------ Original Message ------ Received: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:54:32 AM BST From: "John Postill" <jpostill@usa.net> To: "Maximilian C. Forte" <mforte@alcor.concordia.ca>, <medianthro@easaonline.org> Subject: [Medianthro] Trouble with journals Max Forte wrote:
I am also a very passionate proponent of open access publishing, and in that vein I am the editor of a specialized, peer reviewed journal titled, KACIKE: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology (at www.kacike.org), which has encountered absolutely *none* of the problems that opponents of open access journals normally list.
I'm glad Max has brought up the subject of journals as I've been discussing this issue with colleagues recently and it seems to me (and others) that something's seriously wrong with how the system works. I've experienced firsthand and heard stories of journal submissions where one is kept waiting anything between 12 and 24 months before hearing any substantial news, and that's after having chased this up with the journal a number of times. At the same time, authors are not allowed to submit the same piece to another journal, so often at the end of a very long wait a rejection comes and they're back to square one having wasted precious months. It's clear that people are busy and that peer reviews take time, but should we really have to wait 12-15 months, or even longer, for a response? Perhaps journals should commit themselves to a reasonable waiting period (say, max 4 months) and publish figures of the time it takes them on average to get back to prospective contributors? Or perhaps contributors themselves should publish or circulate these figures in the public domain? Any thoughts on this? ****************************************** EASA Media Anthropology Network http://www.media-anthropology.net For further information please contact: Dr John Postill Sheffield Hallam University, UK jpostill@usa.net To manage your subscription to this mailing list, visit: http://lists.easaonline.org/listinfo.cgi/medianthro-easaonline.org