Structure and Roles of Journal Personnel

Every journal has a number of people associated with it. These can be divided into two groups - (1) volunteer editors, advisors, reviewers and (2) professional editors, publishers and supporting staff. Each is described below with their typical structure and functions. As an author you may deal directly with only one or a few of these people, but you should be aware of the entire personnel structure. As a reviewer, again, you may only interact with one person but be cognizant of the bigger picture. The physical copy of the journal and its website should have the current listing of the personnel along with their contact and affiliation information.

Volunteers: These are generally researchers in the journal's field who agree to serve for a period of time. Most of these positions are uncompensated though some may include some coverage of expenses.

At the head is the Editor-in-Chief. This position has ultimate authority over the journal's contents and oversees the many editors and reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief is usually someone of senior scholarly stature who has served the journal over a rather lengthy period of time, often in various capacities. Most journals select Editor-in-Chiefs through an international nomination and application procedure and these jobs are viewed as highly prestigious (as well as a lot of work!). Normally, an Editor-in-Chief is appointed for a certain time frame, such as three years, but some such positions are open ended.

Next in the editorial chain of command are the Area or Department Editors. (Some journals do not have this level in the hierarchy.) These are, again, usually scholars of some standing and who have been associated with the journal in other capacities. These editors report to the Editor-in-Chief and the Associate Editors report to them. They function as technical area (sub areas within the technical focus of the journal) or geographic area (parts of the globe or regions) or functional area (book reviews, software reviews are examples) experts.

The final level of editors is the Associate Editors. As a newer academic, this post should be the one you aspire to first when joining a journal. Associate Editors are on the front lines of the peer review process. They receive papers which lie within their area of technical expertise from the upper editors. They make sure that each paper is appropriate to be considered for the journal, and if so, invite reviewers. They must secure two or more reviewers for each paper and then ensure that the reviews are returned in a reasonable timeframe. When reviews are complete, the Associate Editor considers the reviews and the paper itself and makes his or her own recommendation. This recommendation, along with the reviews, are transmitted back up the line for eventual sharing with the authors. As an author, the fate of your paper depends quite a bit on the Associate Editor. This person determines much of the timing and all of the reviewers, and weighs in on the decision himself or herself. As an author, you may or may not be informed of the identity of your Associate Editor. The Associate Editor terms may be stated or open ended.

A body off to the side of most journals is the Editorial Board or Advisory Board. These are generally very esteemed scholars in the field who are assembled from a diverse set of institutions and backgrounds. They are not necessarily involved with the activities of the journal but rather function as strategic resources - providing overall vision to the journal and giving it a scholarly foundation.

Often there are various communications among the editors - queries, concerns, issues, etc. which arise during the handling of a paper. The same set of editors handling an initial submission will handle subsequent revisions (barring personnel turnovers).

Finally, but perhaps, most importantly are the Reviewers. Reviewers are most often invited on an ad hoc basis, paper by paper, by the Associate Editors. They serve in that role for that paper only. Reviewers are identified in a variety of ways - often they are cited in submitted papers, they might have recently published in the area of the submitted paper, or the Associate Editor may know that they have expertise and interest in the area of the submitted paper. Some journals list their Reviewers periodically (for a given year, for example). Reviewers are almost always blind, that is, unknown, to the authors. Some journals do not use ad hoc Reviewers, but rather depend on their set of Associate Editors to do the reviewing. This can limit the technical expertise but it does tend to speed up the process and make the quality of the reviews more uniform. Once you have published in a journal, you will likely be asked to serve as a Reviewer. Serving as a Reviewer is the first step up the ladder of the editorial structure. Elsewhere on this CD is a section on how to be an effective reviewer.

Professionals: These are people associated with the publisher or sponsoring organization of the journal. As an author you may have little or no dealings with these professionals; the most normal interaction is after a paper acceptance, to sign a copyright agreement and just prior to publication when you are asked to review the page proofs.

The Publishing Editor will be in charge of making sure the journal copy is complete and correct. Once your paper is accepted, you may be instructed on specific formatting and file structure requirements. The paper will then be placed in queue to be printed. Once a paper is assigned to an issue of the journal, it is constructed as a proof. The proof will look exactly like the paper in print will, except page numbers are usually missing. The Publishing Editor will contact the corresponding author of the paper and ask that the proofs be reviewed and corrected, if needed. There is a short timeframe to accomplish this as the issue is already scheduled to print.

You might also contact the professionals at the journal with issues regarding reprints, special publishing needs (such as color pages), ordering extra copies of the journal issue, etc.