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Post by idk on Mar 30, 2015 11:11:27 GMT -5
thanks for posting this, beyond. I will definitely not be submitting a thing to them that I was thinking I might submit to them.
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Post by Miss Ann Thrope on Mar 30, 2015 12:25:58 GMT -5
I have to say I had a positive experience with Theory and Society. Yes, it took 8 months for the first decision, but they did a good job picking reviewers - whose comments were invaluable - and they were responsive to my emails. Knowing they took a while, my first contact was probably at the 6 month mark, not 3, so that may have something to do with it if people are contacting them at the 3 month mark? If you can spare the time, I recommend it.
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increase in submissions
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Post by increase in submissions on Mar 30, 2015 13:47:06 GMT -5
Person with the desk reject here... I tried emailing them around 3 months to make sure they got it and at 6 and 9 months and didn't hear anything back.
In their desk reject email they said they had experienced an increase in submissions over the past 24 months which is why it took so long.
I heard about 'careful selection of reviewers' and 'good feedback' about them before. Really though I think it's over blown... Whenever I've submitted a theory paper (to a journal that actually will publish theory) I get much better reviews than I get for my more empirical work... Actually the British journal 'Sociology' was my best journal experience and that was with a theory paper.
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Post by durk on Mar 30, 2015 17:37:56 GMT -5
So, this has nothing to do with submissions. I have submitted twice to them. Once four years ago, once again two years ago. Same result as reported here. Their lack of communication is ridiculous, and they tend to publish people who are already prominent in the field. And, they actually don't publish theory, because it has to be empirically driven no matter what. Sad. Soc has one real theory journal...
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Post by Keeg on Mar 31, 2015 8:05:34 GMT -5
The ability to apply to online from anywhere in the world has increased submissions particularly for journals with international appeal and reading audience like Theory and Society. Often submitters know little about journal processes or the actual scope of the journal applied to. Some would-be authors wait until just a couple months before their deadlines for the job market, tenure decisions. That's too late. I agree with the respondent suggestion that many authors start checking too soon after submitting to journals. One good thing might be journals notifying submitters immediately of the time to expect before decision. If the author is in a hurry, s/he should ask at submission time if they can give a decision quickly. If not, the author could withdraw and submit elsewhere. But if the author wants publication in a top-tier journal like Theory and Society, patience is wise. My own experience with them was a good one--polite personal correspondence, detailed comments, and good suggestions--professionally done.
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Post by Sociologist123 on Jan 28, 2017 16:50:18 GMT -5
The editors at Theory and Society are the most unprofessional and discourteous I've ever encountered. I waited over 12 months for a response to my submission, during which time the editors ignored my email queries. The two reviews that I finally received were the shortest and least substantive I've ever gotten, and could have been written by anyone who had merely skimmed the abstract and introduction. Moreover, the reviewers' curt remarks seemed to reflect their a priori political objections to the argument rather than a careful scrutiny of the argument and evidence.
Although the editor blamed the 12-month delay on the high rate of submissions, my guess is that the problem stems more from the fact that there is no oversight or accountability. The concept of rotating editorship seems foreign to the journal: according to the web, the managing editor "has served as managing editor and corresponding editor for Theory and Society since 1982"!
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Post by dfafaa on Jan 31, 2017 14:02:35 GMT -5
But if the author wants publication in a top-tier journal like Theory and Society, patience is wise. Are you f'n kidding me?
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Post by guestguest on Jul 4, 2017 6:30:30 GMT -5
Thinking of submitting an article to T&C but worried by all the comments above! Anyone got any experience with them this year?
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Post by What happened? on Jan 7, 2024 6:10:33 GMT -5
Seems like a big fight with the publisher and now the whole board resigned and there are new editors. Does anyone know specifics about what the fight with Springer was about? And does anyone know what will happen going forward?
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Post by same questions on Jan 10, 2024 17:20:12 GMT -5
These are the only times I miss the bad board! Surely someone has the inside scoop here
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Post by Scatterplot on Jan 11, 2024 0:17:29 GMT -5
The guy behind the scatterplot blog is trying to dig into this. Will see if anything comes of it. The timeline suggests that the replacement board was in the know and in the waiting prior to the ouster of the editors in chief. Here's the post from Dan Hirschman at Scatterplot:
questions for the new theory & society editorial board
-- Archivist
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Post by Archivist on Jan 11, 2024 9:31:03 GMT -5
Just for the archives, here's the open letter from the previous senior editors, sent to one of the ASA sections list.
We wish to notify section members that as of January 1, 2024, Theory and Society is under new editorial management.
Up to now, the journal has been structured as a team of senior editors working in accord with the collaborative model and intellectual vision of Alvin Gouldner when he founded the journal in 1974. In mid-December 2023, the current team of senior editors (the undersigned) was told by the journal’s present owners, the Springer Publishing Company, that they had opted for a “completely different view” of the journal going forward.
