Admin Wiki - User contributions [en]

2022Q3 Reports: TACL Journal Editor

2022-07-17T00:18:39Z

Roarkbr: Created page with "== Journal Impact Factor == As we announced earlier this year, ACL is now indexed in Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and the Directory of Open Access Journals. By virtue of bei..."

== Journal Impact Factor ==

As we announced earlier this year, ACL is now indexed in Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and the Directory of Open Access Journals. By virtue of being indexed in the WoS, the journal received its first impact factor for the year 2021: 9.194. Thanks to authors for submitting such great work, and to action editors and reviewers for providing extraordinary feedback — all of which is reflected in this impact factor.

== Personnel updates ==

=== Editors-in-chief ===

Brian Roark's term concludes at the end of 2022, and a search for a new co-Editor-in-chief is nearing completion. Ani Nenkova's term expires in June, 2024.

== Reviewing process ==

=== Increased submission volumes ===

As detailed in the 2022Q1 report, the number of submissions to TACL was higher in 2021 than in any previous year. There were 10% more papers submitted to the journal than in 2020 (the previous high water mark) — nearly double the number submitted in 2019.

=== Recruitment of action editors and reviewers ===

To keep our reviewing workloads consistent given the increased volume of submissions, we have been steadily recruiting new reviewers over the past few years, and also asking experienced reviewers with sufficient seniority to become action editors. Including a recently concluded reviewer recruitment effort, we have added over 250 new reviewers to our standing reviewer team in the past 3 years, and shifted over 50 veteran reviewers to action editor roles. As detailed in the 2020 Q3 report (and mentioned again in 2021 Q3), our process for identifying and recruiting candidates for these roles requires a sustained effort, in order to ensure that everyone we invite meets the prerequisites for their prospective role. We expect reviewers to be several years beyond PhD with a record of sustained publication in the field, and action editors must be at the associate professor (or equivalent) level of seniority in order to issue signed decisions on behalf of the journal. We have continued to follow our established procedures for identifying candidates for these roles in a way that yields strong diversity (geographic, demographic, and topical) across the editorial team. Once again, in 2022, we had a very high positive response rate from those we invited to these roles. Additionally, we have had relatively low attrition of existing reviewers and action editors, so that our roster has grown sufficiently to match the needs of the increased volume of submissions. We welcome our newest members of the editorial team (a list of which can be found on the TACL website) and a big thanks to all of those who have contributed to editing and reviewing at TACL over the past year.

=== Quick turnaround of reviewing ===

Another 2021 statistic that we can highlight from those published in the 2022Q1 report is the mean days to decision of our papers, which is commensurate with 2020 at 46.0 days. This is right in line with our targeted turnaround of 6 weeks. We are confident that we have the procedures and personnel in place to maintain this in 2022. Thanks again to the action editors and reviewers who make this possible, as well as to our Editorial Assistant extraordinaire Cindy Robinson who keeps us all on track in such a friendly way.

=== Reviewing system ===

PKP, who hosts our OJS reviewing system, has let it be known that they will be moving away from our current version 2 and eventually require all journals to use version 3 of the system. This is a substantial change which has the potential to disrupt TACL's demanding monthly review schedule. We are also attending to reviewing system developments at ARR, and working with the executive committee to understand our options for transitioning to a stable reviewing system with all of the feature we require to maintain (and improve) TACL's processes, either at PKP or elsewhere.

2022Q1 Reports: TACL Journal

2022-03-12T06:01:58Z

Roarkbr: Created page with "== TACL reviewing in still challenging times == The past year has continued to present many and varied difficulties for everyone, so we would again like to take the opportuni..."

== TACL reviewing in still challenging times ==

The past year has continued to present many and varied difficulties for everyone, so we would again like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the fantastic work of all those who have contributed to TACL over 2021, including authors, reviewers, action editors and editorial staff. As will be shown below, we continue to grow yet are managing to sustain our improved turnaround time, for which everyone deserves some credit. So thank you to the team for maintaining the high standards of TACL.

== Journal indexing ==

We are happy to announce that TACL is now listed in Scopus, Web of Science (WoS) and the Directory of Open Access Journals. Many thanks to MIT Press for helping get us through this process, an important initiative for TACL that took several years to complete.

== Personnel updates ==

Ani Nenkova's term as co-Editor-in-chief was set to expire in June of this year, but the ACL exec has approved a term extension until June 2024. Brian Roark's term was earlier extended to (and will expire at) the end of 2022. There is an active search for a new co-Editor-in-chief, see https://www.aclweb.org/portal/content/call-nominations-tacl-co-editor-chief-fall-2022-december-2025 .

