Letters from the Editor

After seven years of editing AJP, I have decided that both the Journal and I can use a breath of fresh air. Thus, with both regret and relief, I am turning it over to the capable hands of the new editor, David Larmour, of Texas Tech University. David has long experience in editing journals and will do a fine job carrying on the long and distinguished tradition of AJP, which is now finishing its 128th year.

With the coming of the Journal to Hamilton College, we have marked two milestones: this is the first time that the editor has been a woman and the first time that the Journal has been housed at a liberal arts college. The Journal is, I believe, in fine shape. Not only are more articles than ever being submitted, but—more importantly—higher quality articles. And the contributions continue to be more and more international in nature, coming in from a long list of countries (including Uzbekistan). The articles range from the philological (see Corbeill in this volume) to the conceptual, from standard authors to authors seldom discussed, from literary analyses to discussions of material culture (see O'Sullivan in this volume) and reception studies (see Budelmann in this volume). It is a rich and varied mix that has been enjoyable to publish and, I hope, enjoyable to read. Each year the Gildersleeve Prize Committee has increasing difficulty choosing the best article for that year because so many articles fill the bill.

A few words of reflection here about issues that are continuously raised and discussed and that preoccupy me. First, the question of whether one chooses to accept and to publish dependable and safe but not particularly exciting pieces, or daring, provocative pieces that might raise hackles or spark disagreement. Second, the question of why so many more Hellenists than Latinists submit articles and are published in AJP (in 2005, 60 percent Greek and 40 percent Latin; 2006 was the first year in seven that there were more Latin articles than Greek submitted). Third, the question of balancing articles by senior scholars with articles by young people just entering the field, which often need a lot of help to reach publishable quality but can become very good pieces. Fourth, the continuing imbalance between male and female contributors (many more males both contribute and have their articles accepted: in 2006, 80 percent were submitted by men and 20 percent by women). This gender imbalance often holds true, too, for the authors of books we have reviewed, despite our best attempts to correct it. Fifth, the increasing difficulty in finding reviewers for books not published in English. Sixth, how much of a backlog should we allow ourselves?

In the future, we will surely have to pay more attention to advancing technology. I note that Project Muse™ has made the Journal available to many more people than before: last year there were 42,977 viewings of articles (and I am happy to report that this has not had a large effect thus far on print subscriptions).

A great many people deserve my gratitude for the high quality of AJP. The five associate editors, Helene Foley (Greek Associate Editor), Carole Newlands (Latin Associate Editor until 2006), Carl Rubino (Book Review Editor), Richard Talbert (History Associate Editor), and Gareth Williams (Latin Associate Editor since 2006), have given countless hours of their time to reading articles, choosing referees and reviewers for books (and interacting with these readers and reviewers with tact and good judgment), suggesting and soliciting good material for the journal in article form or for special issues, adjudicating often conflicting reports, and advising me on various matters. The members of the Editorial Board have been diligent in soliciting material, cheerfully acting as readers again and again, making good suggestions (e.g., the suggestion that AJP should begin printing abstracts), providing help with proofreading the Latin and Greek and many other things. Our annual breakfast meetings at the APA are always a delight and bring up matters of great interest.

Also deserving thanks are all the hundreds of readers who have, anonymously, given of their time to make the...