Notes for Editors to be Nominated at NCA Convention

For Journals from Volume Year 2004 forward

These notes are designed to indicate what you should do from the time of the convention at which your editorship is confirmed by the Legislative Council through completion of your first volume.  These suggestions are based on the assumption that Routledge (Taylor and Francis) is the publishing partner, and that manuscripts may be submitted either electronically or in print.  Since these notes are prepared for editors of all NCA journals, you particular situation may differ in some ways.

Before the Convention Where Your Nomination is Confirmed

Please read the Publications Manual of NCA.  This is available on the NCA website (www.natcom.org) under ‘Publications’.  (It currently is out of date, since we are waiting for approval of the Routledge proposal before updating it, but nevertheless indicates some general policies with which you should be familiar.)

Contact the retiring editor of your journal to find a time to meet at the convention.

The Convention Where Your Nomination is Confirmed

Please attend the meeting of the Publications Board and the Editors (your name may not appear in the program, but please attend anyway). It is important that you make contact at that meeting with a representative of Routledge. 

Meet with the retiring editor.  During this meeting, be sure to discuss the following:

q        Approximately when you’ll start receiving manuscripts to process.

q        The approximate number of new submissions per year.

Whether the editor is likely to have manuscripts near acceptance  that he/she might pass along to you for your first issue, and whether you are interested in having any such manuscripts passed on to you. You have no obligation to accept work processed by the retiring editor.

The tracking system the retiring editor has been using for manuscripts.  Routledge has a tracking system that you should discuss with them to determine whether you would like to use it.

Consider asking the outgoing editor to bring copies of the evaluation sheet and form letters he/she has been using.

Shortly after the Convention at which your Editorship is Confirmed

1.  Start assembling your Board of Associate Editors.  Follow the guidelines outlined in the Publications Manual to ensure  representation of various interests, groups, and geographical locations.

Consider models in which you have a small group of editors who play a role of greater significance than Associate Editors, such as a group of Consulting Editors who have expertise in particular areas and may assist in determining who appropriate reviewers are or in making decisions about publication once reviews are received.

As you invite individuals to join your Board, give them a realistic expectation of how many different manuscripts (can’t really estimate numbers of revisions) to expect to review each year. You will need at least two reviewers, and probably three,  for each new submission. Therefore, if you indicated that you would limit the number of new submissions sent to a Board member to six (which is a reasonable number), then the number of people you invite to join the board needs to be sufficient to process the number of manuscripts that typically have been submitted per year to that journal.

When you invite individuals to join your Board, tell them what response time you expect in processing submissions.  Six weeks is a realistic time frame.

Indicate how reviewers will receive manuscripts (hard copy or electronically) and how they should return reviews.

2.  Prepare a ‘Call for Manuscripts’. 

This needs to contain information on numbers of copies, format, and your mailing address. 

Your call needs to be consistent with the general mission of your journal, as contained in the Publications Manual.

Please send a copy of your call to the Publications Board Chair.  Once the Chair indicates that the call looks fine, please send a copy to Jim Gaudino to be published in Spectra.

Managing Time Table for First Issue

Check Publications Manual for month first issue will appear. 

Assume that ALL materials, including Table of Contents, must be to Routledge least FOUR months prior to the first of the month of publication.  For instance, if your first issue is to appear in January, then all materials (articles plus table of contents) must be to the press no later than September 1.  ISSUES MUST APPEAR ON SCHEDULE or NCA risks losing library subscriptions, which are the basis of financial support for journals.

You may submit manuscripts one at a time–there is no need to wait until you have completed an issue to submit the manuscript.

You may submit manuscripts either in print form or by disk as well.  Please be certain that the disk version is identical to the print version.  Perhaps by as early as January, 2003, it will be possible to submit manuscripts electronically to Routledge.

Determine approximately how many manuscripts you will need for your issue.  Page allocations (indicated in Publications Manual) are allocations for a year, so it is possible for individual issues to deviate.  Page allocations include all pages, not just numbered ones.  Thus, table of contents, advertisements, and the like count toward total page allocations.  DO NOT EXCEED YOUR TOTAL PAGE ALLOCATION FOR THE YEAR. 

