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  • Report of the Editor
  • Nelson H. Minnich, Editor

Volume 100 of the journal consisted of 859 pages of articles, a disputatio, forum and review essays, book reviews, brief notices, and the quarterly sections Notes and Comments (including four obituary notices), Periodical Literature, and Other Books Received, with twenty-two pages of preliminary material, and a twenty-two-page index, for a total of 903 pages. Once again, Dr. Paul F. Grendler (University of Toronto emeritus) generously contributed money to support the journal.

Of the fourteen articles published, one treated a medieval topic, three focused on early-modern subjects, four discussed late-modern European themes, four featured American issues, and two examined Chinese matters. Their authors came mostly from American institutions, but Australian, British, and Estonian universities were also represented. The ACHA Presidential Address dealt with an American topic. The Disputatio treated a Latin American controversy. The essays consisted of one Forum Essay on ancient Christianity with contributions by six scholars from the United States, England, and Scotland, and a Review Essay by a Canadian scholar dealing with nine volumes of documents from the Gomá Archive in Madrid.

There were 198 book reviews and two brief notices. The published book reviews fall into the following categories: general and miscellaneous (13), ancient (15), medieval (56), early modern (51), late modern (26), American (22), Latin American (7), Asian (5), Canadian (2), and African (1). Their authors came mostly from institutions in the United States (126 or 64%), but those in other countries were also represented: in England (32 or 16%); Scotland (9 or 4.5%); Canada (7 or 3.5%); Australia (5 or 2.5%); Germany (4 or 2%); Ireland (3 or 1.5%); Italy and the Netherlands (2 each or 1%); and one each from Estonia, France, Hungary, Israel, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, and Russia. Of the two brief notices, one was from an author at an institution in the United States, the other from the United Kingdom (see table 1).

Msgr. Robert Trisco, the journal’s associate editor who supervises the book review process, reports that the journal could have published many more book reviews if all those who accepted books had submitted reviews punctually. At the end of this year, sixty-two reviewers are considered delinquent. It is the journal’s practice to send such reviewers three reminders before abandoning the effort and listing the title in “Other Books Received.” So far, Msgr. Trisco has sent ninety-nine first-reminder notices and sixty-nine second and third reminders. Authors disappointed not to find reviews of their books in the journal may email Msgr. Trisco at trisco@cua.edu and inquire whether a review copy was received and sent out for review. [End Page 186]


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Table 1.

Book Reviews and Brief Notices Published in 2013

By December 5, 2014, the editors had received thirty-seven new submissions of articles. These articles came primarily from the United States, but also from Canada, China/Hong Kong, England, Grenada, Italy, and Russia. Table 2 shows the current disposition of these submissions. To weigh this in context, it may be helpful to review submission and publication data since 2009. Of the forty-three articles received in 2009, fourteen were published; of the thirty-four received in 2010, fourteen were published; of the thirty-four received in 2011, thirteen were published; of the thirty-one received in 2012, six have been published, and three await publication; of the thirty-seven received in 2013, one has been published, and ten are accepted to date.

In the editorial office, Msgr. Trisco handles with skill and tact most book reviews and continues to compile the sections Periodical Literature and Other Books Received. Dr. Jennifer Paxton gives great assistance as associate editor, evaluating manuscripts and selecting reviewers for books on medieval topics. Dr. Robin Darling Young, who joined the board of advisory editors last year, provides her expert advice and organized the Forum Essay that appeared in the autumn issue. The advisory editors continue to provide significant advice and service. Ms. Katya Mouris has returned as the devoted assistant to Msgr. Trisco. During Ms. Mouris’s absence over the summer to study paleography...

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