What Is Our Niche?

Knight, W. Andy ; MacFarlane, S. Neil ; Weiss, Thomas G. 等

Global Governance was established in 1994 to publish high-quality scholarship on the role of international institutions in world politics and to foster debate around this general theme. Its primary aim has been to publish refereed articles that are accessible and interesting to both academics and practitioners. The journal has also striven to put forward voices and perspectives about multilateralism that were underrepresented in mainstream literature. Our editorial predecessors sought--and we will continue to seek--offerings that reflect diversity, not simply with regard to the types and origins of sources but also to the gender, geographical origins, and professional background of authors. Subjects of global importance and impact should, by definition, draw upon an ever widening variety of contributors and viewpoints.

In no small measure because of yeoman efforts by Roger Coate and Craig Murphy, we take helm of what the American Publishers Association recognized in 1996 as the "Best New Journal in Business, Social Sciences, and Humanities." In preparation for our five-year term, however, we decided to take a hard look at the past. We wished to assess how contributors derived their data, hypotheses, and supporting arguments, as well as to determine the extent to which Global Governance has drawn upon a broad range of authors who make use of diverse research. We designed a study that was both introspective and comparative in nature.

We also thought it would be interesting to see how Global Governance compares with other refereed journals that contain substantial offerings on multilateralism. In particular, given our explicit objectives regarding diversity of authorship, content, and sources, we wished to know whether our journal has addressed these issues in a more substantial and sustained way than counterpart journals.

From the universe of academic and policy journals, any selection of a comparative pool is bound to raise questions. In consultation with members of the editorial board, we selected what are arguably the two most prestigious North American journals in the field, along with two well-respected journals published in Europe: International Organization, World Politics, the Journal of Peace Research, and International Affairs.

The editorial teams from these journals might question our selection of variables and their interpretation. We do not suggest that other priorities are mistaken or inappropriate. But we are interested in seeing how we are doing in pursuing goals that we deem desirable. We presume that some of our readers share this curiosity.

Defining Variables

The sixteen variables that formed the basis of this study can be divided into two groups. The first group includes author profiles, which measures residence, region of origin, gender, and profession. The second group constitutes article profiles, which takes stock of the number of authors, acknowledgments, pages, endnotes, and sources (secondary and primary, with interviews as a discrete category) per article. In addition to the total number of published sources, the analysis also gauges the use of sources in the English language published in the main markets (North America, United Kingdom), sources in English outside those markets, and sources in other languages.

We acknowledge that data are approximate in certain instances. The data set draws upon material in the journals (occasionally uneven in detail) and is supplemented by our knowledge (sometimes incomplete). Complete accuracy would require a costly follow-up. We are attempting to present an indicative snapshot. There is no reason to believe that the margin of error is wide enough to draw into question the overall thrust.

And so, what is our niche? Should the journal change in the next five years?

Comparing Global Governance and Some Competitors, 1998-1999

How do the eight issues from the two most recent years of Global Governance (GG) compare with the same number of issues of other journals in the comparative pool? They are Volumes 52 and 53 of International Organization (IO); Volume 50, no. 2, through Volume 52, no. 1, of World Politics (WP); Volume 35 and Volume 36, nos. 1-2, of Journal of Peace Research (JPR); and Volumes 74 and 75 of International Affairs (IA).

Author Profiles

Authors resident in North America were strongly represented in all journals, with the exception of IA (16 percent). North American representation was most pronounced for WP and IO (about 95 percent and 90 percent). JPR and GG were similar (66 percent and 67 percent).

Authors resident in Western Europe were most strongly represented in IA (70 percent). GG and JPR yielded substantially equivalent results (21 percent and 26 percent). IO and WP, in contrast, posted the lowest percentages (11 percent and 6 percent). Whereas 12 percent of GG, 11 percent of JPR, and 9 percent of IA contributors resided outside North America and Western Europe at the time of publication, none from IO and WP did.

When contributors' region of origin was considered, 56 percent of GG's and 63 percent of JPR's were North American by origin; comparable figures for 10 and WP were 87 percent and 94 percent. In contrast, IA had the lowest North American representation with 16 percent. Authors whose region of origin was outside North America and Western Europe accounted for 13 percent of authors in GG, JPR, and IA, but 6 percent in WP and 0 percent in IO.

For both residence and origin, the sum of North American and European authors was virtually identical for GG, JPR, and IA (87 percent, 90 percent, and 87 percent, respectively).

Gender data show that approximately 28 percent of GG authors were female, with 27 percent for JPR, 23 percent for WP, 19 percent for IO, and 14 percent for IA.

Regarding the profession of authors, GG (30 percent) yielded the highest percentage of practitioners in comparison with JPR (16 percent), IA (10 percent), IO (6 percent), and WP (6 percent). The percentage of authors who identified themselves as international relations specialists at the time of publication was lower for GG than for the other four journals surveyed. While only 57 percent of GG contributors identified themselves as such, 94 percent of WP, 88 percent of IO, 76 percent of IA, and 75 percent of JPR labeled themselves as scholars of international relations. Finally, 13 percent of GG and 14 percent of IA contributors were academics outside of international relations, and JPR registered 9 percent, IO 6 percent, and WP none.

