invitation - co-guest editor for special issue journal

[adel9216]

Hello,

I was just invited to be a guest co-editor for a special issue of a journal on the themes of my academic research.
But I've never done this before and I was a little surprised they thought of me.
it does interest me, but what should I be aware of before accepting? What does it entail exactly?

Thank you,

[research_prof]

Prestige and impact factor of the journal. Make sure it is not one of the scam "science" journals where people pay and get their papers published in a week.

[adel9216]

Prestige and impact factor of the journal. Make sure it is not one of the scam "science" journals where people pay and get their papers published in a week.

No, it's not a scam journal. It's a journal that I know of and is well-known where I'm from and in my field. I also noticed the names of a couple of professors and people I know who have written for or been involved with this journal.

[traductio]

First question -- is the journal legit? If it's not one you're immediately familiar with, it might not be worth your time at this point (you're a grad student if I remember right -- please correct me if I'm mistaken). There are a lot of sketchy journals that send out invitations to guest edit an issue that I ignore completely. It's a lot of work, and if the journal is junk, it's a lot of wasted work.

Second question -- you say co-editor. Is the other co-editor a big name in your field? It's nice to have your name associated with a big name, but it's still a lot of work. What will be the co-editor's role? Who will be responsible for managing the peer review process? Who will be responsible for interacting with authors? The one way that co-editing a journal issue would be worth it, in my experience, is if your co-editor is a big name scholar who's not going to stick you with all the work. If it's a scholar who takes their role of mentoring seriously, this could be an excellent opportunity, both to see the nitty-gritty of peer review and for the networking possibilities the co-editor can enable.

Otherwise, it's more work than you can imagine, and more importantly, worth less to hiring committees (to choose a useful metric) than a complete dissertation.

[adel9216]

I am capable of completing my dissertation. Just wanted to let you know.

[mamselle]

And if, as traductio points out, your co-editor is not of good will and illustrious, the contributors may be very lax in turning in things because, as a not-as-well-known-student, they will feel little compunction to try to "look good," as they might with a well-known editor they want to favorably impress.

Of course, if they did that, you could probably keep a list somewhere and just vow never to work with them again....

M. 

[traductio]

I am capable of completing my dissertation. Just wanted to let you know.

I never meant to imply otherwise.

[mleok]

And if, as traductio points out, your co-editor is not of good will and illustrious, the contributors may be very lax in turning in things because, as a not-as-well-known-student, they will feel little compunction to try to "look good," as they might with a well-known editor they want to favorably impress.

Of course, if they did that, you could probably keep a list somewhere and just vow never to work with them again....

M.

Agreed, if there isn't a heavy hitter as a co-editor, who is willing to go to bat to ensure that things are submitted in a timely manner, it's going to be hell for a graduate student to get the contributors to submit on time, and to solicit referees for the special issue.

[mleok]

Honestly, I'm surprised they asked a graduate student to be a co-editor. To me, that reeks of desperation on the part of the journal and does not bode well.

[adel9216]

Honestly, I'm surprised they asked a graduate student to be a co-editor. To me, that reeks of desperation on the part of the journal and does not bode well.

Why do you assume it's out of desperation? I've been told often by professors that I am not a typical grad student. Maybe they truly want me on board?

[mamselle]

Opps, we goofed.

We're just supposed to tell him/her it's fine.

They don't really want the truth....we've  been on this carousel  before.

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

Honestly, I'm surprised they asked a graduate student to be a co-editor. To me, that reeks of desperation on the part of the journal and does not bode well.

Why do you assume it's out of desperation? I've been told often by professors that I am not a typical grad student. Maybe they truly want me on board?

They probably do.

What mleok is observing is that this is usually a task that's bestowed upon/undertaken by associate or full profs. Partly because they have an established reputation and network they can leverage for high-quality contributions from impressive names, and partly because it's actually an enormous amount of work with very little payoff beyond personal satisfaction, and they're at a career stage where that's not a big deal.


As for what it will entail: I've never done it (although I'm contemplating something of the sort in the medium-term, for a pet topic I'd like to see getting more exposure). (Actually, that's not entirely true; I've sort of done it for the association newsletter I run, but that's a different, simpler matter.) But I have contributed to some of these things, as both author and referee. In my experience, the editors of a special issue:

• Advertise the special issue. (You send the CFP around to target departments, post it to the relevant sites and listservs, make a flier for big conferences in the field, etc.) This is pretty easy.
• Solicit contributions. (You basically leverage your network and see what you can drum up, encourage people at conferences who are presenting relevant work to submit, etc.) This is pretty easy.
• Find referees and gather their reports in a timely manner. This is incredibly difficult, because people say 'no' all the time or say 'yes' but then are flakey. It's easier to do if you have a large and well-established network of friendly acquaintances, because they won't want to let you down. You need at least two referees for each submission, but you might well go through five or more rounds to find them. You have to be super-organized and keep track of everything to make sure that the paper isn't languishing for too long, and that referees stay on-task and on-deadline. This is a decent bit of work.
• Act as a third referee for each submission. This is a lot of work.
• Send verdicts and oversee the revision process. This is also a lot of work.
• Write up an introduction for the special issue. This is a moderate amount of work.

I've probably forgotten a few things, but that should at least give you an idea.

[Morden]

In addition to Parasaurolophus' list, you also have to be willing to make some people very unhappy (because their work isn't good enough, or their work is good but you have to push them to meet timelines, or their work is good, but the collection is delayed because of circumstances beyond your control, usually other contributors). That's where it helps to have a full prof/associate prof as co-editor. They can take the brunt of the unhappiness, and it is unlikely to hurt their careers.

[adel9216]

In addition to Parasaurolophus' list, you also have to be willing to make some people very unhappy (because their work isn't good enough, or their work is good but you have to push them to meet timelines, or their work is good, but the collection is delayed because of circumstances beyond your control, usually other contributors). That's where it helps to have a full prof/associate prof as co-editor. They can take the brunt of the unhappiness, and it is unlikely to hurt their careers.

Yes, there is a associate prof on board as well :)

[mleok]

In addition to Parasaurolophus' list, you also have to be willing to make some people very unhappy (because their work isn't good enough, or their work is good but you have to push them to meet timelines, or their work is good, but the collection is delayed because of circumstances beyond your control, usually other contributors). That's where it helps to have a full prof/associate prof as co-editor. They can take the brunt of the unhappiness, and it is unlikely to hurt their careers.

Yes, there is a associate prof on board as well :)

If all they have is an associate professor and a graduate student for guest editors, you're in for a world of hurt.

I'll just say that it's a thankless task with very little payoff from the career perspective. At least with co-organizing a conference, you get to schmooze with the bigwigs and maybe be able to offer them an all-expense-paid trip to a desirable vacation destination. But here, you're going to be the one begging them to consider submitting an article, begging them to turn in the article on time, begging referees to review the article, telling your contributors to make major changes, or rejecting their papers outright. At best, you'll impress people with your organizational skills, but nobody is truly going to be impressed with your scholarship as a consequence. Unless you already have a strong, independent reputation, and you're respected in your field, this is a very difficult task to do well. But, if you already have a strong, independent reputation, then you don't need the additional visibility from co-editing this special issue.

At the end of the day, you're free to do whatever you want, but don't come crying to us in six months when you realize how hard and thankless a task this is, and how it affects your ability to finish your dissertation, or interferes with your ability to convert it into a book or journal publications. Keep in mind that even if everything goes well, it'll be at least two years before the special issue shows up in print, too late to have any appreciable impact on your job search.