Editorial Work and the Peer Review Economy of STS Journals

In this paper, we analyze the role of science and technology studies (STS) journal editors in organizing and maintaining the peer review economy. We specifically conceptualize peer review as a gift economy running on perpetually renewed experiences of mutual indebtedness among members of an intellectual community. While the peer review system is conventionally presented as self-regulating, we draw attention to its vulnerabilities and to the essential curating function of editors. Aside from inherent complexities, there are various shifts in the broader political–economic and sociotechnical organization of scholarly publishing that have recently made it more difficult for editors to organize robust cycles of gift exchange. This includes the increasing importance of journal metrics and associated changes in authorship practices; the growth and differentiation of the STS journal landscape; and changes in publishing funding models and the structure of the publishing market through which interactions among authors, editors, and reviewers are reconfigured. To maintain a functioning peer review economy in the face of numerous pressures, editors must balance contradictory imperatives: the need to triage intellectual production and rely on established cycles of gift exchange for efficiency, and the need to expand cycles of gift exchange to ensure the sustainability and diversity of the peer review economy.

Situation of British women’s magazines during the COVID-19 pandemic

The women’s magazine segment in the UK accounts for a significant part of the publishing market and has the highest readership in the country. Despite its popularity, women’s press faces many problems caused by the expansion of new types of media. Media researchers and insiders report about a crisis and stagnation of this publishing branch. The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in early 2020, has compounded problems within the women’s press market, but also accelerated the development of existing trends. Moreover, it has sped up the digitization of previously printed content. The COVID crisis has also taken its toll on the organization of editorial work. Under current restrictions related to COVID, magazines which previously were not as popular, have come to the fore – periodicals on cooking.

The Corpus of Russian Translations of Social and Political Works of the Eighteenth Century

The project that has been carried out at the German Historical Institute in Moscow since 2016 continues the engagement of the Institute in the development of the history of concepts in Russia. The previous project, “The History of Concepts and Historical Semantics,” which was led by Ingrid Schierle and Denis Sdvizkov (both research fellows at the German Historical Institute in Moscow at the time), was undertaken between 2008-2014. It consisted of a series of conferences and resulted in several publications; namely, two volumes devoted to the history of key concepts in the Russian imperial period. However, the main focus of the current project is on translation as a laboratory of the Russian language of “civil sciences.” The project is being coordinated by Sergey Polskoy (Higher School of Economics, Moscow) and Vladislav Rjéoutski (German Historical Institute in Moscow). In addition, the editorial work on the database is being carried out by Evgenii Kushkov (Higher School of Economics, Moscow), with Vadim Popov (GHI Moscow) also being responsible for statistics and the visualization of the results of the project.

Messengers in the Creative Work of Journalists

In the article the author dwells on the problems of the influence of messengers on the nature of internal communication in the editorial team. There introduce the interviews with the journalists of urban and regional media about the use of messengers in the organization of the editorial work; about new technical possibilities of this type of contact; about use of messengers in the creative work of journalists and more. Also, in the article touches upon the main methods of use messengers in solving editorial tasks: in coordination the actions of journalists; in organizing various group chats; in establishing effective working communications.

Taking a deep breath

While 2012 is going away, IJHDR prepares the celebration of its 5th anniversary! This is thus a time for reflection, to ponder on the good and bad experiences, to (re)think the next steps to improve our service to readers, authors and the scientific community at large. Along these hard, but rewarding first five years, IJHDR reached many readers and was supported by many authors all over the world, it achieved recognition by important scientific databases and societies. This success is the result of the joint work of the Editorial Board members and with GIRI, our hosting scientific society. IJHDR provided the homeopathic community an open, free, multimedia and electronic venue to share high-quality information. Focused on research articles, and open to the entire field of High Dilution research, including homeopathy and hormesis, IJHDR came to occupy a special place within the scientific map. Nevertheless, the goals achieved are not enough, but further improvement is needed for IJHDR keep on growing. Our aim for the next years is to maintain the original editorial vision and mission, while increasing even more the quality of publication. IJHDR will start 2013 by revising its Board of Consultants. Five years ago, when IJHDR was an unknown journal that still had to prove its quality, friends, idealists, and invited experts kindly contributed with their expertise to make peer review a mandatory step in the evaluation of articles. However, not only IJHDR grew, but also the editorial work did! The time arrives to include new experts in our Board of Consultant,, not only to share in the work, but to have cover a broader scope of knowledge, as HD research is a cross-disciplinary and emergent field. Also the structure of the articles will be revised. Improvement in the layout will be discussed to stimulate the use of multimedia resources like video and audio files, simulations, supplementary materials, links, and color images. Special attention will be paid to language revision and reference citation. Together with its authors and readers, IJHDR contributes to the development of a kind of knowledge close to the borders of science. Therefore, to establish a valid scientific background, the articles must be clearly written, and based on sound assumptions. High-visibility for articles is a fundamental aspect desired by all authors. As an open and free access journal, IJHDR meets that condition, and we are planning to make our influence and visibility even wider. Inclusion in the major databases has paramount importance in the academic milieu, however, it should be considered as a consequence, rather than a goal. In 2013, IJHDR will chair a collaborative project with several research institutions aiming to deliver information everywhere, increasing the visibility of the published articles. Thus, now it is the time to take a deep breath, relax, and prepare you for the forthcoming work! See you in 2013!

