Membership roles and Journal officers

1. Registered readership and contributors – readers and contributors can freely register online;
2. Self-appointed Editorial Board for decision-making and serving as managing editors. Since people’s commitments and participation may change with time, each year there will be a call for self-reappointment, so we won’t have people on the list who do not want to participate.
3. Manuscript Managing Editorial Teams (METs) – Each Managing Editorial Team has three members: 1 (Deputy) Editor-in-Chief plus 2 Editorial Board members solicited by the Editors-in-Chief.  The managing editors decide whether to send a manuscript to the reviewers. If so, they will select the reviewers and make the final decision about its publication. If the paper is accepted, they will be responsible for providing readability feedback to the author(s) and for suggesting improvements to the paper. The managing editors will also be responsible for placing the finalized, accepted paper on the journal’s website (i.e., publication). Finally, the managing editors can invite commentators on the accepted paper. They are responsible for managing the work of the invited commentators and for preparing and placing the finalized commentaries on the journal’s website.
4. Invited editors (at least 2 or more) – volunteer or are invited and appointed by the Editorial Board or the Editor-in-Chief to prepare a collection of articles on a topic. Like managing editors, the invited editors are responsible for selecting reviewers, decision-making, providing readability feedback, and eventually putting the papers online [a concern: there can be a conflict of interest between the invited editors’ decision-making about the manuscripts’ acceptance and their desire to see the invited issue done]. How can we resolve this potential conflict of interest?] Finally, the invited editors can invite commentators on the special issues. They are responsible for managing the work of the invited commentators and for preparing and placing the finalized commentaries on the journal’s website.
5. Book review editors (1-3) – invite people to review books, coordinate book reviewing, provide readability copyediting feedback, and place ready book reviews online.
6. Registered reviewers selected by the managing editors (2-4 for each manuscript). The reviewers are responsible for providing the editors with their advice on whether or not they recommend the manuscript for publication and justifying their recommendations. In case they recommend publication, they are also responsible for providing readability feedback to the author(s) and suggestions for improvement of the paper.
7. Invited commentators – commentators for an accepted manuscript can be invited by the managing editors or by the invited special issue editors to write a commentary on a paper or papers.
8. The Editor-in-Chief will be responsible for the coordination of the journal work and staff, facilitation of the DP Editorial Board decision-making, providing leadership for the DP Editorial Board, selecting managing editors, and special issue editors. The editor-in-chief is also responsible for “foreign affairs” of communicating with outside organizations. The Editorial Board elects the editor-in-chief for a tenure term.
9. The deputy of the Editor-in-Chief (3) will be responsible for helping the editor-in-chief with the coordination of the journal work and staff, facilitation of the DP Editorial Board decision-making, selecting the managing editors, and special issue editors. The deputy editor-in-chief is also responsible for “foreign affairs” of communicating with outside organizations. The Editorial Board elects the Deputy Editor-in-Chief for a tenure term. In a case when the Editor-in-Chief submits his or her own manuscript to the journal, a deputy Editor-in-Chief will manage the manuscript through the process.
10. Tenure of all elected officers is 4 years.

Preparing new staff for the new tenure.

The upcoming staff (i.e., the editor-in-chief, the deputy editors, and the review editors) will be elected by the Editorial Board in the year before the end of the current officers' tenure to learn the process through observation, participation in work communication, and apprenticeship to become the next staff.

Nomination and the election of the Journal Officers

There are two kinds of officers in the DPJ:

Self-appointed or appointed officers. No election necessary:

1. Self-nominated Editorial Board members. No election is necessary. The mandate expires after a year. To be an active member of the EB, one needs to "self-appoint" once a year. (Technically, this is done through an online form created by the Main Editors, through which interested members can self-nominate. An email will be issued a month before the end of the period with a gentle reminder to renew one's registration as an editor, and to attract new members.)
2. Submission manuscript Managing Editors (2 from the Editorial Board plus 1 Main Editor) – solicited and appointed by the Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editors-in-Chief.
3. Invited Editors – volunteered or invited and appointed by the Editorial Board and/or the Editor-in-Chief.
4. Referees/reviewers – selected from the broader DP community and appointed by DPJ Editors.

 

Elected officers of the DPJ:

Editor-in-Chief – 1

Deputy Editor-in-Chief – 3

Book Review Editors – 1-3

Nomination and election procedures

1. Nomination and election occur every 4 years in the second half of the election year, a year before the current tenure of the DPJ elected officers expires, to create continuity and promote learning.
2. Eligibility to vote: Only the current Editorial Board members (DPJ legislative branch) are eligible to vote in DPJ elections.
3. Eligibility to be nominated and elected: Only current and past Editorial Board members who: a) served at least one full year on the Editorial Board AND b) participated on at least one Managing Editorial Team can self-nominate or be nominated and elected as DPJ Officers.
4. Each nomination must include: a) rationale (skills and competencies of the nominee), and b) a Self-nomination should also include the nominee's vision for the future of DPJ under their leadership.
5. Each nomination (of others or self) should contain reasons for nomination, especially organizational/communal/editorial/fundraising/finance management/reviewing experience, and whatever is relevant for the nominee’s position.
6. The nomination period lasts 3 weeks and ends at least 1 week before the election.
7. The Election period: Voting for DPJ Officers will take place within ONE week.
8. In the event of a tie in the number of votes for the officers, the tie will be resolved by the current Editor-in-Chief and Deputy Editors-in-Chief through ad hoc decision-making on a case-by-case basis.

Decision-Making Process and Procedures

1. Any member of the Editorial Board (EB) can bring an issue to the Editorial Board email for discussion;
2. Any member of EB can propose a motion along with its PROs and CONs;
3. The email discussion of the issue and the proposed motions will continue until it saturates and exhausts itself;
4. A facilitator (the Main Editor) suggests a week of grace period before voting on the proposed motions to make sure that people are ready to vote. Any EB member can ask for an extension of the grace period.
5. Online voting is set up for 7 full days by a facilitator, with a dynamic report on voting available for the community;
6. The voting results are reported to the EB email listserv. The report should include:
   1. Number of people who voted and their percentage of the total EB members;
   2. Number and percentage of votes for each voting option;
   3. Optional comments
7. If the voting decision set by a majority of those EB members who voted was decisive, the decision is recorded as the final decision. If, however, the voting was not decisive (e.g., a tie), a decision will be made through an ad hoc procedure.