|
|
Constitution of the Editorial Board Editorial organisation and procedures The Journal will for the time being be produced from the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. It shall be available free to use, as a web-based Journal. Copyright will remain in all cases with authors, who may republish materials published in the Journal, although the Journal requires that authors fully acknowledge prior publication in Particip@tions in any subsequent republication. Since the Journal will be available in full-text format at all times, it should not be necessary for users to print multiple copies. However, no barrier will be erected to the printing of copies for the purposes of study and use. The Journal will be produced under the direction of an Editorial Board of no less than 7 people, inhabiting at least two distinct HE institutions. The Board may also where appropriate include people located in non-HE institutions. The Editorial Board shall determine the overall policy and development of the Journal, including determining the broad character of particular Journal issues. The Editorial Board shall normally meet at least twice a year. Membership of the Board shall be on the principle that a person is likely to be able to attend meetings of the Board. Membership of the Board shall also be on the principle that members are willing to play an active role in some aspect of the Journal’s production or development. The Board, once established, shall be free to invite and co-opt new members. The following roles at least shall be filled by members of the Editorial Board. Editor: The Editor shall be a lecturer/researcher in an appropriate field at the institution hosting the Journal. The Editor will have responsibility for the overall management of the production of the Journal. Production Co-ordinator: has overall responsibility for the shape and maintenance of the Journal’s web site (although s/he may not necessarily undertake all the tasks of maintenance), for ensuring all submissions approved for publication are in appropriate format, for ensuring archiving of past issues is appropriately done, and that external links with related websites are maintained. Chair of Editorial Board: responsibility for calling meetings of the Board, and arranging that the business of the meetings is prepared; liaising with the Editor to ensure proper progress of the Journal; overseeing development of Journal policy and documentation of policy in all areas; having oversight of the development of public presence of the Journal and, with the Editor, acting as spokesperson for the Journal in public forums. Reviews Editor: building connections with relevant publishers, and ensuring as far as possible that the Journal receives copies of appropriate books for review; recruiting reviewers and advising them of the requirements of the Journal, chasing and eliciting reviews; as appropriate and after consultation with the Editor seeking review articles; submitting reviews to referees, and compositing responses; preparing submitted reviews for web-publication. [Given that it may take a little while to build relations with publishers, this post may take a little while to come fully into operation.] External Liaison: developing and keeping up links with other Journals and cognate organisations; registering our operations with external bibliographic organisations; creating and maintaining our presence within search engines, indexing and citation guides, and other equivalent web systems. All roles to be filled for two years in the first instance, thereafter renewable on an bi-annual basis. The Editorial Board to determine its own procedures for appointing or electing people to these roles. The Editorial Board has power to create new posts and designate new responsibilities as necessary for the running and development of the Journal. All members of the Editorial Board will have responsibility for promoting the Journal, encouraging submissions, seeking friendly relations with other publications and cognate organisations, and in particular looking for opportunities to create links with less developed sectors, and with non-academic audience-research-connected bodies. Recognising the current unevenness in the development and recognition of audience research within different sectors of cultural and media work, the Board will have a policy of conscious outreach to try to include and encourage emergent work within less developed sectors. There shall also be a wider Editorial Advisory Board, made up of those with demonstrable interest and experience within audience research, in the broad sense in which it is understood here. The Advisory Board will be composed from as wide an array of countries, research fields, and traditions of work as possible, and will normally include all those willing to play a role in sustaining and developing the Journal. The Advisory Board will be kept informed on a regular basis of developments within and affecting the Journal, including all decisions made by the Editorial Board, and will be given opportunities on all substantive issues of policy to comment and contribute to debates before decisions are reached. Members of the Advisory Board will be welcome at all meetings of the Editorial Board, whose meeting dates and places will be publicised – although it is accepted that geographical distance will make attendance unlikely on most occasions. Members of the Advisory Board will be assumed to be willing to take part in refereeing processes, and to encourage submissions to the Journal, as well as more broadly assisting in its development. Article Editors A critical role within the operation
of the Journal is that of Article Editor. Every
submission over 1000 words will be assigned an Article Editor, normally by the
Editor but on occasion (depending on when meeting dates fall) by the Editorial
Board. Article Editors are normally
members of the Editorial Board, but may on occasion with their agreement may be
drawn from among the wider Editorial Advisory Group. It is the responsibility of the Article Editor, in consultation with the Editor, to select two referees from outside the Editorial Board with appropriate expertise who, along with the Article Editor, will be asked to read the essay. Within two weeks of being assigned the article, s/he will make contact with the referees and, upon their acceptance of the task, transmit the essay to them, along with a copy of the guidelines for referees. It is the Article Editor's task to ensure that referees' comments are gathered, ideally within a further month to six weeks (maximum), and to prepare a report for the Editor, based on his/her own and the two referees' responses. This report will not be a mechanical summation of the balance of opinion. Rather, in the light of the three referees' response, it will seek to identify, and to summarise, the following:
Where, for any reason, the Article Editor is unable to obtain one of the readers' responses, a decision may be made on (not less than) two referee reports. Decisions on acceptance, request for revision or rejection will be taken either at an Editorial Board or through a process determined by it. Suggestions for change can take the form of a combination of requirements and recommendations, as appropriate. Once a decision has been reached, it is the responsibility of the Article Editor to communicate it to the authors, along with (a) the referees' reports, and (b) a clear summary with explanation of any requirements for acceptance set by the Editorial Board. Any discussion or clarification between authors and the Journal will normally take place through the Article Editor. It will be his/her responsibility to examine any resubmitted version to identify to what extent it has met the Journal's requirements and recommendations. This page was last modified 11 May 2007 |