revenue workflows in Open Access and hybrid publishing environments. This role will support business transformation, process optimisation, system enhancements, and data‑driven decision‑making across the OA value chain.

Key Responsibilities

• Business Analysis & Requirements Gathering
  • Engage with editorial, production, operations, legal, finance, and technology teams to understand business needs within the OA lifecycle.
  • Capture, analyse, and document detailed business requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and use cases.
  • Conduct gap analysis across current‑state OA processes (e.g., submission, peer review, APC management, licence selection, invoicing, and publication).
  • Translate complex OA business rules (e.g., funder mandates, rights and licences, multi‑funding scenarios, waiver eligibility) into clear functional specifications.
• Process Mapping & Optimisation
  • Map end‑to‑end OA workflows using BPMN/Visio (submission – editorial – production – APC – invoicing – publication – reporting).
  • Identify process inefficiencies, bottlenecks, compliance risks, and improvement opportunities.
  • Support design of future‑state processes aligned with business strategy, OA growth initiatives, and customer experience enhancements.
  • Collaborate with teams to drive operational excellence, automation, and simplification.
• Open Access Business Expertise
  • Apply deep understanding of OA models, including Gold OA, Hybrid OA, Transformative Agreements, Read & Publish deals, and APC/waiver structures.
  • Interpret publishing policies, copyright/licensing requirements (e.g., Creative Commons licences), and funder mandates (e.g., UKRI, Plan S).
  • Support OA governance, metadata standards (e.g., ORCID, Crossref, FundRef), and compliance reporting.
• Data & Insights
  • Analyse OA performance metrics (submissions, APC revenue, uptake of waivers, turnaround times, compliance rates).
  • Work with data teams to ensure accurate metadata, reporting, and analytics across systems.
  • Support decision‑making with clear dashboards, business cases, and insights.
• Technology & Systems Support
  • Partner with product, engineering, and vendor teams to support system enhancements across tools such as manuscript submission systems, rights/contracting tools, APC management platforms, financial/billing systems, and CRM.
  • Assist in system evaluations, UAT, regression testing, and release validation.
  • Ensure solutions align with OA policies, regulatory requirements, and operational workflows.
• Stakeholder Engagement
  • Facilitate workshops, requirement sessions, and SME interviews across global publishing teams.
  • Act as a bridge between business SMEs and technology teams.
  • Present findings, recommendations, and status updates to senior stakeholders.

Required Skills & Experience

Essential

• 5+ years of Business Analysis experience, ideally in academic publishing.
• Strong domain knowledge of Open Access publishing workflows and business models.
• Experience documenting requirements, user stories, process maps, and business cases.
• Understanding of APC workflows, funder policies, rights/licensing, metadata flows, and OA compliance standards.
• Hands‑on experience with manuscript submission systems (e.g., Editorial Manager, ScholarOne), APC management tools, SAP/BRIM, CRM, or finance systems.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving capability.

Preferred

• Experience in process transformation, digital publishing, or workflow automation.
• Familiarity with data standards (Crossref, FundRef, ORCID), copyright frameworks, and OA policies.
• Exposure to Agile delivery methodology (Scrum/Kanban).
• Experience working in global or matrixed publishing organisations.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in business, Publishing, Information Systems, or related field.
• Professional certifications (e.g., CBAP, Agile BA, Lean Six Sigma) preferred.

What We Offer

• Opportunity to work on transformative OA initiatives in a global publishing environment.
• Collaboration with cross‑functional teams driving innovation in scholarly publishing.
• Growth opportunities within a dynamic and evolving landscape.

The Cognizant community: We are a high‑caliber team who appreciate and support one another. Our people uphold an energetic, collaborative and inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

Cognizant is a global community with more than 300,000 associates around the world. We don’t just dream of a better way – we make it happen. We take care of our people, clients, company, communities and climate by doing what’s right. We foster an innovative environment where you can build the career path that’s right for you.

About us: Cognizant is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, transforming clients’ business, operating, and technology models for the digital era. Our unique industry‑based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build, and run more innovative and efficient businesses.