Ideally, printed pages for each issue should be multiples of 32 or at least multiples of four for most efficient use of space. If a particular issue doesn’t meet these specifications, advertisements will be inserted at the press to make the issue a multiple of four.

Preparing to Process Manuscripts Before They Start Arriving

As specified in the Publications Manual, all manuscripts, unless clearly outside the purview of the journal, must be sent to at least two reviewers.  You need to establish a system (either electronically or in print) for keeping track of the flow of each manuscript and each reviewer’s work load.  You may choose to use Routledge’s electronic system.

1.  Your system will track the flow of each manuscript.      

Log in the manuscript, noting date of submission, authors, mailing address for contact author, and reviewers.

Include a statement in your request for the review that the manuscript is to be treated as a confidential document.

Track of the return of reviews and devise a method for contacting reviewers if reviews are late.

2.  Establish a system for tracking the work load of each reviewer and for the timeliness of their responses.

3.  Develop a form letter or message  to acknowledge receipt of the manuscript.

4.  Develop a form letter for transmitting manuscript to reviewers (who may go beyond Board members).

Include statement on confidentiality of the manuscript, as indicated in the Publications Manual.

Indicate when review is due.

5.   Develop a form for evaluating manuscripts.  Include title and number of manuscript, reviewer’s name, and dates review is sent and due to be returned.

Soliciting Reviews

Date the manuscript upon receipt.

Assign a number to the manuscript, typically a combination of the year and the number of submissions within the year (e.g., 02-041).

Send a note of acknowledgment of receipt to the author, indicating the number assigned and asking that any inquiries contain this number.

Read through the manuscript to determine who might be knowledgeable reviewers.  Do not send to the author’s institution or to individuals with a personal connection to any of the authors. 

You may, of course, go beyond the board for reviewers.  Keep a list of any external reviewers so that you can acknowledge them in the final issue of the volume.

Remove features identifying authorship from the manuscript.  Remove the cover page and be sure that the method section, if there is one, does not reveal the author’s identity.  If it does, then mark through identifying features.

Log the manuscript into your tracking system for manuscripts and for work load of reviewers.

Send manuscript to reviewers, along with cover letter stressing confidentiality and identifying the date the review is due.  Include the critique sheet, which should contain both the title, manuscript number, and due date for the review.

Have a mechanism that alerts you to overdue reviews so that your assistant can send a reminder to reviewers.  If repeated efforts to elicit a review fail, you may need to solicit a review from another source.  In this event, contact the author to indicate the reason for the delay in response and assure the author that the matter is being dealt with appropriately.

Processing Reviews

Enter reviews received into the system for tracking progress of manuscripts and workload of reviewers.

When you have received the final review, read the reviews carefully and reread the manuscript in light of the reviews.  Determine whether the manuscript has potential for publication.  If so, you may invite the author to revise and resubmit (it would be rare, indeed, if the manuscript required no revisions).  You may emphasize areas requiring revision that have been mentioned in the review and additional ones, if you feel that they are warranted.  If you invite to revise and resubmit:

It is helpful to specify a date when a revised manuscript must be returned (something like six weeks from receipt of the notification) in order to maintain a uniform flow of manuscripts.

Ask for a letter that indicates how the revised manuscript has dealt with the critique offered of the initial submission.

Review of Resubmissions

Number the revision to correspond to the original manuscript designation (e.g., revision of manuscript 02-041 may become 02-041R1.

If requested revisions are minor, you may want to render a final judgment concerning publication without sending out for further review.  If requested revisions are relatively substantial, most likely you will send the revised manuscript back to the original reviewers. 

Include copies of all of the reviews of the initial submission, your letter inviting revision, and the author’s comments regarding how the revision accommodates to the critique of the original manuscript.  Remove indications of the author’s identity from these documents.

Repeat process for initial submission.

After receiving reviews of resubmission, you’ll again decide the disposition of the manuscript.  If you accept it, note the date of acceptance.  As you request final revisions, check format to be sure that manuscript is in compliance with the style for the journal.  For instance, for APA style, be sure that key words are bold, that author notes contains essential ingredients, that tables are on separate pages and conform to APA specifications, etc.

