With this last issue of Volume 25 of Political Analysis, our term as co-editors of the journal comes to a close.
We began editing the journal in January 2010, and the past eight years have been exciting ones for us as co-editors of Political Analysis. There have been many technological, professional, and intellectual changes during that period, and we have managed to build a strong foundation from which the new editorial team can build. Among our innovations, some that we are most proud of are the introduction of a mandatory replication standard for accepted articles and the introduction of the shorter letter format, both of which were firsts among political science journals, and are now being adopted by other leading journals. We have also been a leader in developing new ways to make articles and letters from the journal widely available to new readers, for example using “virtual issues” and social media.
Of course, we did not do all of this on our own. There have been many people, organizations, and institutions which have helped us along the way. We would like to take the opportunity here to acknowledge the many contributions to our successful time as co-editors of Political Analysis. We apologize if we have forgotten anyone.
First, we need to thank the Society for Political Methodology, and the presidents of the society during our time as co-editors, Jeff Gill, Jeff Lewis, and Kosuke Imai. The Society and its leadership have been supportive of our initiatives, and have always worked to help us resolve the many issues that have come along since 2010. The Society’s Publications Committee, especially the committee’s chair, Neal Beck, have provided us with important guidance and assistance.
Our work as journal editors would not have possible without substantial support from the California Institute of Technology. Caltech provided significant financial support for the journal, in particular in the early years of our term. We thank Sabrina De Jaegher and Gloria Bain for their administrative assistance.
For much of our time as co-editors, the journal was published by Oxford University Press. The journals team at OUP was always a joy to work with—they were always helpful when we wanted to try something new and different, and they jumped quickly into action when we needed particular assistance. Throughout our term, Laura Bannon was always there to help us, and her enthusiasm for the journal and our work was always contagious. There were many others who helped us at OUP over the years as well, and in particular, we would like to thank Valentina Tursini.
We made the transition to Cambridge University Press over the past year, and the journals team at CUP has been wonderful in making our transition as seamless and successful as possible. David Mainwaring has led this process with humor and keen advice, and we are grateful for his help. The CUP team has done a great job with Political Analysis, and we want to thank Robert Dreesen and Kayla A. Riddleberger.
There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes when it comes to editing a journal, and for most of our term as co-editors, Angela Morgan worked to manage submissions, keep us on schedule, and help with production. She is a key part of the journal’s success, and we thank Angela for all that she has done to support the journal over the years.
We also want to thank Gary King, and the team at the Harvard Dataverse. They helped us establish and maintain the journal’s Dataverse, where there are now over 300 studies archived. They are providing an amazing resource for the development of more transparency in scientific research.
At Caltech, a group of graduate students have helped us in many ways, in particular, by helping us with our complex replication process. We thank Nick Adams-Cohen, Jackie Kimble, Ines Levin, and Lucas Nunez. Each has contributed to the development of our replication policy, and they all have worked to make that policy practical and productive.
One of our important innovations has been the development of Political Analysis Letters. The credit for making Letters happen goes to Justin Grimmer and Jens Hainmueller, who worked with us to develop the Letters format, and who have served as editors of Letters since their inception. Justin and Jens have done a wonderful job getting Letters established as a routine component of each issue of Political Analysis, and they have done such a brilliant job that other political science journals are emulating our model for shorter research notes, articles, and letters.
We have had strong support from a number of colleagues throughout the world, who have given up their valuable time and energy to help us in many important ways. All journal editors need to frequently turn to others for advice, to help resolve conflicts of interest, and to provide insight into how to develop journal policy to respond to challenges as they arise. Since 2010 we have had the strong support from a very talented group of Associate Editors, and from our Advisory Board. We can’t thank them enough for their help, and their leadership of the journal during our time as co-editors.
Additionally, we have frequently called upon our Editorial Board for help, in particular, dealing with difficult decisions and in many cases providing their evaluation of manuscripts. Political Analysis is a great journal, and our Editorial Board has provided strong, reliable, and consistent guidance to the co-editors. We thank them for their guidance, energy, and leadership.
Finally, we want to thank our authors and reviewers. Without their volunteer efforts, the journal would not be successful.
Starting in early 2018, Jeff Gill will take over from us as editor of Political Analysis. We are excited to see the continued evolution of the journal under Jeff’s leadership!
