| Compendium Project Q&A February 2007 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Section Subject List Review Procedures | ||||
| All lists submitted to the compendium project will be reviewed. Reviews will be undertaken by at least two scholars, at least one should be a member of our Editorial Advisory Board. Section subject list reviews will proceed quickly, and letters from the General Editor will suggest those areas that are vital for the sections to consider. Turn-around has been approximately three weeks. | ||||
| The Compendium Review Essay | ||||
| We are going to ask that each individual who undertakes a topic provide a manuscript in six months. There will be a short-form contract that lays out all the particulars. | ||||
| Each review essay should provide an immediate sense of the topic's intellectual and social context. Literature reviews should begin with the earliest treatments, and include as comprehensive a consideration of the topic as possible. We are looking to provide the widest possible coverage, and not simply the historical roots of the most recent literature. Current and future generations need to know what kinds of questions have been addressed, where to access that material, what questions might have been abandoned, and not just what kinds of questions are currently in our sights. This project was conceived to provide exactly that sort of coverage. | ||||
| Review essays will also cover the most recent literature. How are we currently approaching this issue? What do the major epistemological, methodological and substantive considerations look like? Reviews might also undertake to ask about possible future directions, or critical gaps in current coverage. | ||||
| Begin the entry with a clear definition of the concept or introduction to the topic. The reader should be able to assess the significance and importance of the entry within the first two sentences. | ||||
| Each entry must include:
(1) major intellectual and social dimensions of the topic (2) a comprehensive review of classical and older literatures (3) changes over time in the topic, and its current treatment (4) sufficient bibliographic material and links to important sources |
||||
Entries might also include: (5) an assessment of future directions in research, theory, and methodology (6) a critical consideration of important elements that remain unconsidered. |
||||
| Advertising the International Studies Compendium Project | ||||
| The ISA Compendium Project generated a great deal of debate on the Association's Board, but was almost totally unknown outside that small group. This led to initial problems in finding section compendium committee members and generating topic suggestions. Finding authors would have been even more difficult. We undertook a major advertising drive, sending literally thousands of e-mails, opening two websites, preparing an article for the back page “Pieces of the Craft” feature of ISP , taking out ads in the Program of the Annual Meeting and creating flyers and bookmarks for distribution. Additional advertising in our journals, a direct mail campaign to new faculty and advanced graduate students, and other initiatives are planned. Sections can help by soliciting opinions of topic lists widely. The more information people have, the more likely the project is to be recognized and the easier it will be to move forward. | ||||
| Author Selection | ||||
| Section subject lists were to be complete by the time of our annual meeting in February 2007 to facilitate the selection of authors. Personal requests are always the most effective means of soliciting participation in Association activities. As much as we enjoy the work of notable scholars in specific areas, and as much as we would like them to participate, these may not always be the individuals with sufficient time to turn out a compendium essay. Newer ISA members, especially those at the advanced graduate level or new assistant professors, might well be sitting on dissertation literature review chapters that would serve as an excellent foundation for a compendium review. Furthermore, since all submissions are peer reviewed, publication would be a benefit to more junior scholars. Individuals who have just completed books on various issues might well have a wealth of knowledge regarding the literature in the area that has not been included in the manuscript. A review essay might be easy to produce. Senior scholars with an interest in providing context for their studies would make excellent authors. | ||||
| Listing compendium subject topics on the website is important both for maintaining transparency and for finding scholars interested in participation. Each section has its own list of topics, to which we will append a link to a form for interested authors. Find a topic, click on the link, fill out the form and it will immediately go to both the Editors and the Section Compendium Committee Chairs. It is important to keep your list updated with information on topics already taken, to make sure the system works as it should. | ||||
Individual ISA Section Volumes |
||||
| One of the three components of the Compendium Project is the Section Volume Series. Individual sections may pursue the publication of a separate section volume that is especially suitable for students and individual libraries. Publication of section volumes is not automatic. To make these stand-alone volumes unique, and to avoid cannibalizing sales of the overall project, each volume should add additional useful materials. An introductory essay that helps place the individual entries into a broader context and the addition of novel content such as biographical essays, bibliographic essays, and useful shorter entries, is required. Blackwell is concerned that these volumes be commercially viable. Normally this would militate against participation by smaller sections, but we believe that many sections could work together to produce coherent reviews of important coordinate topics. The first section volumes would not come to market until after the larger projects are completed. For additional information, please contact Bob Denemark ( denemark@udel.edu ). | ||||
| Contacting Us | ||||
| The International Studies Compendium Project has two websites.
Visit
http:// www.isanet.org/compendium/ http:// www.udel.edu/poscir/faculty/RDenemark/denemarkprojects.html
|
||||
| Please contact us with any questions or concerns. | ||||
| Bob Denemark, General Editor
University of Delaware (302)831-2009 (office) |
||||
| Andrea K. Gerlak, Managing Editor
University of Arizona , International Studies Association |
||||
| William R. Thompson, Editorial Advisory Board Chair
Indiana University |
||||