It is a great honor to have been chosen as the next Editor of JSI. I am sincerely grateful to SPSSI, the Council, and the Publications Committee. As the incoming Editor, I urge you to consider guest editing a JSI issue. I encourage you to talk to colleagues, who conduct research in your area of expertise, about putting together a pre-proposal for consideration as a journal issue. The full description of the proposal and editorial process can be found at SPSSI’s JSI webpage. The web link has detailed and helpful information, but the following is a brief description of the pre-proposal submission process. A preliminary proposal is submitted to the JSI Editor for feedback on the general focus of the issue and its feasibility. The preliminary proposal includes a brief vision statement (1–2 pages) that includes a description of the focus of the issue and a tentative table of contents. The table of contents includes a breakdown of the subsections of the issue as well as a list of potential titles and authors. A few members of the Editorial Board will review the preliminary proposal. The reviewers look for important and timely topics that promise to be of considerable interest to the JSI readership as well as for a strong and diverse group of scholars whose collective contributions appear to represent a coherent, compelling theme. The reviewers and the Editor will provide suggestions about the content (revisions, omissions, extensions, reorganizations) and for additional contributors and subtopics. As you can see, although involving much conceptualization, this first step in the submission process is relatively straightforward. If the idea of submitting a pre-proposal appeals to you, please check the list of recent JSI issues. SPSSI and JSI seek to publish research on a vast array of social-issues topics. Please be sure your ideas for an issue do not overlap substantially with recent topics published in JSI. A list of topics already published can be found at the JSI Archives page with upcoming topics in future issues can be found at the JSIIssues in Progress page. At the recent SPSSI conference, I met with a variety of researchers to discuss both the submission process as well as ideas for issue topics. I very much enjoyed those conversations, and I would enjoy having a conversation with you. Please contact me if you would like to discuss possibilities for topics or if you have any questions about the publication process. As a former guest Co-Editor of a JSI volume on grassroots organizing, I can tell you that the process and experience of putting together a thematic issue for JSI is a very rewarding endeavor. Again, I encourage you to consider developing an issue for JSI.
—B. Ann Bettencourt |
.png){kind=small}
