Announcement Regarding Electronic Publication

Over the past two years, the Executive Committee of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) has been engaged in discussions and actions that move the LSA in a new direction for developing a comprehensive program of electronic publication. Many of these developments directly affect this journal. With this issue of Language, the journal takes its first small step in the planned development from a print journal to a truly electronic one. The Project MUSE and JSTOR presentations, while electronic, are versions of the print edition and share many of its limitations. The online format to be developed in the coming years will enable the publication of material that print cannot accommodate, such as sound and video files, and material that print does not accommodate easily, such as extensive data sets and lengthy appendices. It will also provide the other inherent advantages of the electronic medium, such as hyperlinks to internal and external content and searchability. While the LSA will continue to provide a print edition of much of the content of Language, as long as there is sufficient demand, the electronic version will begin to be treated as the primary vehicle of publication. The most immediate effects readers will see in the coming months include the following:

New ONLINE-ONLY sections.

The journal is expanding its scope with electronic publication of several new sections, which will not appear in the print version mailed out to readers each quarter. Each section has its own dedicated associate editors, much as the current book review section has its own editor. These include:

• • 'Teaching Linguistics', edited by Kazuko Hiramatsu and Anne Charity Hudley, which will include articles and other materials concerned with teaching and learning linguistics.

• • 'Phonological Analysis', edited by Eric Bakovic, Gene Buckley, and Matt Gordon, which will include articles offering detailed examination of phonological data (without the necessity of a theoretical contribution), phonological theories, or computational models of phonology.

• • 'Language and Public Policy', edited by John Baugh and Donna Christian, which will include articles about the role of language and linguistics in public affairs.

Other new sections may emerge as the year unfolds. The journal's editor remains responsible for these new sections and oversees the evaluation of their contents.

Publication of supplementary materials.

Authors will be able to publish supplementary materials alongside their papers and have these materials archived online via Project MUSE. These include materials such as sound and video files that will eventually become a part of the article itself, and other materials that enhance the reader's understanding of the research reported.

Open access.

Language will move to a delayed open-access model, where all papers will be posted, freely available to all, on the LSA website one year after publication. Authors will have the opportunity to arrange immediate open-access publication of their papers on the LSA's Language website by paying an article processing charge (APC), currently set at $400. All papers will continue to be available immediately to LSA members at Project MUSE and to all nonmembers with access to MUSE, as is presently the case.

Readers, authors, and referees will likely see other changes in how papers are submitted and handled in the coming year.

Finally, to help effect this transition, the LSA has created the editorial position of executive editor, to work under the direction of the editor, to maintain the expected flow of decisions on submissions. Stanley Dubinsky of the University of South Carolina was identified by a search committee established by the Executive Committee, and has been named to that position.

The journal editors and the LSA leadership remain dedicated to the highest standards for all Language content. The extent to which a change contributes to maintaining or enhancing those standards is the primary means by which any new development will be evaluated, and consequently supported.