== Statistics ==

=== Number of submissions, days to first decision and distribution of decisions ===

In the table below, we present statistics on submissions to TACL over the past five years. These include the total number of submissions, broken down by quarter, as well as the peak number of submissions in any month of that year. The results also include the distribution of paper decisions (see key below) and how long it took to reach those decisions, mean with standard deviation and median.

=== submissions === peak | === decision pct. === | days to 1st decision
Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 total month | (a) (b) (c) (d) | mean (std) median
2017 33 35 46 67 181 25 | 6.6 16.0 49.2 28.2 | 55.2 (15.4) 53
2018 41 19 40 54 154 20 | 3.2 24.7 45.5 26.6 | 54.4 (14.4) 53
2019 39 39 38 51 167 29 | 3.6 23.4 43.1 29.9 | 50.1 (13.1) 48
2020 71 65 75 77 288 30 | 4.2 21.2 52.8 21.9 | 45.5 (11.7) 44
2021 72 89 83 70 314 36 | 6.4 24.2 48.1 21.3 | 46.0 (13.2) 44

(a) = accepted as is
(b) = conditional accept: acceptance guaranteed if conditions met
(c) = rejected, encourage resubmission but no guarantee of acceptance
(d) = rejected with 1-year moratorium on TACL submission.

''Observations:''

While the number of submissions grew a bit relative to 2020 (just under 10%), our decision performance has remained very consistent, both in terms of time to decision and the distribution of the decision categories. Note that 2 papers submitted in Q4 2020 were not included in last year's report, since decisions were still pending for those papers, hence the 2020 numbers have very slightly changed from that report.

Of the 48 (c) resubmissions during 2021, the decision percentages were: (a) 23%; (b) 32%; (d) 45%.

=== Number of TACL papers presented at conferences ===

79 TACL papers were presented at ACL-sponsored conferences in 2021: 27 at ACL, 6 at EACL, 18 at NAACL and 28 at EMNLP.

=== Publishing statistics ===

93 papers were published in vol. 8 (2020) compared with 54 in vol. 8 (2020) and 45 in vol. 7 (2019). This increase is due to the substantial increase in submissions to the journal.

2021Q3 Reports: TACL Journal Editor

2021-07-06T22:44:25Z

Roarkbr: Created page with "== Journal indexing == As we reported last year, TACL was accepted for inclusion in Scopus in May of 2020, but has yet to be incorporated fully into that index, presumably du..."

== Journal indexing ==

As we reported last year, TACL was accepted for inclusion in Scopus in May of 2020, but has yet to be incorporated fully into that index, presumably due to administrative delays resulting from the pandemic. Similarly, our application for inclusion in Web of Science (WoS) is still ongoing. We were contacted by WoS earlier this year, after a lengthy period with no updates about our progress. MIT Press continues to assist us in this application process, which we hope will move forward soon. Earlier in 2020, we were approved and are now present in the Directory of Open Access Journals.

== Personnel updates ==

=== Editors-in-chief ===

Brian Roark's term was extended by the ACL executive committee to the end of 2022. Ani Nenkova's first term ends in the summer of 2022. We expect to recruit a new co-Editor-in-chief sometime in 2022.

== Reviewing process ==

=== Increased submission volumes ===

As detailed in the 2021Q1 report, the number of submissions to TACL was substantially higher than in any previous year. There were 60% more papers submitted to the journal in 2020 than in the previous peak year. To date, 2021 has met or somewhat exceeded the volume of 2020, so this volume of submissions appears to be the new normal for the journal.

=== Recruitment of action editors and reviewers ===

To keep our reviewing workloads consistent given this increased volume of submissions, we have been steadily recruiting new reviewers over the past couple of years, and also asking experienced reviewers with sufficient seniority to become action editors. Including a recently concluded reviewer recruitment effort, we have added over 175 new reviewers to our standing reviewer team in the past 2 years, and shifted over 35 veteran reviewers to action editor roles. As detailed in last year's Q3 report, our process for identifying and recruiting candidates for these roles requires a sustained effort, in order to ensure that everyone we invite meets the prerequisites for their prospective role. We expect reviewers to be several years beyond PhD with a record of sustained publication in the field, and action editors must be at the associate professor (or equivalent) level of seniority in order to issue signed decisions on behalf of the journal. We have continued to follow our established procedures for identifying candidates for these roles in a way that yields strong diversity (geographic, demographic, and topical) across the editorial team. Once again, in 2021, we had a very high positive response rate from those we invited to these roles. Additionally, we have had fairly low attrition of existing reviewers and action editors, so that our roster has grown sufficiently to match the needs of the increased volume of submissions. We extend a big welcome to our newest members of the editorial team (a list of which can be found on the TACL website) and a big thanks to all of those who have contributed to reviewing at TACL over the past year.

