We are excited to take the helm at JEPS and honored to follow previous editorial teams, who collectively have established JEPS as the journal of record for experimental research in political science. We are especially grateful to Kevin (Vin) Arceneaux who served as editor for 5 years. Under Vin’s leadership, the journal introduced new article formats and adopted a “strong” associate editor model. These policies have elevated the quality of the research that ultimately appears in the journal, and we plan to continue them.
Before describing journal policies in more detail, we would like to introduce the team of Associate Editors who will serve with us. They are Bert Bakker (Senior Associate Editor), Claire Adida, Matthew Hayes, Holger Kern, Jonathan Renshon, John Barry Ryan, Beth Simas, and Gijs Schumacher. This is an impressive group of scholars whose expertise in different areas of experimental research will help ensure the methodological diversity of the journal. Consistent with the previous editorship, Associate Editors will have complete autonomy over manuscripts that have been assigned to them. The two Editors will share the task of reviewing with the Associate Editors, taking on submissions that are relevant to their expertise. The Senior Associate Editor will serve as Acting Editor when a submission presents a conflict of interest for either Editor.
Since JEPS was founded in 2014, experiments have “evolved from an emergent method to an accepted method to a primary method” (Druckman and Green Reference Druckman and Green2021, p. 1). This evolution reflects the distinctive advantages of experimentation when it comes to identifying causal effects. There’s no denying that it also is easier to conduct experiments today than it was two decades ago (e.g., in terms of data availability and technological advances). Yet, the ease of conducting experiments belies the challenges of using this method effectively. A high-quality experiment must provide: (1) a theoretical and/or empirical contribution, (2) appropriate comparisons in a well-powered design, and (3) statistical analyses that are informative and transparent. While JEPS takes a broad view of what counts as an experiment, authors must articulate how their design identifies the causal effect that they are studying. To preserve an already overburdened reviewer pool, submissions that do not meet the above criteria will be desk-rejected. Past practice at the journal has demonstrated that desk rejects can be used in a fair manner, and we strive to do the same.
In the coming years, the editorial team hopes to grow the journal’s visibility by serving as a home for practical innovations in experimental research, whether that be through novel applications, tools, designs, or methods. We also urge authors to promote transparency in all its forms: data access, analytic transparency, and production transparency (Elman, Kapiszewski, and Lupia Reference Elman, Kapiszweski and Lupia2018). We look forward to working with you – as authors and reviewers – to advance experimental research in political science and beyond.
A Tribute
Our sincere thanks to Professor Kevin (Vin) Arceneaux (Sciences Po, Paris) for his service as editor of Journal of Experimental Political Science. JEPS benefitted immensely from his five years of leadership, and we want to highlight a few of Vin’s accomplishments.
One of Vin’s most significant achievements was getting the journal recognized by Clarivate as part of the Core Collection in the Web of Science. This recognition allows a journal to receive an impact factor, increasing access and visibility. Every scholar who publishes in JEPS will benefit from this change.
Soon after taking over the journal, Vin and his team introduced the Registered Report format. Introducing a new article format is never easy: at this time, the format wasn’t considered mainstream, and authors, reviewers, and editors had questions about how the process would work. Nevertheless, Vin was an advocate of the format, saying that “the current way in which we produce research makes it more likely that splashy, but potentially wrong, findings are published while null results are buried in a file drawer” (source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2018/10/01/the-value-of-preregistration-for-open-and-credible-science-an-initiative-from-the-journal-of-experimental-political-science/). Vin believed that Registered Reports could improve the credibility of political science research. Five years later, we are delighted to see that Vin’s advocacy has paid off: the Registered Report is a “mainstream” article format that appears regularly in JEPS and has improved how we conduct experimental research.
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, Vin continued to innovate by initiating the rapid review of research on the pandemic. Due to his hard work and expedient handing of submissions, JEPS published timely and cutting-edge research that increased our understanding of many facets of the pandemic.
These are just a few of Vin’s initiatives as editor of JEPS. On a day-to-day basis, Vin was an effective manager of the journal, and manuscript decisions were fair and timely. Most of all, Vin provided extensive and unconditional support to his team of associate editors.
This brief tribute does not do justice to Vin’s service. The journal, and the discipline at large, have benefited from his leadership. On behalf of the APSA Experimental Political Science Section, the previous and current editorial team of JEPS, all current and prospective JEPS authors (and readers of the journal!), we thank Vin for his many years of hard work.
