2003 Annual Reports
Medical Anthropology Quarterly Editor's Report
Submitted by Pam Erickson
This report covers the period 9/25/02 to 11/1/03. My report begins 9/25/02 because that is the point at which I began to receive all new submissions to the journal.
MAQ Editorial Transition
I took over as Editor from Mac Marshall officially in January 2003, but
have been working on the transition since May 2002, reviewing new manuscripts
since September 2002 and those manuscripts already in process since 11/1/02.
Our office also did all the post copyediting production work for volume
17(1) in December 2002. The transition went very smoothly thanks to Mac
and his wonderful staff, Linda Forman and Samantha Solimeo, who walked me
through the whole MAQ process when I visited Iowa in May 2002.
Transition to Electronic Submission and Correspondence with Authors
We are in the process of taking MAQ through the transition to complete electronic
submission and correspondence.
New Book Review Editor
Merrill Singer (Hispanic Health Council) will replace Beth Conklin as the
MAQ Book Review Editor beginning 1/1/04. He will serve a 3-year
term. I want to thank Beth for her hard work and to all the applicants who
were willing to serve.
Manuscript Submissions and Disposition
MAQ had a total of 114 submissions since 9/25/02, six of which
were resubmissions following a “revise and resubmit” judgment
on the first round. Of the 114 submissions, 72 were decided upon and 39
are still in process (new or out to reviewers). Three manuscripts were withdrawn
by the author/s. The following table shows the number of manuscripts by
disposition, as well as percent of total submissions and percent of those
decided upon (excludes manuscripts still in process or withdrawn by author).
| Disposition | Number | % of Total (N=114) |
% of Decisions (N=72) |
| Accept | 14 | 12.3 | 19.4 |
| Reject | 47 | 41.2 | 65.3 |
| Revise | 11 | 9.7 | 15.3 |
| In Process | 39 | 34.2 | --- |
| Withdrawn | 3 | 2.6 |
For manuscripts that were decided upon, the average time from submission to mailing of the decision letter was four months. The average age of manuscripts still in process is 4.4 months. This turn around time is somewhat inflated by three proposed special issue submissions, totaling 22 papers, which are being processed in three groups (i.e., all papers submitted for the issue are on the time line of the one longest in review).
Manuscripts that are accepted after the first round of reviews can usually be published within six months of the initial submission. Manuscripts that need to be revised, resubmitted, and reviewed again usually take much longer, and much of this depends on how fast the authors turn the manuscript around. We are working hard to achieve a faster turnaround, and hope to report shorter intervals next year. However, the submission rate this year was much larger than that reported in previous years (60-70), even if we consider the extra month and a half in our reporting period.
Production
The final issue of Volume 17 (2003) should be in your mailboxes soon. 18(1)
is going to galleys. Production is on schedule.
Status of Manuscripts Posted to WWW
AAA considers any manuscript posted to the Internet as published, and thus
not eligible for publication in MAQ.
Budget Issues
SMA provided MAQ with a budget of $31,422 to run the editorial
office for calendar year 2003. These funds are mostly used to pay the salary
of the Managing Editor, Carole Bernard, (December 2002- December 2003, appointment
at half time) and for her postage and telephone costs (She is not housed
at UConn.), which are minimal. I have requested $44,109 from SMA for calendar
year 2004. The main increase over the 2003 budget is to offset the reduction
in support by the University of Connecticut for the Editorial Assistant
(from a full time research assistant @ 20 hours/week to half time @ 10 hours/week)
necessitated by budget shortfalls in the State and at the University. The
University of Connecticut provided office space, utilities, computer facilities,
Internet access, telephone, photocopying, postage, FAX, and supplies in
2003 and will continue to do so in 2004. UConn also funded the Editorial
Assistant full time in the Fall of 2002 and half time in the Spring and
Fall of 2003. UConn will continue this funding for a half time (10 hours/week)
for 2004.
Financial Status and Publication News
MAQ continues to bring in more than its projected budget, $2,5142.09
more for the nine months ending 9/30/03, the latest statement available
from AAA.
The University of California Press will be taking over publication of all the AAA journals and is recommending an increase in the subscription rate for MAQ to $80 for individuals and $85 for intuitions in 2004.
ISI Journal Citation Reports
MAQ ranked third among AAA’s six in-house journals in 2002 for the
third year in a row. Looking at journal citation indices for Anthropology,
MAQ ranked 19 among 38 anthropology journals evaluated. MAQ has ranked between
15 and 19 for the last four years.