If you accept the manuscript, include copyright solicitation and form(s) with the acceptance letter.  If there are multiple authors, request that the contact author distribute the forms to co-authors.  Stress that the manuscript cannot be published until you have signed copyright forms from all authors.  You need to send two forms for each author--one for them to return and one for them to keep (you will have signed these forms in advance of sending them).

Alert the author of accepted manuscripts that they will receive a set of galleys at some unpredictable time, and that they will need to proofread these carefully and send any corrections to you within two days of receipt of the galleys.

If a revised manuscript is not acceptable for publication, determine whether there is any value in inviting a second resubmission or whether doing so is unlikely to yield a publishable manuscript, and then proceed accordingly.

Although optional, when sending the letter indication the disposition of the manuscript to the author, some editors send copies to the reviewers as well.

Submitting Accepted Manuscripts to the Press

Both you and your editorial assistant should proofread each accepted manuscript carefully before sending it to the press, since even careful authors make errors. CORRECTIONS ARE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE ONCE THE MANUSCRIPT HAS BEEN SET IN PRINT.

Check citations in the text against the reference list.  Be sure that every citation appears in the reference list and vice versa.  Also be sure that the dates are consistent.  If your editorial assistant has time, it is a good idea to actually look up the original source and be certain that the entire citation is accurate.

Double check that all essential ingredients (e.g., date of initial submission, date of final acceptance, keywords, author note) are included.

When you send the manuscript to the press, indicate in which issue you intend for it to appear.  Include the author’s name and mailing address with the manuscript for mailing of proofs.

Processing Initial Galleys

Once the manuscript has been set in type, both you and the author will receive a set of proofs.  Both you and your assistant should read these carefully.  If you find errors, identify them clearly in a manner consistent with instructions from the press.  If the error was a printer error, mark this clearly, so that NCA will not be charged for it.

DO NOT MAKE SUBSTANTIVE CHANGES, however tempting.  They are simply too costly.

If you have not heard from the author within two days of receipt of the proofs, contact him/her to be certain that the other set has arrived.  Ask for their corrections within two days.  Again, do not permit substantive changes.

Processing Revised Galleys

Only the editor receives the revised galleys.  They will be accompanied by the original galleys, so it is simple to make sure that the revisions are correct.  Return revised galleys to the press within two days.

Constructing a Table of Contents

When you have submitted enough manuscripts to constitute an issue, prepare a Table of Contents.

Be sure that the year, volume number, and issue are correct.

For each article, include an abstract in italics.

Check for consistency of authors and titles in the table of contents against those of articles.

All materials for a given issue, including the table of contents, must be at the press four months in advance of the first day of the publication month for that issue to guarantee that it will appear on time.

Distributing Copies of Articles to Authors

You will receive several copies of each article.  You may keep a couple for yourself if you need them, but most should be distributed to authors.  For articles with multiple authors, send enough for all authors.

Constructing an Index

Once articles and table of contents for the final issue for the year have been submitted, an index for that volume will be constructed by Routledge.  They probably will ask you to review the index.

Responsibilities Beyond Your Journal

To receive support from NCA, please submit a budget to the National Office by January 15 of the year before you receive support (your first volume year).  This budget has to be reviewed by the Finance Board, the Administrative Council, and the Legislative Council, so it takes a long time.  The outgoing editor is expected to share the support budget with the incoming editor during the year when both are processing manuscripts.

Please submit an End-of-Year Report to the Legislative Council each year.  Appendix 10 of the Publications Manual specifies the format and content of the report. In order for this to appear in the materials for the Legislative Council, please have this to the national office one month prior to the beginning date of the annual meetings.

Forward all copyright statements to Routledge.

Please plan to attend the Legislative Council meetings at the annual convention once you are the sitting editor (as a voting member currently--as a nonvoting member if the constitutional changes are adopted).

Please plan to attend a meeting of the editors with the Publications Board at the convention as soon as you are appointed.

Prepared by Publications Board of NCA, November, 2002: Ruth Anne Clark, Thomas Nakayama, and Michael Pfau