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V. SECTION/JOURNAL AFFILIATIONS
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V. SECTION/JOURNAL AFFILIATIONS

A. ESTABLISHING A NEW JOURNAL

There has been an increasing interest from Sections to establish new journals with non-APSA-related publishing houses. The Organized Sections Committee has responded to such interests by developing a set of guidelines for the creation and administration of journal publication and association. Designed to encourage discussion among the Section, the Council, and APSA staff, these guidelines should be followed before commitments to journal publication are made.

When an Organized Section plans to publish or sponsor a new journal, it should bring a proposal to the APSA Council via the Organized Section Committee. The proposal must address key issues including, but not limited to:

    1. Editorial succession
    2. Financial feasibility
    3. Peer review or other comparable procedures for quality control
    4. Show that the journal project is consistent with the APSA Constitution and the practices of the Association.


Any questions that might arise with the Council on such issues would need to be worked out cooperatively with APSA before a contract is signed. Please see the "Guidelines for Affiliations" below for more insight into the questions the Committee would like to see answered.

Since the Association, as a whole, will face legal liability in journal arrangements with outside entities, the Committee acknowledges it is also appropriate that APSA be a signatory to any contractual arrangements for such journals. Said contracts must include:

    Language conveying the idea that the Section is not an agent of the APSA and does not possess authority to act as APSA's agent

    The following clause: In the event of any claim arising from or relating to the Section's entering into this contract, any recovery shall be limited to the Section's assets and shall exclude the separate assets of APSA.

    Language stating that the selection of facts and statements of the opinion expressed in materials appearing in the Section's journal represent the views of the author and have not been adopted or approved by the APSA or its membership. This language should be prominently displayed in each issue of the journal.

B. GUIDELINES FOR AFFILIATIONS BETWEEN JOURNALS AND ORGANIZED SECTIONS

The Committee on Organized Sections has created a set of general guidelines that must be followed when considering a proposal by an Organized Section to establish formal linkages with a journal. The Committee agrees that the following criteria will be met when approving a journal linkage:

    1. The committee will only approve the linkage if the journal is a peer-reviewed academic journal. The committee requires that the section provide the committee with a clear academic rationale for the proposed linkage with the section prior to the committee approving the proposed linkage (including information on the academic standing of the journal in the section's field and on the benefits that the linkage will have for section members).

    2. If the journal is created by the organized section, the committee requires the section to adopt a clearly specified policy that ensures rotation on the editorial board of the journal. The committee also requires the section to specify clear procedures for editorial selection. If the journal is an independent journal that already exists the committee strongly recommends that the journal have or adopt a policy of editorial rotation. In the case of independent journals, the committee also strongly recommends that section members are represented on the journal's editorial board.

    3. If the organized section's linkage will result in a significant increase in section membership dues, the committee strongly recommends that the section assess the impact that increased dues will have on:

    a. student membership numbers,
    b. international membership numbers,
    c. general section membership numbers (particularly for smaller sections that may be close to minimum number of members required for the continuation of the section).

    The committee requires that the section provide the committee with a statement outlining any steps the section will take to address the potential impact on membership numbers before the committee approves the proposed linkage with the journal.

The committee suggests that the section may want to consider using the journal linkage to enhance scholarship in the field in additional ways (for instance, by linking the journal to section awards and asking the journal to pay a cash award for the best paper, article or dissertation or by publishing peer-reviewed special issues of APSA papers).

C. APSA ADMINISTRATION OF JOURNAL AFFILIATIONS

APSA will furnish the membership roster in a Microsoft Excel format that is compatible with the Journal publisher's specifications. Once these specifications have been outlined and agreed upon, any future changes to the roster format will come at the expense of the Section. The APSA staff will provide the roster to a Section officer only. It is the responsibility of that officer to send it to the Journal, along with any cover sheet or other reporting tool requested by the Journal. In other words, the officer should request the roster from the APSA Organized Sections Liaison, who sends it to him/her so s/he can fill out the label report that is required by the publisher, and then forward both the roster and report to the publisher directly.

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