The Journal of Canadian Studies since the Millennium

Journal of Canadian Studies • Revue d'etudes canadiennes The journal of Canadian Studies since the Millennium M y term as editor of the Journal ofCanadian Studies ends in a few months. I thought it appropriate, therefore, to review the path followed by the Journal over the last three years. This path has been partly the product of strategy, expressed through the design of theme issues and solicitation of papers; it has also been the product of decisions by dozens of authors to submit a paper. Both solicited and nonsolicited papers are welcome: our goal continues to be to balance focused examination of spe~ific_ themes, while representing the diversity of contemporary Canadian Studies. (Whether solicited or non-solicited, all papers are of course subjected to double-blind peer review.) A journal is precisely what its authors - solicited and non-solicited - make of it. Accordingly, to provide readers with a better sense ofwhat the JCS is, I have compiled statistical information on articles submitted since Ibegan editing inJuly 2000. I hope this summary will help confirm the continuing importance of the Journal's contribution to the study of Canada, as reflected in both the numbers and the origins of its articles. Submissions As Table 1 indicates, our submissions rate has increased substantially since 2000, with a projected total in 2002/2003 of over 90 papers, nearly doubling those received two years earlier. In these statistics I have counted each manuscript only once, even if (as happens in most cases) it was returned to the author after review and was later resubmitted. In part, this increase is due to theme issues, now in production or under review, on science and politics, and on urban issues. Each has elicited a lively response from the academic community. However, there has also been a considerable increase in non-solicited articles since 2000. It has been gratifying to see how many excellent scholars across Canada chose to present their work in our journal. Table 1: Submissions to the Journal ofCanadian Studies Year 2000/2001 2001/2002 2002/2003 Submissions 48 73 91 (projected from 48 received as of early January 2003) Volume 37 • No. 2 • (Ete 2002 Summer) 7 8 JCS Update Table 2 displays statistics on the locations of authors submitting manuscripts. Not surprisingly, we receive the most submissions from Ontario. However, the most well-represented province, allowing for population, is Nova Scotia. In contrast, we receive fewer from Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and, especially, from Quebec. The Quebec figure highlights the continuing challenge of fully representing that province's scholarship in the JCS, as well as, perhaps, the extent to which Quebec scholars form a distinct community within Canadian academia. We have also received a fair number of submissions (20) from other countries. We welcome foreign submissions, while acknowledging that other journals, such as· the International Journal ofCanadian Studies and the American Review ofCanadian Studies usually play a larger role in presenting the ideas of Canadian Studies scholars working outside our borders. Table 2: Provinces and countries from which papers were submitted (total: 176) British Columbia 21 United States 7 Alberta 20 France 4 Saskatchewan 4 England 3 Manitoba 4 Ireland Ontario 75 Australia Quebec 15 China New Brunswick 4 Brazil Prince Edward Island 0 Germany Nova Scotia 10 Israel Newfoundland 3 Table 3 displays the geographic distribution of the topics addressed in submitted papers. More than half address a national topic, or one (such as an individual ) that has no ties to any particular province or region. Among those papers that do discuss a specific place, the distribution across regions is fairly even: the number of papers examining Western Canada (especially Alberta and British Columbia), Ontario, Quebec, or Atlantic Canada ranges from 14 to 26. However, northern Canada, with the exception of the new territory ofNunavut, is evidently attracting little interest: indeed, the near invisibility of the northern third of the country within this substantial body of work is striking. On the other hand, there is an active interest in international dimensions of the Canadian experience, evident in the nearly two dozen papers that compare this experience with that of other nations, or that examine aspects of Canada's foreign relations. Journal of Canadian...