Article Profiles

Multiple-author articles were more common for IO, WP, and JPR than for GG and IA (on average, 1.5, 1.4, and 1.3 versus 1.2 and 1.1), but the difference was negligible.

IO had the greatest average number of acknowledgments per article with 12, and WP, JPR, and IA followed with 8, 4, and 2. GG articles had none (the journal's policy).

IO and WP articles (at about 31 pages) were some 9-10 pages longer on average than those of GG; articles in IA (17) and JPR (15) were shorter.

The average number of endnotes (or footnotes) per article was greater in IO, WP, and JPR (91, 70, and 50) than in GG (44) and IA (39). The ratio of endnotes per 100 pages was: JPR (333), IO (303), IA (229), WP (226), GG (210). In the case of GG, this again reflects policy.

WP, IO, and JPR articles have, on average, a greater number of total sources per article (101, 88, and 63) than GG (56) and IA (44). GG articles had about 66 percent secondary sources and 34 percent primary sources. Of the primary sources, 5 percent were derived from interviews. GG had the lowest percentage of secondary to overall sources (66 percent) in comparison with the other journals (IO 94 percent, JPR 92 percent, WP 87 percent, and IA 77 percent).

While about 83 percent of the published sources of GG articles were marketed by presses in the dominant North America--U.K. market, 93 percent of the sources of IO articles originated there: WP, IA, and JPR averaged 81 percent, 77 percent, and 74 percent. GG, IA, and JPR articles used more English-language materials from other regions (about 16 percent, 16 percent, and 18 percent) than 10 and WP (6 percent and 8 percent). While 10 percent of WP, 8 percent of JPR, and 7 percent of IA published sources were derived from foreign-language sources, the number of sources in other languages in both GG and IO was negligible.

Conclusion

The foremost consideration for a refereed journal must be the quality of published articles. Assuming that high quality can be found in many places and in a variety of shapes, this journal should draw upon as wide a spectrum of people and perspectives as possible.

Like universities and other institutions, Global Governance has struggled to be more diverse. However, data for GG suggest an author pool with a persistently high concentration of North American and, to a lesser extent, Western European scholarship. This necessitates continuing active outreach to regions that are less well represented.

However, there is evidence of progress in other categories analyzed here. The percentage of female authors in the journal has risen steadily since Volume 1. It now approximates the percentage of women who are members of the International Organization Section of the International Studies Association and of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS)--both around 30 percent. Although Global Governance attracts a substantial proportion of academics from outside international relations, the statistics suggest that our percentage remains lower than perhaps it should be. Likewise, our figures for contributions from practitioners are substantial, but they are perhaps lower than our readers would like.

Turning to the article profiles, the most striking aspect of the data is the reliance in Global Governance and other journals on secondary English-language sources published by North American and British publishers. This is hardly a picture of healthy diversity in sources.

Dramatic changes in editorial policy are undesirable at this juncture. To help tired eyes, we have chosen a slightly larger type font. We will continue to seek relatively short articles (fewer than 5,000 words) that use endnotes sparingly--in fact, we will be returning without review submissions that stray from this model. A number of articles that were in the pipeline are longer and will appear in the next couple of issues. For new submissions, however, we will conscientiously apply a long-standing policy that has not been applied systematically. We (hopefully along with the ACUNS and UNU [United Nations University] communities) should intensify efforts to attract submissions from outside of North America and Europe, as well as from practitioners and authors with backgrounds other than international relations.

In addition, we are changing a few policies in order to move toward our goals:

* The opening section of the journal, titled "Global Insights," will contain two or three brief (1,500--2,000 words) and provocative "academic op-eds" that deal with topical issues of multilateralism. These may be solicited or unsolicited and reviewed on a fast-track basis up until a few weeks before publishing deadlines. We hope that this section will provide the opportunity to publish original essays and commentaries on key documents or previous articles in Global Governance. This section may also facilitate contributions from under-represented groups of authors--practitioners (journalists as well as officials from governments, international governmental organizations, and nongovernmental organizations) and scholars who are not international relations specialists.

* We have established an upgraded website at www.arts.ualberta/GlobalGovernance. Abstracts of 150 words will appear on the website not only in English but also in French and Spanish in the hopes of attracting a wider readership and a more diverse pool of authors--drawing, we hope, upon literatures and analytical traditions different from those that have dominated these pages to date.

* We have altered the guidelines for authors to encourage more citations from primary sources (documents, data, and interviews) as well as non-English-language publications.

As always, we look forward to reactions from our readers.

Note

Kevin Ozgercin, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, compiled the Appendix.