Editing as part of an advertising and public relations curriculum

The general philological discipline, Editing, has been part of a journalism curriculum since the middle of the last century. There are leading experts and practice-proven methods of teaching editing to journalism students. In his publication, the author argues for including editorial competencies training in the curriculum of a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations. The study draws on the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education and the syllabus of the academic discipline. It takes into account market conditions (professional competition, high demands on the part of consumers for the quality of media communications) and the staffing and methodological support for teaching editing in applied communications at St. Petersburg University. The discipline, Editing in Advertising and Public Relations, is focused on an activity-based approach in training specialists in applied communications. Drawing on educational and methodological literature, instruction follows a developed methodology for editorial work with advertising and PR texts.

Aktivnosti Jovana Radulovića u izdavaštvu (BIGZ)

The paper gives an overview of the editorial work of Jovan Radulović in the publishing house BIGZ, in the period from 1983 to 2001. His role in making publishing plans is described,within the editions for which he was in charge, as well as his principles in editing books. A special attention was paid to the last decade of his editorial work, when Serbian culture shared the difficult fate of the people, and in which the great writer showed great organizational and human virtues.

The Appropriation and Weaponisation of the Crusades in the Modern Era

The introductory article proposes the hypothesis, which informed the decision making and editorial work in the present volume, that appropriations and weaponisations of the crusades in the modern era rely on culturally embedded master narratives of the past that are often thought to encompass public or cultural memories. Crucially, medievalism, communicated through metonyms, metaphors, symbols and motifs frequently acts as a placeholder instead of the master narratives themselves. The article addresses differences between medievalists’ and modernists’ conceptions of crusades, especially highlighting how the very meaning of words – such as crusade – differ in the respective fields. But the matter at hand goes beyond semantics, for the notion that the act of crusading is a live and potent issue is hard to ignore. There exists a complex and multifaceted crusading present. That people can appeal to master narratives of the crusades via mutable medievalism, which embodies zero-sum, Manichaean-type “clash of civilisations” scenarios, helps explain the continued appeal of the crusades to those who seek to weaponise them. It is hoped that the contributions to the special issue, introduced towards the end of the article, further a better understanding of the ways this has happened in the modern era.

Vladimir Solovyov’s Texts in the Anthology by S.L. Frank

Originally published in English in 1950, A Solovyov Anthology, prepared by S.L. Frank, has already been reprinted three times, a fact that demonstrates a continuing interest in its content. This paper undertakes a textual analysis of the pieces contained in the Anthology in comparison with the original (second) edition of Solovyov’s works. This paper also makes use of archival material and Frank’s correspondence in connection with the preparation of the Anthology, and an overview of comments in the press upon its publication is also given. This paper also presents biographical information, which reveals the editorial process behind the Anthology, and an analysis of Frank’s choice of texts. The authors argue that Frank presented Solovyov, above all, as a religious thinker, and not as a theoretical philosopher. This viewpoint, on the one hand, is connected with Frank’s previous editorial work on An Anthology of Russian Religious Thinkers, and, on the other hand, can be explained by Frank’s own attitude toward Solovyov in the final period of his creativity. The authors also provide a critical survey of the main reactions and reviews that appeared in the English press upon the book’s appearance within the context of the influence of the book’s direction on the evaluation of Solovyov’s personality and creativity, particularly his Christian universalism.