Editorial
| Date | 01 September 1976 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1976.tb00110.x |
| Published date | 01 September 1976 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
EDITORIAL
SOME
of the editorial policy changes in relation to book reviewing outlined in the
June Editorial have been introduced earlier than expected. The new policy will
not be fully applied until the December issue because some conventional book
reviews that were inherited from the previous editorship are included, as are
some review articles.
The new feature is the
Books
section which will replace the old Book Reviews
section and comprises book notes together with author and title lists divided
into four broad subject categories
:
British Politics; Comparatioe Politics and Area
Studies; International Relations;
and
Political Theory and Methodology.
I
am pleased to announce that Vernon Bogdanor of Brasenose College, Oxford
has agreed to become Book Notes Editor and he will be responsible for the
Books
section. Mr. Bogdanor will work in close collaboration with Steven Lukes,
the Review Editor, who will remain the person to contact for all matters relating
to review articles and book notes.
Naturally, some disquiet has already been expressed since the new policy was
announced about the inevitable brevity of a book note as compared with a con-
ventional review, and it has been suggested that such brevity will encourage laxness
in reviewing standards.
This
is
a possible defect of the new system that will have
to be watched closely; but brevity does not necessarily entail slapdashery or
unwonted dismissiveness. If brevity does encourage unfair treatment the book
section editors will, of course, reserve the right to refuse publication or, where
criticism appears to be unsupported, ask the reviewer to extend his note by pro-
viding supporting reasons.
It must also be borne in mind that for reasons of space some conventional
reviews in a journal like
Political Studies
have to cover a number of books,
and it is debatable whether a two paragraph judgement in a composite review of,
say, four
or
five books is less prone to the snap judgement than a two paragraph
book note. One advantage
of
the book note over the conventional review is that
it will enable us the share out the task of reviewing more widely among members
and at the same time speed up the review process, thus providing authors with
earlier public notice and readers with a more up-to-date journal. The book note
format will also enable readers to keep abreast of the ever-rising tide of publica-
tions since it will make a more comprehensive coverage possible as well as pro-
vide a more convenient form ofpresentation. On balance,
I
think, these advantages
decisively outweigh the possible disadvantages of the book note system, although
it must be emphasized that they will take some time to be realized. For example,
we are not yet receiving from the publishers all the relevant books and earlier
this year during the change over some books seem to have gone astray. Also
our list of potential reviewers
is
not yet as comprehensive as would wish (we had
to start from scratch) and we apologise for the slight Oxford bias of the reviewers
in this issue. However, these are all transitional problems and by next year we
hope to be able
to
reap the full benefits
of
the new system.
L.
J.
Sharpe
17
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