We also wish to let section members know that we ourselves have resigned from the journal. We will no longer be involved at any stage of the editorial process. Henceforth, all editorial decisions will be made by the new editors. We have no idea who the new editors will be.
In ending our affiliation with the journal, we wish to acknowledge and express thanks on behalf of the social-scientific community to the journal’s Executive Editor Janet Gouldner and Managing Editor Karen Lucas for their many years of dedication to Theory and Society.
Charles Camic (Northwestern) Nitsan Chorev (Brown) Gil Eyal (Columbia) Neil Gross (Colby) Greta Krippner (Michigan) Mara Loveman (Berkeley) Chandra Mukerji (UCSD) Monica Prasad (Johns Hopkins) David Swartz (Boston University) Ivan Szelenyi (NYU)
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Post by Archivist on Jan 11, 2024 9:33:04 GMT -5
Just for the archives, here's the open letter from the previous corresponding editors, sent to one of the ASA sections list.
January 4, 2024
Dear Kevin McCaffree, Jonathan Turner, and Esther Otten:
We write as Corresponding Editors of Theory & Society to collectively tender our resignations.
We did not reach this decision lightly. We take this step because of Springer Nature’s decision to choose a new Executive Editor(s) to replace Janet Gouldner without consulting the journal’s community of Senior and Corresponding Editors. Springer Nature’s unyielding position on this was a clear violation of our profession's academic norms and standards and was fundamentally at odds with the spirit of the journal. Given our long service and dedication to the journal, we were extremely disappointed that at no point in the publisher’s effort to install a new Executive Editor was a single one of the Senior Editors (nor, to our knowledge, any of the Corresponding Editors) consulted regarding their vision for the future of the journal. Additionally, their attempts to have input into the process of selecting new leadership for the journal were repeatedly rebuffed. We are unaware of any other publisher handling its relationship with an editorial board in such a dismissive fashion.
For us, this is not only about Theory and Society, but more broadly, the precedent of for-profit owners of academic journals unilaterally installing their selected editors. At stake here is how much control we academics are willing to give to for-profit publishers who have so much influence over our professional trajectories on the one hand and rely on our uncompensated labor on the other.
We emphasize that we are not criticizing the choice of Professors McCaffree and Turner as Editors-in-Chief. Our objections are to the process of selecting new leadership, not the leaders chosen.
Given these recent developments, we have lost confidence that Theory and Society will continue to advance the intellectual project founded by Alvin Gouldner five decades ago, a continuing project that has engaged and excited us over the years. We see no alternative but to resign from our role with the journal.
Sincerely (in alphabetical order),
Javier Auyero (University of Texas Austin) Tim Bartley (Georgetown University) Jean Beaman (University of California, Santa Barbara) Karida Brown (Emory University) Miguel A Centeno (Princeton) Katie E. Corcoran (West Virginia University) Claire Decoteau (University of Illinois at Chicago) Paul DiMaggio (NYU) Eva Fodor (Central European University) Harriet Friedmann (University of Toronto) Marion Fourcade (UC Berkeley) Roger Friedland (University of California, Santa Barbara) Marco Garrido (University of Chicago) Alya Guseva (Boston University) Jack A. Goldstone (George Mason University) Josée Johnston (University of Toronto) Christian Joppke (University of Bern) Jaeeun Kim (University of Michigan) Krishnan Kumar (University of Virginia) Magali Sarfatti Larson (Temple University) Omar Lizardo (UCLA) Tey Meadow (Columbia University) Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra (UC San Diego) John N Robinson III (Princeton U) Chris Tilly (UCLA) Tianna S. Paschel (UC Berkeley) Michael Schudson (Columbia University) John Torpey (CUNY Graduate Center) Bruce Western (Columbia University) Marina Zaloznaya (University of Iowa)
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Post by Seth on Jan 11, 2024 10:05:02 GMT -5
The guy behind the scatterplot blog is trying to dig into this. Will see if anything comes of it. The timeline suggests that the replacement board was in the know and in the waiting prior to the ouster of the editors in chief. Here's the post from Dan Hirschman at Scatterplot:
questions for the new theory & society editorial board
-- ArchivistTo Dan's questions, Seth Abrutyn obviously knew about this prior to the resignation of the corresponding editors.In early Jan he posted a screen shot of the senior editors' resignation message and posted that it was a "huge win for theory and the field" (he now deleted the post but you can still find it as a deleted post in David Swartz' replies). This was before Turner (Seth's advisor) and Mcaffree (Seth's co-author) were announced as the new editors in chief. Now the new board has been announced and, low and behold, Seth is on the editorial board. Obviously (as Dan suspects in his scatterplot post) ducks were all arranged ahead of time - plotters were in the know.
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Post by Continued on Jan 11, 2024 10:17:25 GMT -5
...and were working with Springer to be ready to step in in the event (obviously very likely) that the original board would quit. It's a business after all, right?
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