 Residence: GG, IO, WP,
 JPR, and IA, 1998-1999
Location GG % Vol. IO % Vol. WP % Vol. JPR % Vol. IA %Vol.
Africa 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0
Asia/Pacific 6 10 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3
Central and South
 America and
 the Caribbean 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 11
Eastern Europe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Middle East 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 8 0 16
North America 41 67 74 89 44 94 46 66 10 16
Western Europe 13 21 9 11 3 6 17 24 44 70
 Total 61 100 83 100 47 100 70 100 63 100
 National Origin: GG, IO, WP, JPR, and IA, 1998-1999
Location GG % Vol. IO % Vol. WP % Vol. JPR % Vol. IA % Vol.
Africa 3 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Asia/Pacific 4 6 0 0 1 3 1 2 2 3
Central and South
 America and
 the Caribbean 1 2 0 0 1 3 1 3 6 10
Easter Europe 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Middle East 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 8 0 0
North America 33 56 64 87 31 94 41 63 10 16
Western Europe 18 31 9 13 0 0 18 27 45 71
Total 59 100 73 100 33 100 66 100 63 100
 Gender: GG, IO, WP, JPR, and IA, 1998-1999
Gender GG % Vol. IO % Vol. WP % Vol. JPR % Vol. IA % Vol.
Female 18 28 15 19 11 23 19 27 9 14
Male 43 72 66 81 36 77 50 73 54 86
 Total 61 100 81 100 47 100 69 100 63 100
 Profession: GG, IO, WP, JPR, and IA, 1998-1999
Profession GG % Vol. IO % Vol. WP % Vol. JPR % Vol. IA % Vol.
Practitioner 18 30 5 6 3 6 11 16 6 10
Academic (IR) 34 57 71 88 44 94 52 75 48 76
Academic
 (non-IR) 8 13 5 6 0 0 6 9 9 14
 Total 60 100 81 100 47 100 69 100 63 100
 Article Profile Variables: GG, IO, WP, JPR, and IA, 1998-1999
 Endnote
Journal Authors Acknowledgments Pages Endnotes Ratio
GG 1.2 0 21 44 210
IO 1.5 12 30 91 303
WP 1.4 8 31 70 226
JPR 1.3 4 15 50 333
IA 1.1 2 17 39 229
 Article Profile Variables: GG, IO, WP, JPR, and IA, 1998-1999
 Secondary % of Primary % of % of
Journal Sources Sources Mean Sources Mean Interviews Mean Total
GG 60 40 66 18 29 3.0 5 100
IO 74 63 85 10 14 1.0 1 100
WP 101 85 84 4 4 4.0 4 100
JPR 63 59 94 10 16 0.5 1 100
IA 44 34 77 9 20 0.3 1 100
 Article Profile Variables: GG, IO, WP, JPR, and IA, 1998-1999
 Non-North
 North America-
 America- U.K. Foreign-
 Published U.K. % of English % of Language % of
Journal Sources Sources Mean Sources Mean Sources Mean Total
 GG 53 44 83 8 15 1 1 100
 IO 88 82 93 5 6 2 2 100
 WP 96 78 81 8 8 10 10 100
 JPR 62 44 72 12 21 4 7 100
 IA 44 34 77 7 16 3 7 100

Statistical Appendix

Defining Author Profiles

* Residence refers to the geographic location of the author's institutional base at the time of publication. Locations are grouped into seven areas: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Central and South America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Western Europe.

* Region of origin refers to the region in which an author's country of citizenship is located. Again, we have used Africa, Asia and the Pacific (excluding the western littoral of the Americas), Central and South America and the Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Western Europe. This variable is included to take account of the diverse backgrounds of the many expatriate scholars working in Western Europe and North America.

* Gender refers to female and male.

* Profession refers to the main affiliation or source of professional identity of the author at the time of publication. Authors may be either practitioners or academics, with specializations in international relations or another field. "Practitioner" refers to a person who does not hold an official appointment with an accredited educational institution and whose main, if not only, source of employment is with a governmental, intergovernmental, and/or nongovernmental organization. It also includes fellows or visiting researchers at private foundations and institutes as well as policy-oriented institutes and centers affiliated with institutions of higher education. "Academic" refers to those individuals, regardless of tenure status, who hold professorial, lecturing, or research appointments at departments of educational institutions; they are either from international relations (including political science and history) or from other fields.

Defining Article Profiles

* Number of authors measures the number of authors per article.

* Number of acknowledgments refers to the number of individuals acknowledged by the author(s) for their comments.

* Number of pages refers to the total number of pages of an article, including endnotes. Fewer are desirable.

* Number of notes measures the total number of endnotes or footnotes per article.

* Number of sources refers to the total number of published and unpublished sources per article.

* Number of secondary sources refers to commercially published or forthcoming books, articles, and reports.

* Number of primary sources includes "gray material" from governmental, intergovernmental, and nongovernmental documents, press releases, and statements or speeches.

* Number of interviews and original data refers to quotations and other cited information derived from interviews or original statistical data collected by the author(s).

* Total number of published sources includes secondary and primary sources but excludes interviews, original data, and references to papers presented at conferences because of the difficulty in determining where the paper originated and whether it was eventually published.

* Number of major-market sources in English refers to all commercial publications emanating from the two major markets (the United States/Canada and the United Kingdom).

* Number of other English-language sources refers to sources published in English outside the North America--U.K. market (for instance, studies published in English in Scandinavia and Asia).

* Number of non-English-language sources refers to publications in other languages.