Thursday 4 December 2014
Third Text occupies a unique position in its field, andcontinues to have a strong reputation amongst its wider readership. The willingness of many eminent experts to devote time and effort to helping the journal into its next phase of development is a powerful indication of its continuing support; another is the ever increasing volume of quality submissions.
In June 2014 the recommendations of an Independent Review undertaken by Dr Lara Perry, Sally Morris and Martin Shaw were agreed by the Board of Trustees. This meant fundamental changes in how we were to operate in the future to strengthen ourselves and make the intellectual platform of the production of the Journal more inclusive and democratic.
The first step required the creation of the Consultative Panel selected by way of an invitation to people who had had a previous relationship with Third Text. The Panel consisted of TJ Demos, Terry Atkinson, Anamik Saha and Natasha Eaton. They were tasked with three main functions:
1 To suggest a new Mission Statement – based on the Journal’s historical and political legacy and heritage
2 To suggest names to be invited to become new Editors of the journal within the new terms of reference
3 To suggest names to be invited to become members of the Editorial Advisory Board in line with its new terms of reference
Based on the recommendations of The Independent Review, the Board of Trustees ofThird Text Ltd has instituted the following changes to the governance and production of the journal, in order to take it forward into a new and positive phase of its existence as the leading journal of critical and theoretical research in the visual arts field.
The Changes:
Governance
The Board of Trustees have the following responsibilities:
• Appoint their own successors on a regular 3-year rotational basis
• Appoint the publisher (advised by the new Editors and Editorial Advisory Board, (EAB) and conclude contractual arrangements with the publisher; liaise with the publisher via the Executive Editor at an annual meeting
• Appoint the Editorial Advisory Board advised by existing EAB members and the new Editors
• Conclude arrangements with funders and partners (advised by the new Editors and Editorial Advisory Board, liaise with funders and partners
• Appoint new Editors (advised by existing Editors and Editorial Advisory Board via the Executive Editor
• Employ the Editorial Office Administrator and any other staff
The new Editorial Advisory Board has the following responsibilities:
• Advise the Trustees and the new Editors on the overall quality and development of the Journal
• Carry out Peer Review on Journal articles, to high academic standards
• Assist the new Editors in identifying additional appropriate Peer Reviewers
• Submit original articles, and commission special issue contributions to the Journal, and encourage others to do so
• Propose topics (and, where possible, authors and Guest Editors) for future special issues
• Advise on promotion of the Journal, and assist with promotion whenever opportunities arise
• Suggest to the Trustees potential new Editorial Advisory Board members, to replace those standing down
The New Editors
The new Editors have the following responsibilities:
• Appoint from among their number an Executive Editor (this role to rotate among the new Editors)
• Collectively determine the character and direction of the Journal in line with its new Mission Statement
• Liaise with the Trustees about current and potential future partnerships and funding arrangements
• Ensure that the contents of the Journal are of suitably high quality, and that peer review and editing are conducted with proper academic rigour
• Examine each submitted article to ensure its appropriateness for the Journal
• Identify at least two suitable referees for each article, deemed suitable for peer review, from among the Editorial Advisory Board or, if necessary, other experts
• Review the referees' reports when received and make a recommendation, based on these, to the Executive Editor
• Review revised articles for compliance with the referees' suggestions, and decide whether or not the referees need to see the revised article ‒ if further review is not needed, make a recommendation to the Executive Editor as above
• Proof-read, and check authors' proof corrections to ensure that they are acceptable before returning to the publisher
• Commission reviews of exhibitions, events, publications, interviews and artists’ pages, etc, for publication on the Third Text website. (This could be the designated responsibility of a single Editor)
• (Each Editor will) be responsible for commissioning one Special Issue, on a topic agreed with the Executive Editor, and for ensuring that it is delivered on schedule
• Ensure that sufficient content for each issue is supplied for publication in accordance with the Publisher's schedule
• Select a cover image for each issue of the Journal (this could be the designated responsibility of a single Editor)
• Advise on promotion of the Journal, and assist with promotion whenever opportunities arise (the Publisher will provide promotional materials given sufficient notice)
• Suggest to the Trustees potential new Editors, and Editorial Advisory Board members, to replace those standing down
The role of the Executive Editor:
In addition to acting as a full member of the new Editors, (s)he also:
• Has final responsibility for decisions about content (acceptance or rejection of papers; special issues to be commissioned; inclusion and order of appearance of articles in each issue)
• Is responsible for the management of the Editorial Office Administrator and any other office staff (recommending appointments for approval by the Trustees, day-to-day supervision and support, and annual performance reviews)
• Liaises with the publisher to ensure that content for each issue (and any supplementary material) is supplied, processed and published on schedule
• Chairs the Editorial Advisory Board at its annual meeting; reports back to the Trustees on all such meetings
• Reports regularly to the Trustees on the publication and development of the journal, on behalf of the new Editors
• Represents the Trustees at meetings with the Publisher and reports back to the Trustees
The Editorial Office Administrator:
• Provides support to the Executive Editor and new Editors
• Supports the Executive Editor's liaison with the Trustees, Editorial Advisory Board and the publisher
• Supports the Trustees' liaison with any funders and partners
• Ensures that all submitted MSS (including illustrations) are complete and compliant with the Journal's and Publisher's requirements and returns them to the author for further amendment if not
• Inputs information to Routledge's online systems
• Liaises with relevant Editor about the proposed images for each article