All editors want the same things — and they’re not getting them

Lynn Worsham writes a brief, excellent article in this week’s Chronicle of Higher Education on the main complaints scholarly journal editors have about working with authors. Worsham is editor of JAC, a quarterly journal of rhetoric, writing, culture and politics.

Many of the complaints she describes are echoed by editors in other realms:

• Inappropriate submissions because writers are not familiar with the journal, its purpose and its audience.
• Sloppy manuscripts. Grammar and spelling errors.
• Failure to follow the journal’s submission guidelines.
• Bad attitudes about editing and revision — and, most of all, about rejections.

Editors everywhere — inside and outside academe — would agree.

Read more about journalism and issues facing the profession at JPROF.com.

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