Authorship of Articles Published in the Southeastern Geographer, 1961-1999

Southeastern Geographer Vol. XXXXI, No. 2, November 2000, pp. 248-25 1 AUTHORSHIP OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE SOUTHEASTERN GEOGRAPHER, 1961-1999 James O. Wheeler Approximately 25% of all authors who have published in the Southeastern Geographer since its inception in 1961 through 1999 have had employment affiliations outside the Southeastern Division of the Association of American Geographers (SEDAAG) (Table 1). In the first two decades of the publication, nearly 30% of all authors had professional associations outside the nine states of SEDAAG.1 Since 1980, approximately 22% of the authors have had outsideDivision affiliations. These different authorship percentages no doubt reflect the growing number ofgeographers in SEDAAG (151 members in 1961 [Memorandum Folio, 1961] compared to 526 in 1999, down from the peak of 736 in 1995.). The smaller number of geographers in the South during the Southeastern Geographer's first two decades probably resulted in the higher percentage of outside-SEDAAG contributions to the journal. The average number of articles published in the journal per year was 7.4 during the nine years of the 1960s (1961-1969) compared to 8.6 during the 20 years from 1970-1989. The average jumped to 1 1.3 articles per year during the 1990s (Table 2).2 Figure IA-D shows the spatial distribution by decade of the journal's authors affiliated with institutions located within SEDAAG. Whereas the percentage of authors with affiliations outside SEDAAG has dropped somewhat since 1980, the proportion of articles focusing on the South has increased from just over three-quarters from 1961 to 1979 to over 91% in the last two decades (Table 2). During the 1990s more than 95% ofall articles treated topics on the U.S. South, broadly defined. Despite the journal's sharpening regional focus, however, in 1999, almost two-thirds ofall institutional subscribers were outside the ten SEDAAG states (Guy, 1999). Wheeler (1999, p. 164) reported that during the period 1992-1998, "44% of the reviewers of manuscripts had professional affiliations outside the SEDAAG region." The leading urban locations of authors publishing in the Southeaster Geographer reflect the strong college and university geography programs in these centers during the 1961-1999 period (Table 3). Ofurban areas with ten or more author affiliations , only Minneapolis, MN, is outside SEDAAG. Athens, GA is the leading urban center in the total number of authors (1961-1999) as well as the leading center in each decade. Over 17% of all Southeastern Geographer authors had an Athens, GA, address during this 39-year period. The 13 urban centers listed in Table 3 constitute 60% of the employment affiliations of all authors publishing in the Southeastern Geographer between 1961 and Dr. Wheeler is the Merle Prunty, Jr., Professor Emeritus ofGeography at the University ofGeorgia, Athens, GA 30602-2502. Internet:jowheel@uga.edu. AUTHORSHIP OF ARTICLES, 1961-1999 249 A. 1961 -1969 Number of Authors B. 1970-1979 Number of Authors C. 1980-1989 Number of Authors D. 1990-1999 Number of Authors -Ar 22 ? 12-13 ? 10 O 4-7 + 2-3 • 1 Fig. 1. The spatial distribution of authors with SEDAAG affiliations publishing in the Southeastern Geographer, by decade. Please note that West Virginia did not become a member of SEDAAG until 1983. The different legend values reflect the varying number of articles published in each of the four decades. Source: Compiled by author. 250 WHEELER TABLE 1 AUTHORSHIP OF ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE SOUTHEASTERN GEOGRAPHER, BYDECADE, 1961-1999 Decade Total Number of Authors Number of Authors with Affiliations Outside SEDAAG Percentage of Authors with Affiliations Outside SEDAAG 1961-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 Total, 1961-1999 61 145 123 171 500 42 27 37 124 29.5 29.0 22.0 21.6 24.8 Source: Compiled by author. TABLE 2 SOUTHEASTERN GEOGRAPHER ARTICLES TREATING SOUTH AND NON-SOUTH TOPICS, BY DECADE, 1961 -1999 Decade Total Number of Articles Published Average Number of Articles Published Per Year Number of Articles on South Number of Articles on Non-South Percentageof Articles on South 1961-1969 1970-1979 1980-1989 1990-1999 Total 67 86 87 113 353 7.4 8.6 8.7 11.3 9.1 52 64 75 108 299 15...