Editors’ Note

In the spring 2009 issue of this journal, we announced changes to our editorial procedures intended to reduce the time it takes for the editors to reach decisions. First, we began using Editorial Manager, an editorial software system, to process manuscript submissions. Second, we invited Michael Desch, Lynn Eden, Peter Liberman, Kimberly Marten, and Daryl Press to join the International Security editorial team as associate editors. They have provided valuable advice, for which we are deeply grateful. Third, we expanded the journal’s Editorial Board, so that we could ask its members to serve as external reviewers for more manuscripts. We announced that we hoped to be able to reach decisions on manuscripts within two months of the date of submission.

More than two years have elapsed since International Security made these changes, and we can now report on their effects. The journal currently reaches decisions on approximately 60 percent of submissions within two months; we decide on more than 75 percent within three months. Before mid-2009, only 40 percent of decisions were reached in two months, and only 60 percent within three months. The median time to reach a decision has fallen from seventy-five days to fifty-five days. The average time to reach a decision is also down, from ninety days to seventy-one days. We have achieved this reduction in turnaround time even though we are considering more manuscripts. Despite some fluctuation, the number of submissions has continued to increase and is now approaching 300 per year. This figure understates the actual number of submissions and proposals received, because the journal’s editors respond to dozens of preliminary inquiries and often suggest that a manuscript be submitted to another journal instead of being formally submitted to International Security.

We are heartened by these improvements, but we realize that more progress is needed. As editors at many journals have realized, it has become increasingly difficult to persuade outside individuals to review submitted manuscripts. We recognize that potential reviewers are often overwhelmed with requests to read manuscripts, because of the mounting pressure to publish, the globalization of the field of international security studies, and the proliferation of journals. When external reviewers cannot review a manuscript quickly—or at all—the journal’s decisions are delayed. Although the vast majority of submissions continue to merit external review, the journal’s policy is not to send manuscripts out for review if they are clearly inappropriate for the journal. In addition, we do not send manuscripts to external reviewers if they have only an extremely remote chance of publication. These policies reduce the burden on external reviewers and make it more likely that the journal will obtain external reviews in a timely manner, but in some cases late reviews delay our decisions.

To further enhance the journal’s ability to make timely decisions, we are pleased to welcome Daniel Byman and Sumit Ganguly to the Editorial Board. Their respective areas of expertise—terrorism/Middle East and South Asia—will enable them to review manuscripts on these subjects, which are drawing increasing interest from scholars and other researchers. Although the journal relies heavily on members of its Editorial Board for external reviews, we often ask others to serve as external reviewers as well. We therefore reiterate our invitation to anyone who would like to be added to the journal’s list of external reviewers to send us (IS@harvard.edu) a curriculum vitae and a list of their areas of interest and expertise.

This issue also marks the departure of Katherine (Bartel) Gordon from the journal’s masthead. Katherine has been part of the International Security editorial team since 2005, first as an intern and subsequently as our editorial assistant. Her contributions to the journal have been legion. Most notably, she presided over the adoption and implementation of the Editorial Manager system for processing and tracking manuscripts submitted to the journal. We will miss her dedication, patience, and good humor. Although Katherine is leaving International Security, she remains at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as project coordinator for the Agricultural Innovation in Africa project. We wish her well in her new position. We...