Request for Proposals: eLanguage

The Executive Committee (EC) of the Linguistic Society of America intends to establish by early in 2007 a new, independent, on-line electronic journal (eLanguage) as a complement to its print journal, Language. The exact structure and format of the new journal remain to be determined, and proposals are solicited from members of the Society who might be interested in editing and administering it, and in participating in its initial definition.

The Society’s primary intention in establishing eLanguage is to provide a venue for the publication in timely fashion of short research pieces. As a result, we foresee its central feature as a set of such ‘Research Notes’, published with only limited reviewing and avoiding as far as possible the delays inherent in standard (print) journal publication. We also intend that the ‘Book Notices’ (as opposed to full reviews) presently published in Language will be transferred to eLanguage. Other aspects of the content of the new journal are open to discussion, however. Among the possibilities that have been suggested for augmenting this basic menu are the following:

• • Short field reports on endangered languages and work underway to document and preserve them.

• • Regular ‘op ed’ opinion pieces representing a range of positions on developments in the field of Linguistics.

• • Information, of the sort once available in the journal Lingua Franca, concerning personnel actions in Linguistics: who has been hired where, who has recently moved from where to where, etc.

• • A new electronically facilitated job ad service, such that members of the LSA can lodge an electronic dossier (including a CV and a limited number of generic recommendations, etc.) which can be sent directly to institutions advertising positions.

These are meant only as suggestions, and essentially all details of the nature and content of eLanguage are subject to negotiation.

The EC hopes to receive proposals in time for discussion at its meeting in June 2006. A proposal should include information about (at least) the following:

• • The proposed editorial staff, and their qualifications to make decisions on submissions across the field of linguistics with minimal turn-around time.

• • The availability of computer facilities (including access to internet bandwidth) sufficient to serve as the journal’s infrastructure.

• • Support from the editor’s home institution adequate to limit the budgetary demands on the Society to a manageable level.

• • Proposed format, including design, timetable (regular issues vs. continuous publication as material becomes available), file type (PDF or HTML are probably the best choice here, though others are possible), content types, etc.

• • Proposed schedule for initiating the journal.

• • Budgetary and other support required from the LSA.

Proposals may be submitted either in hard copy or in electronic (PDF) form to the LSA secretariat, preferably by 1 May, 2006. If no proposal is approved at the EC’s meeting in June, additional possibilities will be entertained until an appropriate one is selected.