=== Quick turnaround of reviewing ===

Another 2020 statistic that we can highlight from those published in the 2021Q1 report is the mean days to decision of our papers, which was the lowest on record at 45.2 days. This is right in line with our targeted turnaround of 6 weeks. We note that we achieved this in 2020 despite pandemic-related disruptions, and we are confident that we have the procedures and personnel in place to maintain this in 2021. Thanks again to the action editors and reviewers who make this possible, as well as to our Editorial Assistant extraordinaire Cindy Robinson who keeps us all on track in such a friendly way.

2021Q1 Reports: TACL Journal

2021-02-27T00:37:20Z

Roarkbr: Created page with "== TACL in the time of Covid-19 == This has been a remarkably difficult year for everyone, and we would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the fantastic work of all..."

== TACL in the time of Covid-19 ==

This has been a remarkably difficult year for everyone, and we would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the fantastic work of all those who have contributed to TACL over 2020, including authors, reviewers, action editors and editorial staff. As will be shown below, we had significantly more submissions in 2020 than ever before, yet managed to reduce our mean time to decision compared with previous years, despite the extra burdens on people's time due to the pandemic. This really is a community endeavor, and the community stepped up in a huge way this past year, so THANKS!

== Journal indexing ==

With the assistance of MIT Press, we applied for inclusion in major indexing services such as Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). Happily, TACL was accepted for inclusion in Scopus in May, 2020, and the process of including it in the index is underway. The decision on inclusion in WoS is still pending. We were earlier approved and have been included in the Directory of Open Access Journals.

== Personnel updates ==

Mark Johnson’s co-EiC term ended in June 2020, at which point TACL reverted to having two co-EiCs. Mark was instrumental in several high priority initiatives at TACL, including the move to a professionally administered submission system, and the application process for indexing. The remaining editorial staff at TACL extend our heartfelt thanks to him for his efforts during his term.

Brian Roark’s term was set to end in June of 2021, but the ACL exec has approved a term extension until the end of 2022. Ani Nenkova's term is set to expire in June, 2022.

To adequately deal with increasing submissions (see numbers below), we have grown our roster of Action Editors (AEs), from around 50 in 2019 to around 80 now, as well as our standing reviewer pool, from roughly 230 in 2019 to our current 350. This has allowed us to keep pace with submissions while maintaining our “one person, one paper” workload objective. Our AEs and standing reviewers are listed at: https://transacl.org/ojs/index.php/tacl/about/editorialTeam .

== Statistics ==

=== Number of submissions, days to first decision and distribution of decisions ===

In the table below, we present statistics on submissions to TACL over the past five years. These include the total number of submissions, broken down by quarter, as well as the peak number of submissions in any month of that year. The results also include the distribution of paper decisions (see key below) and how long it took to reach those decisions, mean with standard deviation and median.

=== submissions === peak | === decision pct. === | days to 1st decision
Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 total month | (a) (b) (c) (d) | mean (std) median
2016 44 29 31 58 162 21 | 4.3 24.1 41.4 30.2 | 52.4 (17.1) 49
2017 33 35 46 67 181 25 | 6.6 16.0 49.2 28.2 | 55.2 (15.4) 53
2018 41 19 40 54 154 20 | 3.2 24.7 45.5 26.6 | 54.4 (14.4) 53
2019 39 39 38 51 167 29 | 3.6 23.4 43.1 29.9 | 50.1 (13.1) 48
2020 71 65 75 75 286 30 | 4.2 21.3 52.8 21.7 | 45.2 (11.2) 44

(a) = accepted as is
(b) = conditional accept: acceptance guaranteed if conditions met
(c) = rejected, encourage resubmission but no guarantee of acceptance
(d) = rejected with 1-year moratorium on TACL submission.

''Observations:''

We see that the number of submissions increased dramatically in 2020, by over 100 papers compared to our earlier peak year. This increase was due to a consistent increase in monthly volume rather than any dramatically higher peaks, as our peak month of 30 was just one more than the peak month in 2019.

Our mean time to first decision has reduced again, as has the variance, so that we are now on average right at our target duration of a month and a half. That we were able to handle this extra volume of papers -- during the pandemic no less -- while maintaining our ideal of fast decision turnaround is entirely due to our dedicated reviewers and action editors (plus Cindy for the helpful reminders), for whom the editors are profoundly grateful.

