Note from the Editors

Abstract

This first issue of Politics & Policy in 2008 heralds many new developments for the journal that we are sure will make its 36th year of publication an important, extremely busy, and highly productive time for us all. From this issue onward, Politics & Policy will be publishing six issues a year in place of its customary four. This step forward has been taken by the Policy Studies Organization for several reasons, the most important of which is to accommodate the publication of more research by members of our growing consortia of State Political Science Associations. As of January 2008, we are extremely pleased to welcome the Ohio Association of Economists and Political Scientists to the consortia. We are sure new and existing readers will join us in looking forward to a guest-edited special issue compiled from their members' submissions in April of this year. We are also pleased to announce our formal alliance with the student think tank, The Roosevelt Institution, which will produce a student issue of Politics & Policy in October. And, although they joined us some months ago, this is also an excellent opportunity to welcome the British Columbia Political Studies Association as the first international member of the consortium of State Political Science Associations, on behalf of which Politics & Policy continues to be run and published. We encourage members of all our supporting Associations to continue to submit their manuscripts to us. The increased number and frequency of issues this year, and the associated increase in processing time this will take, means that the editorial office will be moving to electronic submission and manuscript management over the coming months. This is becoming the much preferred system for authors and editors alike, making submission simpler, ensuring that the review process is quicker and more efficient, and meaning that tracking your manuscript's status is instantaneous. We anticipate a significant drop in turnaround times and a steady rise in submission figures once the initial transition and assimilation period is completed. Best of all, it is still possible to preserve the personal, human touch in editor–author and editor–reviewer relations while taking advantage of the increased efficiency the system provides. We are also delighted to announce here the creation of two Politics & Policy Awards: for Best Article Published in the 2008 volume and for Best Review of an Article Submitted in 2008. Details of the nomination and selection procedures that will be used to determine the winners of these awards will be posted on the Politics & Policy website. Both awards will be presented during the PSO reception at the American Political Science Association Conference every year, and winners of the Best Article Award will enjoy increased publicity for their article from the PSO; Wiley-Blackwell; in the PSO announcements of our sister journals, Review of Policy Research and Policy Studies Journal; and, permanently, on the Politics & Policy website. And finally, as a significant percentage of all academic journal subscriptions continue to shift to online only with every passing year, it is clear that the way in which journals and journal articles are used by academics is changing. This is already having several consequences in terms of journal writing—consequences that will very likely soon have a considerable effect upon what scholars expect from a quality journal in terms of its links to additional information, sources, detailed data, survey questions and responses, and so on. Last year, Politics & Policy started to make use of links embedded in our articles to online supplementary material that may be highly relevant to an article's argument but is not normally included in the printed copy of any journal. This year, a new feature of the journal will be a review of websites and/or blogs connected to the subject of one or more articles in each issue. We are pleased to welcome our first website reviewer, Daniel Gutiérrez, who will be setting up this feature in both the hard copy of Politics & Policy and its online counterpart. Over the next six months, Daniel will be evaluating how the website reviews section is being used, so please drop him a line if you have any suggestions for how this feature might serve you better. We hope that this feature will provide our readers with not only some interesting and useful further information on the way current debates surrounding the subject are leaning, but also fast links to virtual spaces for further research, additional data, and the most recent updates. We hope that you enjoy the articles in this and the other five issues of the 2008 volume of Politics & Policy.