The Discourse of a Learned Society

The Review of Higher Education Fall 1986, Volume 10 No. 1, pp. iii-v Copyright © 1987 Association for the Study of Higher Education From the E ditor The D iscourse o f a Learned S ociety W i t h the publication of this issue, The Review of Higher Education enters its tenth year. In recognition of this milestone and in an effort to serve more fully the needs of members of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and other readers, we have initiated some changes. The new cover, graphics, and typeface are obvious at first glance. Less striking but more substantial are other changes that begin with this issue or later in this volume. In Volume 10, Number 3 we will launch a new section of the journal called Dialogue. Here scholars are invited to respond to articles that have recently appeared in the journal, debate methodological issues, or raise basic questions associated with scholarly inquiry in higher education. The Dialogue section will also provide ASHE members with an opportunity to air significant issues associated with teaching and service in higher education. The success of this section, of course, will depend on your willingness to commit your thoughts to paper. (Responses should range from two to eight double-spaced pages, including footnotes where appropriate.) We urge you to read the fine articles in this and subsequent issues and respond with com­ mentary that extends our understanding of the issues they address. While significant refinements are being made in the journal, mem­ bers of the Editorial Board and editorial team acknowledge their debt to founding editor Samuel Kellams and his successor John Smart and reaffirm our commitment to the mission of The Review of Higher Education. Our primary purpose is to publish articles and essays useful to scholars engaged in the study of colleges and universities, including the public policy environment of higher education. While usefulness to higher education scholars must be our primary aim, we also recognize the saliency of this research to the larger scholarly IV Fall 1986 Volume lO, No. 1 community and to college and university administrators at all levels. We hope the journal will become increasingly useful to members of these groups, not by diminishing our scholarly focus but by inviting our authors to devote increased attention to the implications of their research and to express their findings with increased clarity and felicity. Three touchstones will be foremost in evaluating manuscripts: First, how significant is the problem, theory, or research question around which the scholarship is focused? Second, are the methods of inquiry tailored to the problem at hand, and are they pursued with care and rigor? Third, is the manuscript organized logically and written clearly—including appropriate attention to defining the problem, describing the methodology, and, especially, to presenting and discussing the conclusions? The editors strive to be free of ideo­ logical and methodological predispositions, and the Dialogue section is intended to provide a forum in which competing theories, epis­ temologies, and research methods can be presented and discussed. We aim to publish the highest quality manuscripts available in the field today, articles that are at once timely contributions and enduring benchmarks in the literature of higher education. But we hasten to point out that The Review cannot publish manuscript it does not receive. In the end, the quality of the journal can be no better than the quality of research and discourse submitted to the editor. Sea­ soned scholars and new colleagues are encouraged to submit their finest work to The Review. Scholars write not simply to be published but ultimately to be read and have their ideas considered. The Review currently prints about 900 copies of each issue, roughly corresponding to the membership of the Association of the Study of Higher Education plus 127 libraries. We believe the contributions made by our writers deserve wider circulation and that colleges and universities will benefit if this end can be achieved. We urge ASHE members and other readers, there­ fore, to encourage their academic libraries to subscribe to The Review. Later this year, we will distribute a brochure that can be used to inform librarians, as well as faculty and administrative colleagues...