Yes.
The work involved tasks such as:
- locating suitable "peer reviewers" for articles that were submitted to the journal for publication. Generally each student editor was given one or two articles for which they had to manage this process (under the supervision of the editorial board). Once suitable reviewers were located it was then necessary to liaise with them and the author of the article as to outcome of the review and any amendments that the reviewers think necessary (or informing the author that the article requires substantial revision or should not be published);
- proof reading and editing articles submitted for publication; and
- citation checking (ie all references for accuracy, down to the pin-point page reference etc), for articles submitted for publication ( I remember this being particularly time consuming, particularly when obscure sources were used and it was necessary to submit interlibrary loan requests to verify).
Those are the tasks that spring to mind first. It was a while ago now so there may have been others. I remember when I did the unit there was also a theory component about academic publication, peer review, etc, which required class attendance. There was also an assessment component that involved an essay, and I think possibly some sort of assessment of how well you facilitated and managed the peer review process. I can't say that will be common to all universities.
I highly recommend the unit if you propose to either pursue academia, or in the short term, do a thesis (such as honours).
