The Editors’ Report

Abstract

The Editors’ Report John Beavers, Editor, Andries W. Coetzee, Editor (2017–2022), and Shelome Gooden, Co-Editor [The following is a modified and updated version of the report made to the LSA at the annual business meeting, on January 7th, 2023.] 1. Continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic Although we still saw some impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, we were able to publish all four issues for the year on time. This is in no small part due to the dedication of the members of the Language editorial team and to reviewers who made time to prepare reports even as they were still dealing with significant increases in workload and family care responsibilities compared to prepandemic days. We express our deep appreciation to the linguistics community for their continued support of the LSA’s publication program. As operations have returned to something closer to normal over the course of 2022, we saw an overall decrease in time-to-decision compared to the preceding two years, a welcome outcome. Volume size of the print edition was also comparable across years, though 2022 saw fewer online publications than the preceding year. One contributing factor here is the lack of a Perspectives article and accompanying replies in 2022. New submissions were also down from 2021, being comparable to 2020 (which was impacted by the beginning of the pandemic). 2. Changes in the editorial team We saw several changes in the editorial team in 2022. Kristen Syrett (Rutgers University), Arthur Spears (City University of New York), Ezra Keshet (University of Michigan), and Marlyse Baptista (University of Michigan) all stepped down at the end of 2022 after three (or more) years of service as associate editors. We extend our appreciation to all of them for their service to the LSA and the linguistics community. Stepping in in their stead are new associate editors Lisa Green (University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Jesse Harris (University of California, Los Angeles), Michael Putnam (Penn State University), and Maziar Toosarvandani (University of California, Santa Cruz), who all began their terms in 2023. Finally, Andries Coetzee’s (University of Michigan) term as Editor of Language came to an end at the end of 2022, at which point John Beavers (The University of Texas at Austin) became Editor and Shelome Gooden (University of Pittsburgh) joined as Co-Editor. On behalf of everyone at Language, John and Shelome would like to express their immense gratitude to Andries for his extraordinary service to the journal over these last six years. Andries’s diligent leadership and thoughtful editorial work, which put a profound emphasis on fairness and compassion for authors, reviewers, and editors alike, helped the journal thrive through sometimes challenging times and will continue to serve as an example for us all. 3. Volume 98 Volume 98 of Language consisted of four issues comprising 868 pages in the printed section, containing twenty-four general research articles, one editorial note, two book reviews, and one obituary. The online section of the volume had 249 pages, consisting of one article in Language and Public Policy, five in Teaching Linguistics, two in Research Reports, and two in Commentaries. 4. Submission types and topic of submission During 2022, we received a total of 156 submissions. The breakdown of submissions by journal section is given in Table 1. The numbers from 2020 and 2021 are included for comparison. [End Page 390] Click for larger view View full resolution Table 1. Submissions by journal section for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Starting in January 2019, authors indicate the primary field of their manuscript during the submission process, using the same categories as those used for abstract submission to the annual meeting. Table 2 shows the number of submissions by author-reported primary field for 2020, 2021, and 2022. In general, we are pleased with the diversity of subdisciplines represented in the submissions, but hope to increase submissions in those areas that are currently underrepresented. Click for larger view View full resolution Table 2. Author-selected primary area of linguistics for submissions received in 2020, 2021, and 2022. 5. Information on the editorial process For manuscripts submitted during 2022, the average time between...