Dictionaries: Something to look forward to in 2017
After 37 years as an annual publication, Dictionaries is moving to two issues a year. To trumpet the move we’ll introduce a new cover design and logo and a modern, more readable inside page.
What will two issues a year mean to you? Well, quite a bit—but if an increase in dues was the first thing that entered your mind, dispel the thought. But here’s what you can expect. Our annual has varied in size, over the past five years averaging about 270 pages per issue, and while an increase in page numbers would be welcome, we aren’t aiming to double the number published in a year. We will likely increase gradually, but even if page count remains steady, publishing two numbers a year delivers real advantages. For one thing, it’s a way for DSNA and its members to greet one another each spring and fall with both a journal and a newsletter. In addition, with the journal now accessible via Project MUSE, the scholarship that DSNA sponsors will gain greater recognition among lexicographers and students of lexicography around the world. Some potential contributors to the journal have understandably preferred submitting their work to journals with a shorter lag time than an annual affords. Especially for younger scholars and in an age of instant communication through social media, a shorter span between submission and publication will prove attractive. Beyond that, perhaps you know that some abstracting services admit a journal to their ranks only when the number of citations to the journal in other journals surpasses a benchmark and that the window for those citations can be a mere three years. Whether the month of publication is January or December, that year counts as the first of the three. For Dictionaries, published late in the year, a three-year window is effectively reduced to two, and that has hurt us. As you may not know, inclusion on the roster of certain abstracting services enhances royalties the Society receives from Project MUSE in two ways: by a likely increase in the number of downloads resulting from greater exposure and by an uptick in the royalty rate simply for having secured a place on the roster of those services. A further note in this regard: citations within Dictionaries to other journals will bolster their count in applications to the abstracting rosters.
Dictionaries has had six editors over the years, and in more recent years an associate editor or reviews editor. For several years now, Wendalyn Nichols of Cambridge University Press has served as our reviews editor and has also chaired the Society’s publications committee. Wendi has asked to step away from her responsibility as reviews editor following publication of the spring issue this year. Starting with the fall issue, then, Traci Nagle of Indiana University has agreed—with enthusiasm—to become the journal’s reviews editor. You are likely acquainted with Traci from her presentations at our biennial meetings and her contributions to the journal, including an article in the most recent issue. Several associate editors will also be named this spring, representing the character of current trends in lexicography and its study worldwide —and helping to ensure smooth transitions from editor to editor over time.
What else might it mean for the Society to publish two numbers of the journal each year? Well, as editor, I hope it means that each of us will think first of Dictionaries as a desirable venue for scholarship and will encourage colleagues and students to think of Dictionaries when their research warrants it. At conferences and professional meetings, I urge you to make note of presentations that would make articles of interest and value to readers of our journal and to say so to presenters—and to me for follow-up.
We are ready for the move to two numbers per year. Still, after decades of publishing an annual, the Society’s success in this venture will depend on generous effort by its members. I ask all readers of the Newsletter to consider how you can contribute to the success of the journal—renew your membership, suggest or give a subscription, suggest books to be reviewed, contribute your work and encourage others to contribute theirs. DSNA members take pride in publishing the most senior lexicographical journal in the world and in the quality of its contents. Like editors before me, I’m thankful for members’ generosity, offered in support of the journal in so many ways. I know members will welcome news of this move as supportively as the publications committee and the executive board feel in taking this step forward. Let this development be a hallmark of the Society’s energy and vitality in 2017.
(Ed Finegan, Editor, Dictionaries)
Newsletter
As of this issue, the Newsletter appears in a new format, that is, as part of what will become the Society’s new website. The Newsletter will be located beneath a tab, Newsletter Issues, alternating in content between the Spring and Fall issues yearly. Older volumes will stay up by date. A table of contents will allow you to move quickly through the various sections. The content will continue to be similar to what it is now but the new format will presumably make it possible to add other types of content, such as audio and video.
Note that the website of which it is part is under construction. The final version, which we hope to complete later this year, will look something like this. Feel free to explore it but note that some of the content may be out of date and also that changes will yet be made, some perhaps in response to your suggestions.
(David Jost, Editor, Newsletter)