Plus ça change …

EDITOR’S COMMENTARY

Meet is it changes should controlOur being, lest we rest in ease.

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

… moins c'est la même chose. While perverting the original meaning, this version of a familiar aphorism may be closer to the truth.¹

With the launching of my first publication cycle as Editor in Chief, I began my first edition of "Editor's Commentary" with the words, "Change is the only constant,"² citing a well worn bromide that has informed at least two subsequent editions of this column.³ Intended or unintended, change is difficult. Big changes are even more difficult. Big changes that challenge an aging brain sometimes can border on insurmountable. A number of changes that significantly affect the Journal of Singing are afoot—and in some instances are already under foot—that, as it happens, require an elderly canis lupus familiaris to learn new tricks.

So several recent developments render it necessary once again to broach the topic. My latest assault on the subject of change will address the matter in three areas: publication, language, and personnel.

PUBLICATION

For the past twenty years of my editorship, the workflow for the submission, processing, and publication of materials for feature articles and continuing columns has remained essentially the same. Authors submit manuscripts to me, and, in the case of feature articles, I forward them to my Editorial Board for peer review. If accepted for publication, these articles may remain in queue awaiting print for as long as 18–24 months. That delay is not only unfair to authors, some of whom may rely on publication for academic promotion and tenure consideration, but also problematic for time sensitive articles that could lose relevance and utility in the interim. The pandemic and the need expeditiously to address its challenges to our profession brought the latter consideration into especially stark relief.

At my Journal of Singing business meeting held via Zoom during the 2020 NATS (virtual) National Conference, I appointed an ad hoc committee charged to examine the problem and to consider various options for improvement. The group—John Nix (chair), Lynn Helding, Lynn Maxfield, Don Simonson, Dick Sjoerdsma (ex officio), and Laura Carter (ex officio)—attacked the task with thoroughgoing enthusiasm, laboriously investigating and evaluating several alternatives, and developing a stellar proposal with recommendations for change. That proposal was unanimously adopted by the NATS Board at its annual meeting in Jacksonville, June 16–19.

First, we have developed a relationship with Clarivate, makers of ScholarOne Manuscripts™, a web-based workflow and manuscript management system for scholarly journals and other publications. In an effort to avoid taxing the reader with excruciating detail, I submit simply that ScholarOne renders the manuscript submission process much more efficient, eliminates confusion, and saves editors and authors time through innovative capabilities, including AI powered metadata extractions and submission filtering. Concomitantly, however, the new process necessitates altered guidelines for contributors, whose submissions now must include an abstract and keywords in addition to an author bio, head shot, and all illustrations/music examples in high resolution format.

Second, through membership in an agency known as CrossRef, all materials published in Journal of Singing will be assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), a citation method that more accurately identifies specific works, and more reliably links them to their authors. DOIs will increase the reach and impact of the journal, and bring it in line with other scholarly periodicals.

Third, the Journal of Singing will adopt a practice of advance online publication (also known as "preprint"), as selected articles are placed on an accelerated track and posted online before being assigned to a particular print issue. Our inaugural preprint publication is already online with an important article by David Meyer, John Nix, et al., "Reentry Following COVID-19: Concerns for Singers" (https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/45928).

Beginning with the current issue (JOS 78, no. 1 [September/October 2021]), every new issue will be available to subscribers in a full text, reflowable online format that can be read on any device—smart phone, tablet, computer. This new digital edition (https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/817) is hosted by Project...