Annual Report 1998

Social Forces Staff

Editor: Richard L. Simpson
Book Review Editor: Christian Smith
Managing and Advertising Editor: Paul Mihas
Assistant to the Editors: Margaret P. Gibbs

The journal remains a leading international forum. It is a frequently cited source in scholarly works. We have paid subscribers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and about 80 foreign countries. In addition, we give exchange subscriptions or free subscriptions to libraries and research centers in about two dozen foreign countries that lack hard currency or, in some cases, much currency of any kind. In calendar 1998 we published 53 articles and 154 pages of book reviews for a total of 1,628 pages. Our 92 authors, not including book reviewers, were affiliated with 47 academic and nonacademic institutions. Our paid circulation remained stable at a bit above 4,000. New manuscript submissions decreased 12%, to 290. Median manuscript processing time was about 61 days. The acceptance rate was, by a very rough estimate, about 13%. Our relations with the Southern Sociological Society, whose Publications Committee is advisory to the journal and whose members receive cut-rate subscriptions, remained pleasant and productive. Subscription prices probably can remain unchanged for Volume 78 (1999-2000).

Production and Prices

Our desktop publishing technology remains up to date. We have used electronic imaging in the physical production of the journal since 1997.

We are almost sure that the financial picture remains satisfactory, and that subscription prices for Volume 78 (September 1999 through June 2000) can remain unchanged from the current Volume 77 prices. We are not absolutely certain of this because we recently received a form letter from the UNC-Chapel Hill Provost, apparently sent to directors, editors, et al. of many University operations, informing us that our University subsidy must be reduced. We do not know at this writing what part of the subsidy will go down or by how many dollars. We are highly optimistic that the cut will be small; but until we have the full facts, we must weasel-word our statement about subscription price stability. If the facts are gruesome when we learn them, we shall inform SSS promptly.

Papers and Authors

In calendar 1998 we published 53 articles for a total of 1, 474 pages, 154 more pages than in the preceding year. Our authors numbered 92. Of the articles, 45% had single authors, 40% two authors, 13% three authors, and 2% (one article) four authors. The authors were affiliated with 47 U. S. universities, colleges, and institutes and 3 foreign universities. Appendix A lists institutions and the numbers of authors affiliated with them. Many instances of multiple authors from an institution represent coauthorship of a single article.

Manuscript Processing

Table 1 shows processing times for differing decisions on manuscripts received and acted upon in 1998. The careful student of the subject will want to read the second footnote of the table, which explains what the numbers refer to. The median processing time was about 61 days down from 78 days the previous year. We received 290 manuscripts in 1998, not including resubmissions of revisions. This number was down 12% from the 330 submitted in 1997. It remained more than 10% above the annual average of the decade of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The acceptance rate stayed near its long-time figure of about 15%. Table 1 is censored at both ends. It omits decisions in 1998 on papers submitted in 1997, and on papers submitted in 1998 but still under review at the end of the year. (This has been true of all such tables in annual reports by the present editor.) Therefore, the figures permit only an approximation of the rate of acceptance of a cohort of all papers received or decided upon during the calendar year. Several ways of approximating an acceptance rate give numbers less close to a true cohort figure than in earlier years, for reasons that would glaze the eyes to read. Using manuscripts received in 1998 as denominator and acceptances in 1998 as numerator gives an estimated acceptance rate of 22/290 or 8% -- misleadingly low. Using manuscripts received and acted upon during the year, the figures shown in the table, gives a rate of 22/216 or 10% -- also too low. The ratio of papers published to those received during the year is 53/290 or 18% -- too high. We report 13% as a rough estimate - a guess, but probably close to the true rate for a cohort beginning or ending in 1998.

As this is written in March 1999, the backlog beyond the June issue now in production will fill the September issue (whose production will start in April) and part of the December issue. The average time elapsed from receipt to publication of final versions of articles, in which most authors make small revisions following acceptance, will be about 7.5 months for Volume 77 (1998-99). With a five-month production and mailing schedule, that is about as short as it can safely be.

Book Reviews

Social Forces continues to receive a growing number of books for review, due in part to renewed efforts by the book review editor to solicit from good publishers the best new books in sociology. In 1998, we received 544 books, up from 532 in 1997 and 503, 505, and 501 in 1996, 1995, and 1994, respectively. At the same time, and partly as a result, the list of books we review has become somewhat more selective in recent years. In 1998, we reviewed 15% of books received, down from 16% in 1997, 19% in 1996, and 25% in 1995. In 1997, the average length of books reviews was increased from 600 to 800 words, resulting in fewer books reviewed and more pages devoted to book reviews overall. This trend continued in 1998, with 83 books reviewed (84 in 1997) taking 154 pages (148 in 1997). In 1998, however, we revised our average review length back to 700 words, and expect to see somewhat more books reviewed in 1999, in roughly the same number of pages. The "Take Notes" section has been discontinued, bringing to conclusion a four-year trend of decreasing "Take Notes" written by UNC-CH faculty.

Personnel

Christian Smith became book review editor in 1998. He succeeded Peter S. Bearman, who moved to Columbia University.

For the 1998-99 academic year, Jenny Godley and Robert D. Woodberry joined the staff as associate editors. They succeeded David Cunningham and Marianne Cutler, whose terms had expired. These associate editors are UNC-Chapel Hill graduate students elected by the sociology faculty each Spring. Their main tasks are to assist the editors by recommending possible book reviewers and article manuscript referees.

In the Summer of 1998, we were pleased to welcome six new non-Chapel Hill Editorial Board members for three-year terms: William W. Falk, Maryland-College Park; Jeanne S. Hurlbert, Louisiana State; Jane D. McLeod, Indiana-Bloomington; Donald C. Reitzes, Georgia State; Annemette Sorensen, Radcliffe College; Ivan Szelenyi, UCLA. We give our deep thanks to board members who completed their terms in 1998: York W. Bradshaw, Indiana-Bloomington, Frances K. Goldscheider, Brown; George Ritzer, Maryland-College Park; Beth A Rubin, Tulane; Lala Carr Steelman, South Carolina; Ross M. Stolzenberg, Chicago. One new Chapel Hill faculty member, Angelika von Wahl, joined the board.

Board members for 1998-99, besides those at Chapel Hill, are listed on page 6 together with the years when their terms expire. Nine of the 18 are SSS members.

We also thank the SSS Publications Committee for its wise counsel and continuing spirit of cooperation. Its 1998-99 members are Robert Agnew (chair), George Ritzer, Michael Hughes, Ann R. Tickamyer and Maxine S. Thompson, and (ex-officio) James D. Jones, Martin L. Levin, George S. Rent, Richard L. Simpson.

Editorial Board, 1998-99 (other than those at UNC-Chapel Hill)

Article Processing Time and Disposition of Books Reviewed

*N for median category for each disposition is underlined. For acceptances, two categories are underlined because exactly half took 39 or fewer days and exactly half took 40 or more days.

Decisions are those on manuscripts first submitted in 1998 and decided upon by the end of the year. They do not include decisions in 1998, on papers submitted earlier, or decisions in 1999 on papers received in 1998. Because a final decision might result from as many as three considerations of a revised-and-resubmitted manuscript, some manuscripts appear more than once in the tabulations. Numbers of days for manuscripts that had been revised and resubmitted are counted from dates of resubmission.

* (As percent of books received)

Created on 29-JUN-04
Updated on 29-JUN-04