Editorial Staff

The editorial staff of Cognitive Science will consist of one editor, an editorial board of 12 to 15 action editors, and no senior editors. Because Cognitive Science covers diverse areas that range from machine learning to cognitive linguistics to developmental psychology to cognitive neuroscience, it is essential to have a large set of action editors that is equally diverse. By judiciously choosing board members who cover research areas, we can do a good job of optimizing the fit between action editors and manuscripts. Whenever possible, a submitted manuscript should be handled by someone with expertise in the respective area. To the extent that authors believe that an expert is likely to handle their paper, they may be more inclined to submit it to Cognitive Science. The editor may also want to appoint board members who are likely to attract papers from research areas that we would like to see represented in the Journal.

A potential problem that could arise with a large and diverse editorial board is that its members accept relatively narrow articles in their respective disciplines. To avoid this problem, the following criteria should be applied to selecting and renewing members of the editorial board:
(a) Individuals should only be appointed to the editorial board who have a proven record of appreciating the importance of interdisciplinary work, and who will be committed to publishing it.
(b) Each new editor will work together with the journal subcommittee to write a policy statement for the action editors. This statement should stress that published articles make interdisciplinary contributions, and that standard disciplinary pieces are not appropriate.
(c) Members of the editorial board who do not consistently publish interdisciplinary articles should be replaced when members of the board are reviewed.

Because the composition of the editorial board is central to the success of the Journal, the following process will be used to establish the editorial board each time a new editor of the Journal is appointed. The governing board of the Society will maintain and revise a list of areas central to cognitive science. These areas will reflect both traditional areas of research, as well as new cutting edge areas. When a new editor is appointed, the governing board will review and reassess these areas before providing a list to the new editor. In addition, the governing board will provide names of researchers in these areas who might be good candidates for the editorial board. These areas and individuals are by no means binding. The new editor should simply view them as suggestions, and should feel free to suggest alternative areas and individuals. The governing board does not wish to dictate the composition of the editorial board. The purpose of this procedure is only to ensure that important areas of research are represented by capable individuals, who will attract papers to the Journal and do a good job of acting on them. Ultimately, the new editor should propose an editorial board to the governing board for formal approval. Although the governing board has the ability to veto a proposed editorial board, the likelihood of such vetoes is unlikely. The governing board\'s intention is for the editor to take the lead in defining it. The governing board primarily sees its role in this process as suggesting initial areas and names for consideration, which will probably evolve as the new editor formulates an editorial board that will best serve him/her and the cognitive science community.

Another potential problem with a diverse set of action editors is that it may be difficult to keep a large number of action editors on schedule. This problem can probably be minimized with strong editorial management, a good tracking system, and a consistent system of reminders. To further minimize this problem, the editor will review members of the editorial board every two years. Should a board member consistently fail to turn around manuscripts in a timely manner, s/he should be replaced. The editor may also want to change the composition of the editorial board periodically in order to target research areas of evolving interest.

Finally, when a member of the editorial board handles a manuscript, s/he works with the editor to select reviewers. Using key words submitted with the manuscript, the editor selects a potential set of reviewers from the Journal\'s data base (and further includes any other potential reviewers who come to mind). The editor then sends this preliminary set to the action editor, who makes additional suggestions and plays a central role in establishing the final set in collaboration with the editor.