Editors are ultimately accountable for the quality of the journal's content. Editors are responsible for identifying important ‘hot topics’, sourcing high quality manuscripts, handling day-to-day paperwork, and organizing the flow of manuscripts (i.e. from author to referees and back and finally to the publisher).
Common roles and responsibilities of journal editors include:
Editor-in-Chief is the most senior editor who has overall responsibility for the journal, also writes short editorials, news and research highlights.
Deputy Editor is responsible for quality of content of journal, improvement of peer-review quality.
A scientific secretary is who commissions articles; coordinates peer review; lcontact with authors, reviewers and board members; and carries out heavy developmental/technical editing of manuscripts.