|
|
Editor's Report
Directed by the Executive Committee on 6 December 2008 to negotiate
and sign a contract for Speculum with Cambridge University Press,
President Geary and I, with the assistance of Associate Editor
Jacqueline Brown, came to the virtual completion of the negotiations
with the fifth draft of the proposed agreement on 12 March. The
contract was signed 25 March at the Council meeting.
The whole process began in the fall of 2007 when three university
presses approached Speculum seeking publication relationships.
By mid-summer there were six bona fide proposals, from three university
presses and from three commercial presses. The Finance Committee
vetted and reviewed the proposals since the financial impact of
any contract would be immense. The committee compared the proposals
point by point, conducting interviews with other publications
connected to the proposers, assessing editorial independence and
financial advantages, and looking ahead to eventual online publication.
In late November the committee was able to make its recommendation
that CUP was the preferred choice.
The CUP offer is attractive financially, administratively, and
intellectually. The Academy will receive a royalty on Speculum
sales to subscribers (i.e., institutions) and a sweetener. A wide
range of costs associated with the publication will move off the
Academy's ledger and onto Cambridge's: warehousing, printing costs,
mailing. Office workload will decrease because CUP will manage
all subscribers (but not members!). CUP will also help Speculum
set up a Web-based manuscript tracking system. Speculum will see
circulation increase, a virtual doubling of subscribers, because
of the CUP marketing plan. CUP will support an online directory
of members gratis, and it will assist Speculum in its move toward
online publication. Members of the Academy will receive a 20 percent
discount on all CUP titles.
It is clear that the major effort of the office the rest of this
year and into 2010 will be the adjustments necessary to produce
Speculum in the new relationship. Editorial work will take place
at the Academy office and, when ready, given to CUP for the printing
process through publication and distribution. Speculum maintains
its editorial independence. Volume 85 no. 1 (January 2010) will
be the first issue with CUP. The editors are beginning to fill
this number now.
The number of pages printed in Speculum in 2008 was 1,084, 1
fewer than in 2007. We devoted 486 pages to reviews and brief
notices, an increase of 30 pages in comparison with 2007. The
number of pages devoted to articles remained comparable, 530 in
2008, 548 in 2007, as did the number of articles, 15 in 2008,
17 in 2007. The costs for printing and mailing the journal were
$90,356.94 ($85,663 in 2007; cf. $109,778 in 2006).
I am happy to note that Speculum on JSTOR yielded a payment of
$16,955.44 (cf. [corrected] $13,206.43 in 2007; cf. 2006, $12,419.77;
2005, $10,578.19; 2004, $9,802.75). The CUP agreement does not
dissolve the Academy's relationship with JSTOR. Sales from the
associated program, Publisher Sales Service, are subsumed in the
2008 total.
I am grateful to the Speculum Editorial Board for their continuing
good advice on submissions, practices, and policy questions. Their
collective discretion has assisted an easy working relationship,
and their enthusiasm for Speculum continues unabated. Rachel Fulton,
Maryanne Kowaleski, Roberta L. Krueger, Thomas F. X. Noble, Conrad
Rudolph, and Elaine Treharne have served in 2008-9. In this period
of transition I have asked Roberta L. Krueger and Elaine Treharne
to extend their terms, and I have added Maura Nolan and Monika
Otter to the board. The book review editors for Speculum support
a key function as well. Book review editors for 2009-10 will be
Rebecca A. Baltzer, Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski, Brian A. Catlos,
Theresa Coletti, Maria Dobozy, Anthony Kaldellis, Stephen E. Lahey,
Josef W. Meri, Joseph Falaky Nagy, Lawrence Nees, Frederick S.
Paxton, F. Regina Psaki, David Townsend, and Barbara Weissberger.
I acknowledge with thanks the contributions of Siān Echard and
Steven A. Epstein, who rotate off, and welcome newcomers Brian
Catlos and David Townsend.
Respectfully submitted,
PAUL E. SZARMACH, Editor
|
