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Agenda
Committee on Publications
August 15, 8:30 a.m.-4:10 p.m.
Hilton Atlanta

Executive Session (8:30-9:00 a.m.)

1. Approval of the Agenda
2. Approval of Minutes from December 2009

Open Meeting with Editors (9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.)

3. Report of the Chair (Williams)
4. Report of the Executive Officer (Hillsman)
1. Update on Contexts' publishing partner agreement
5. Report of the Secretary (Tomaskovic-Devey)
1. Review of membership and subscriptions
6. Discussion of Sage Transition
1. Questions for Eric Moran, Representative from Sage
7. Discussion of Policy on Section Journals
8. Report of the Joint Committee on Electronic Publishing (Williams and Jacobs)
9. Review of Journal Submission and Publication Data
1. Extra pages for Social Psychology Quarterly (Fine)
10. Updates/Changes to ASA Style Guide (Chiappa McKenna/Freese)
11. Discussion on Reusing Journal Reviews (Williams)
12. Outreach to Members (Williams)
13. Expansion of Social Psychology Quarterly "Snaps" (Fine)
14. Journal of Health and Social Behavior Extra Issue (Pavalko)
15. Nominations for New Editors
1. Rose Series in Sociology
16. Review of Editorial Board Nominations
17. New Business
18. Introduction of New Committee Chair

Final Executive Session (3:00-4:10 p.m.)

19. Formal Motions and Voting

 

Discussions/Actions from the August 15, 2010 
Meeting of the ASA Committee on Publications

Elected members present were Catherine White Berheide (ASA Secretary-Elect), Karen Cerulo (who was observing since her official term starts after this meeting), Neil Fligstein, Jeremy Freese, Evelyn Nakano Glenn (ASA President), Patricia Yancey Martin, Cecilia Ridgeway, Donald Tomaskovic-Devey (ASA Secretary), Christine Williams (Chair), and Robert Zussman.

Editors present for the open session were David Bills, Gary Alan Fine, Neil Gross, Douglas Hartmann, Karen Hegtvedt, Larry Isaac, Tim Futig Liao, Kathleen Lowney, Holly McCammon, Eliza Pavalko, Alan Sica, Chris Uggen, and Debra Umberson.

Present from the Executive Office were Sally T. Hillsman (Executive Officer), Karen Gray Edwards (Director of Publications and Membership), and Janine Chiappa McKenna (Journals and Publications Manager).

A representative from Sage Publications, Eric Moran, was also present.

The Committee voted to:

• No longer refund author fees on manuscripts rejected without review
• Recommend to Council to allow Social Psychology Quarterly to publish 30 extra pages in the December 2010 issue
• Approve nominations for new editorial board members
• Appoint Robert Zussman as the new chair of the Committee 

Manuscript refunds. The Committee voted unanimously to eliminate the option of refunding author fees for manuscripts rejected without review (prejected). Even without review, there are nominal costs for rejecting a manuscript, and the process for issuing refunds is not a simple one. In addition, eliminating refunds could potentially reduce the number of inappropriate submissions.

Update on Sage partnership. The Committee discussed transitioning production of six of the journals to Sage and the peer-review system to SageTrack. A Sage representative came to the Committee on Publications meeting to answer questions and provide updates on subscriptions, including consortia arrangements.

Section journal guidelines. At its December meeting, the Committee proposed section journal guidelines to Council, which asked for further clarification on section size requirements. The Committee provided more detail on the guidelines and Council subsequently passed the guidelines at its August meeting.

Selection of ASA Editors. The Committee began the editor selection process for Contexts and the Rose Series in Sociology. The current editors' terms end in 2011. The Committee compiled lists of candidates who will receive letters of invitation; there will also be an open announcement in Footnotes and on the ASA website for self nomination. The Committee will review applications at the December 2010 meeting and make recommendations for Council's approval.

Contexts update. After a request for proposals and review of submitted proposals, Sage was selected as the next publisher of Contexts. The Winter 2011 issue will be the first published by Sage.

The Committee will meet next on December 4-5, 2010.