It is perhaps an understatement to suggest that much has changed since January 2019 when we began our tenure as associate editors for the Journal of American Studies. But we write today in response to changes in the landscape of academic publishing that, while undoubtedly sharpened by the COVID-19 pandemic, relate more directly to debates around inclusion, diversity, precarity, and the environmental and intellectual sustainability of the traditional journal book reviews model. These are discussions that have been ongoing within the editorial team, as well as the wider academic and publishing communities.
It is in this context that we will be spending the next twelve months reshaping what has traditionally – and perhaps colloquially – been described as the “reviews side” of JAS. We want to set the agenda for our journal, not merely respond reactively to external factors. But this cannot be achieved overnight or by half measures: to do this, the Journal of American Studies will not be publishing a substantive reviews section in 2022 (Volume 56). Instead, we will focus our energy on advancing our shared vision for JAS, which has as its core the journal's principles of inclusion, equality, diversity, accessibility, and sustainability, while continuing to both lay the ground for and reflect on contemporary American studies scholarship and intellectual work.
Although our recognizable features, including the “standard” review of single academic texts, review essays, and roundtables, will remain key components of the journal, we will also be thinking beyond these more traditional formats to implement changes at the levels of both content and mode. In addition to continuing our existing pedagogy strand, ‘In Practice’ – an outstanding example of which readers will encounter exclusively in the journal online – we will be launching a number of new sections that will engage with both American studies scholarship and the American studies community in different ways.
These may include, but are (inevitably) not limited to, thematic clusters of single and multiple reviews; conversations and dialogues between American studies scholars on pressing intellectual, political, and practical questions; reflections on canonical and transformative texts; and state-of-the-field reviews. We also seek to learn from our colleagues beyond traditional academia to facilitate dialogues with people whose work intersects with and shapes the debates that make American studies such a vibrant, diverse and dynamic discipline: we want to amplify the voices of museum curators and archivists, teachers and librarians, journalists, authors and poets.
A key priority is that JAS continues to create opportunities for scholars at all career stages. We will do this in various ways, including an explicit and targeted engagement of postgraduate researchers, and the introduction of a new feature highlighting books by first-time authors. We also hope to take full advantage of the journal's online presence to host video and audio conversations between our contributors.
It is an exciting time to be part of the journal's editorial team and we are grateful for the ongoing support of the editors-in-chief, Sinéad Moynihan and Nick Witham, the Editorial Board, and the British Association of American Studies. We look forward to launching these new initiatives and reaching out to members of the American studies community in the coming months to showcase the imaginative and diverse reality of our field.
