About the Editorial Policy

In the Fall of 1999, the journal subcommittee of the Cognitive Science Society (Lawrence Barsalou: Chair, Jeff Elman, Ken Forbus, Dedre Gentner, and Douglas Medin) developed a new editorial policy for the Cognitive Science Journal. The governing board of the Cognitive Science Society voted unanimously to implement these policies starting January 1, 2001. We hope that potential authors will take a moment to read these policies, which are described in more detail in the complete Editorial Policy.

Besides reporting original research, articles may provide integrative and theoretical reviews of a literature, or tutorials on formal methods of wide contemporary interest. The journal will also occasionally publish special issues showcasing high-caliber research on a single theme of particular importance. The journal now publishes four categories of articles. Regular articles are approximately 30 published pages and, as with all article categories, are expected to present research of major importance to multiple disciplines bearing on the general study of minds and other intelligent systems. These disciplines include but are not limited to anthropology, computer science, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. Extended articles have a target length of approximately 45 pages, and are expected to present particularly noteworthy research that cannot be adequately described within the constraints of a regular article. Brief reports have a target length of about 10 pages and describe research that represents more than an incremental advance in a timely fashion. Letters to the editor typically consist of approximately 2-3 page commentaries to articles, responses to commentaries, and discussion items of general relevance to the cognitive science community.

A new editorial structure will consist of an executive editor and 12 associate editors. The purpose of this large set of action editors is to assure that submissions are handled by an editor with expertise in the area. This editorial board will have expertise in topic areas representing the diversity of research in cognitive science.

Manuscripts will be handled in an efficient and fair manner. A new manuscript tracking system and reviewer database are being implemented. The journal now accepts electronic submissions in PDF format. Regular articles will typically be handled within 3 months, brief reports within 6 weeks, and extended article within 4 months. The editorial office will typically send a submitted manuscript to reviewers with expertise in the methodologies used in the manuscript, and to reviewers from other disciplines that are relevant to the research.

We would also like to remind readers of two recent dimensions of growth in the journal. First, starting in 2001, the journal will appear bimonthly. Second, the journal is accessible to subscribers on-line at LEA Online. We anticipate that these developments, together with the above policy changes, will considerably increase the readership and impact of the journal. Cognitive science has only grown in its societal and scientific relevance since its original inception, and we hope that the journal continues to reflect the diversity of methods and content areas that comprise cognitive science.

Arthur Markman, Executive Editor
University of Texas at Austin