cases the editors of highly prestigious journals can create a time
lag from acceptance to publication which is up to 30 months or
even three years. This approach makes a complete mockery of
any journal’s role to provide swift, lively and contemporaneous
feedback to their academic profession. At the other extreme
there are hand-to-mouth journals which only get by through
their editors constantly living on their wits, acquiring papers at
conferences, and so on. Here the copy for the very next issue
may be problematic, so if your paper arrives at an opportune
moment the editors may bend over backwards to accept it and
publish it quickly. This might seem a good result for you, but
only if the journal has a significant circulation and has main-
tained its quality reputation despite copy shortages.
In addition to these major influences on the long-run standing
of journals, there are a further four shorter-term or less important
influences on how journals are seen by the profession. These fac-
tors may not matter so much for the most-cited journals. But for
all other titles they are worth considering because they help to
differentiate the middle mass of journals one from another.
The reputation of the editors (or editorial teams) and the
editorial board. Despite the importance of refereeing systems,
changes of editor can have an important influence on how jour-
nals develop within their long-run market niches. Academics
love speculating about what different editors’ priorities are, espe-
cially for the bigger omnibus journals. Editing a journal is a
thankless task, but one which tends to attract senior academics
at a certain stage in their careers. A good editor is someone who
is well known in the discipline, intellectually respected but not
closed-minded, and who can project a strong and distinctive
style for her journal. The editors who become best known often
have a ‘project’ for changing their journal’s appeal in a particu-
lar direction. Good editors are also often interested in new ideas
and in bringing on younger people in their discipline via help-
ful and supportive refereeing. They are always committed to
encouraging good writing, strong scholarship and improved
standards of professional communication. The conference cir-
cuit gossip machine is often the best guide on where different
journals stand in terms of the editors’ orientation – yet another
reason for getting out there and plugging in.
232 ◆AUTHORING A PHD