From the Editor

Independent print journals live dangerously. Always on the verge of extinction from lost institutional support or last-minute budget cuts, now they face the added challenges introduced by the world of online publishing. In sessions sponsored by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals at the MLA convention in Philadelphia in December 2009, open access was a contentious topic. A few years ago La corónica began to address this issue by making our articles available to a wider audience through ProjectMUSE; now some of our readers and contributors are also requesting that we make the content of the journal available for free. This perhaps lies ahead, but in this period of transition, I would like to ask for patience as we look for a model that allows La corónica to survive while enhancing an author's right to disseminate his or her work as widely as possible.

The rationale behind open repositories is that at the present time, authors are forced to surrender their work to journals that then make inordinate amounts of money charging exorbitant prices to the libraries of the same universities that paid for the research to begin with. This argument has some merit but regrettably glosses over, perhaps intentionally, the value that blind peer review and editing adds to a manuscript. I have not seen a single article that has not benefited from fact-checking and judicious editing of content and style; the final version of a paper, as Robert Patten remarked in a discussion on the CELJ listserv, "is [no] longer the sole work of a single author, though by courtesy we all extend copyright to the original author alone" (January 1, 2010). As for economic compensation, La corónica's editorial staff volunteers its time and expertise, some of us with institutional support, but no one is paid (with the exception of the modest part-time salary of our Production Editor). In addition to the editorial staff 's work, the contributions of others allow La corónica to operate on a shoestring budget - the readers who evaluate, polish and greatly improve the overall manuscripts, and the proofreaders who save this editor from much embarrassment.

At another of the CELJ meetings in Philadelphia last December, I was surprised to hear colleagues complaining that younger professors tend to decline book reviews and, even more frequently, manuscript evaluation. Manuscript assessment, a task so vital to our profession, is snubbed by the same colleagues who were sheltered from the job by older professors who wanted them to enjoy time and peace of mind as they pursued tenure.

Fortunately, in our small patch of medieval Hispanic languages, literatures and cultures, this is not the case. Our colleagues, young and old, go above and beyond what is required from readers, generously sharing their time and knowledge to mentor upcoming generations of scholars. Alan Deyermond was the epitome of this generous spirit, as our tribute to him in volume 38.1 indicates. La corónica could not continue without the support and guidance of many colleagues who follow Alan's example. They invest great effort in bringing us timely news, evaluating and critiquing submissions, and offering sound advice on editorial policy. I would like to acknowledge the contributions of these colleagues, who include most recently

• Jane Albrecht

• Mariña Arbor Aldea

• Samuel G. Armistead

• Matthew Bailey

• Vincent Barletta

• Catherine Brown

• Jonathan Burgoyne

• Julia Butiñá

• Jean Dangler

• Denise K. Filios

• Gloria Chicote

• David Hook

• Gregory Hutcheson

• Robert Lauer

• Benjamin Liu

• Consuelo López-Morillas

• Alberto Montaner

• Ignacio Navarrete

• Eloísa Palafox

• Stephen Parkinson

• Simone Pinet

• José Manuel Pedrosa

• Suzanne Petersen

• Cecilia Ruiz

• Teófilo Ruiz

• Dorothy Severin

• Harvey Sharrer

• Joseph T. Snow

• Barbara Weissberger

• Constance Wilkins

• Irene Zaderenko

Our subscription rates are extremely low compared to scientific journals, and they are still much more affordable than most journals in the humanities. We are fortunate to have the support of Wake Forest University and the University of Kansas, but that support does not cover all expenses; without subscribers, we would not exist. If you value La corónica's high quality scholarship, please take the following steps: renew...