Abstract:
Publication in peer-reviewed journals is the life-blood of academic existence. Yet
surprisingly little research has been devoted to the views of the journal editors who
play such a central role in this process. This essay reports a pilot project which set out
to shed some light on these views. As editors of two peer-reviewed journals in the
fields of journalism and journalism studies, the essay’s authors initially drew upon their
own experience to identify common issues facing journal editors. Their approach was
also informed by perspectives acquired from the personal experience of their own
global positioning – one located on the periphery of the Global North and one in the
Global South.
An online questionnaire was distributed to editors of 24 journals in the fields of
communication, journalism and journalism studies. The essay reports that the responses
received suggest that journal editors are not only conversant with a plethora of
complicated and vexing problems, but also have developed a range of successful
strategies for responding to them. At the same time, however, publication – or, rather,
non-publication – of papers authored in the Global South is a contentious issue which
produced divergent responses. The authors conclude that this is the issue most likely to
become politicised in future.