Call for Editors for Perspectives on Politics: 2023

The American Political Science Association (APSA) invites applications and nominations for the editorship of Perspectives on Politics. One of the Association’s three flagship journals and now in its 20 th year of publication, it receives over 500 article submissions and solicits 350 book reviews per year.

The editorship is a four-year term with the possibility of a two-year renewal with the approval of the APSA Council. The new editorship will begin June 1, 2023. APSA is open to proposals for the editorship that include innovative individual and institutional collaborations, including diverse international teams at a single institution or multiple institutions.

APSA supports the editorship and Journal in a variety of ways, including:

• Granting a dedicated Managing Editor based at APSA;
• Providing access to the Editorial Manager manuscript submission and peer review system;
• Maintaining copyediting and electronic production services;
• Hosting an annual editorial board meeting during the APSA Annual Meeting; and
• Reporting on bibliometrics (citations, downloads, Altmetric, etc.) to inform decision-making.

The main responsibilities of the new editor or editorial team will include:

• Sustaining the quality, content, and editorial management of the Journal;
• Overseeing peer review, acceptance and decline of submissions;
• Determining the contents of each issue and publication of FirstView articles;
• Developing special issues and symposia;
• Managing the book review process;
• Conducting the annual editorial board meeting and sustaining relationships with editorial board members; and
• Executing all duties in a timely manner following best practices and COPE guidelines

At a minimum, applications for the editorship require:

1. Proposal that explains your rationale and plans for editing the journal, including any planned innovations, expansion, and strategies for different content types;
2. CVs of all editorial team members;
3. A budget including the financial support of your institution and the requested amount from APSA. This budget should include expectations on such costs as course buyouts, graduate student support, and/or honorarium; and
4. Letter of institutional support.

Your proposal will be evaluated by the editor search committee appointed by the APSA Council. The selection criteria include:

1. Vision for the future of the journal under your editorship including any planned innovations, expansion, and strategies for different content types. APSA is currently considering other innovations in the publishing space such as preprint repositories, active citation/annotation, data repositories and Open Access.
2. Vision for a comprehensive strategy for the journal to ensure a diverse and inclusive approach to submissions, authorship, methods, and subfield representation. Include specific examples from your prior experience advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, if applicable.
3. Proposed editorial process and how you would conduct peer review and solicit or manage the book review process, symposia, and special issues.
4. Plan for recruiting, maintaining, and expanding a strong and diverse reviewer pool, both for articles and books.
5. An outline of previous journal or editing experience.
6. Financial requirements.

The editor search committee will forward its recommendation to the APSA Council. If approved, the Council will notify all applicants of its decision and work with the new editorial team to transition to its leadership of the journal on June 1, 2023.

Please direct any questions or nominations to Jon Gurstelle, APSA Publishing Director at jgurstelle@apsanet.org or Fotini Christia, Perspectives Search Committee Chair at fotini.christia@gmail.com. Applications should be submitted to Jon Gurstelle at jgurstelle@apsanet.org. The deadline for applications is January 2, 2023. Further guidance can be found in the FAQs below.

The Perspectives Editor Search Committee

Fotini Christia, MIT – Chair
Samantha Majic, CUNY John Jay
Alfred Montero, Carleton College
Michael Leo Owens, Emory University
Joan Tronto, University of Minnesota
Tom Wong, UC, San Diego

Please consult the Call for Editors on APSAnet.