MLA Regional Journals: Accountability, Innovation

All scholarly journals face similar challenges – small audiences, tight budgets, and editorial policies and practices that sometimes harden into dogma. Modern Language Association (MLA) regional journals offer a focused example of how member-driven scholarly journals can meet these challenges and, in doing so, change our notions of what such journals can do and how they should look. As publications of smaller-scale professional organizations, MLA regional journals are in a good position to hear and act on their members' needs; when the duty of serving those members is carried out in an entrepreneurial spirit, editors open up, and can take advantage of, new opportunities for publishing.