Behind the Scenes at Hispania and SPR ’s Launch

Abstract

Behind the Scenes at Hispania and SPR’s Launch Sheri Spaine Long The work to curate and produce Hispania is done in several virtual offices across the United States. Capable human capital compensates for the journal’s lack of a centralized physical space. The Managing Editor is a key individual who drives many functions behind the scenes en route to publication. Every Editor-in-Chief knows that a talented Managing Editor makes daily operations run smoothly and is crucial to the quality of each issue. The Managing Editor performs a wide variety of tasks that include corresponding with authors, interfacing with our web-based peer review and tracking system, and meeting production deadlines that include copyediting and proofreading the journal. I have been fortunate to work with a number of especially able and experienced Managing Editors during my years as Editor of Foreign Language Annals and subsequently Hispania. One of these seasoned and committed professionals is Hispania’s current Managing Editor, Dr. Jennifer Brady (University of Minnesota Duluth, see bio). For this issue, I asked her to write a guest editorial about the Managing Editor’s role. I invite you to read it to learn about the inner workings of the journal and find out about opportunities for AATSP members to collaborate on the production of Hispania. Many colleagues are unaware of the division of staff labor of a scholarly journal. Most academic journals have procedures and operations to ensure an ethical and efficient process. These processes include the vetting of potential articles and reviews, managing peer review, and shepherding manuscripts slated for publication through a multistep production process. The Editor-in-Chief directs and curates editorial content, while the Managing Editor oversees the nuts and bolts of the journal as well as its production. Another journal that relies upon the work of its Managing Editors is the AATSP’s new graduate student journal, Spanish and Portuguese Review (SPR). David P. Wiseman (AATSP Director of Communications) served as Editor of SPR’s inaugural issue with Julie Bezzerides (Lewis-Clark State College), Anna-Lisa Halling (University of Southern Indiana), and Cory Duclos (Colgate University) contributing their time and talents as Managing Editors over peer review, copy editing, and production, respectively. Duclos will serve as SPR Editor for future issues of the journal. Apart from publishing quality scholarship, SPR was designed as a mentoring initiative. As graduate students work with the journal, they collaborate with experienced faculty editors and develop professional skills for their future professions. They also prepare to publish in and serve on editorial boards for professional journals like Hispania. The three SPR Managing Editors play a vital role in the production of the journal, as they also mentor more than forty exceptional graduate student editors from institutions across the country. I invite you to visit www.spanishandportuguesereview.org to read and share this new open access journal. [End Page 1] Jennifer Brady Jennifer Brady (PhD in Spanish, Colorado) is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies at University of Minnesota Duluth and Managing Editor of Hispania. Before being appointed Managing Editor, Brady worked for Hispania in various capacities: from 2008–09, she was the Assistant to the Book/Media Review Editor and, from 2012–13, she was the Assistant Managing Editor. While she is also committed to editorial work and academic publishing, her published research focuses on contemporary Spanish narrative and film. She recently coedited the volume titled Collapse, Catastrophe, and Rediscovery: Spain’s Cultural Panorama in the Twenty-First Century in which she also wrote a chapter on Juan José Millás. [End Page 2] Sheri Spaine Long Hispania Copyright © 2016 American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, Inc