Of the 48 (c) resubmissions during 2020, the decision percentages were: (a) 23%; (b) 33%; (d) 44%

=== Number of TACL papers presented at conferences ===

58 TACL papers were presented at virtual ACL-sponsored conferences in 2020: 32 at ACL and 26 at EMNLP.

=== Publishing statistics ===

54 papers were published in vol. 8 (2020) compared with 45 in vol. 7 (2019) and 48 in vol. 6 (2018).

2020Q3 Reports: TACL Journal Editor

2020-06-17T15:57:32Z

Roarkbr: Created page with "== Journal indexing == We are pleased to report that TACL was accepted for inclusion in Scopus in May, and will be incorporated into the index within the next few months. Ou..."

== Journal indexing ==

We are pleased to report that TACL was accepted for inclusion in Scopus in May, and will be incorporated into the index within the next few months. Our application for inclusion in Web of Science (WoS) is ongoing and we expect to have the approval in the next year. Earlier this year, we were approved and are now present in the Directory of Open Access Journals.

== Personnel updates ==

=== Editors-in-chief ===

Mark Johnson's term as co-Editor-in-Chief (co-EiC) ends on June 30, 2020, and the remaining editorial team extends our thanks to him for his work on behalf of the journal over the past 4+ years. Mark took on several special projects for the journal over the years, including spearheading the hard work to prepare TACL to apply for inclusion in the above mentioned indexing services. This involved establishment of formal policies and guiding principles, such as a publication ethics statement, which Mark took principle responsibility for. Our recent success in that sphere, highlighted above, is in large part due to his efforts.

The expansion to three concurrent co-Editors-in-chief in 2016 was due to the need for TACL to handle several such initiatives, and we now revert to two co-Editors-in-chief. Brian Roark’s term ends June 2021, and Ani Nenkova's June 2022.

=== Action editors and reviewers ===

To keep our reviewing workloads consistent given increased submissions (see below), we have recruited over 100 new reviewers to our standing reviewer team, and shifted over 20 veteran reviewers to action editor roles. The process of identifying and recruiting candidates for these roles required a sustained effort to ensure that any candidate reviewers meet the prerequisites for each role. We expect reviewers to be several years beyond PhD with a record of sustained publication in the field, and action editors must be at the associate professor (or equivalent) level of seniority in order to issue signed decisions on behalf of the journal. We have established consistent procedures to identify candidates for these roles that reflect the diversity (geographic, demographic, and topical) of the ACL community. We are fortunate that a relatively high percentage of those we contacted were willing to serve, and also that we have experienced relatively low attrition from the standing rosters. We extend a big welcome to our newest members of the editorial team (a list of which can be found on the TACL website) and a big thanks to all of those who have contributed to reviewing at TACL over the past year.

== Reviewing process ==

In the first half of the year, we have received a high number of submissions every month, with levels consistently at or beyond previous year peak months. While not an unexpected increase, we are pleased with the recent additions to the reviewing team, which will allow us to keep up with the increased volume.

The pandemic has also caused some stress on our reviewing process, over and above the relatively high volume. This has led to some delays in the review cycle, but beyond that, our reviewers and action editors have collectively worked very hard under trying circumstances to preserve our high reviewing standards. In the most recent months, as people have settled into their working conditions, the reviewing cycle has normalized somewhat, so that we are back near our pre-pandemic turnaround averages. Thanks to reviewers and action editors for carving out time for this important process, and thanks to authors for understanding when the decision process for some papers has run slightly longer than usual.

2020Q1 Reports: TACL Journal

2020-02-24T19:14:00Z

Roarkbr: Created page with "== Journal indexing == With the assistance of MIT Press, we have been applying for inclusion in major indexing services such as Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), both of whic..."

== Journal indexing ==

With the assistance of MIT Press, we have been applying for inclusion in major indexing services such as Scopus and Web of Science (WoS), both of which are still pending. We expect to hear back from them sometime in 2020. We have been approved for inclusion and are already present in the Directory of Open Access Journals.

== Professional submission-system support ==

In November, we successfully transitioned to having our submission-system hosted by the PKP Publishing Services. The transition was seamless and resulted in minimal lost time for authors, reviewers or editors.

== Personnel updates ==

Lillian Lee's term as co-Editor-in-Chief (co-EiC) finished at the end of 2019, closing out a remarkable 5 years at the helm. Her single-minded leadership and persistent hard work on behalf of the journal is, more than any other factor, responsible for its transition from an initial homespun proof-of-concept to an institution with the policies and procedures to permit relatively straightforward transitioning of editorship. No problem was too specific or too general for Lillian to work to solve — she wrote code and performed sys admin tasks, drafted many of the journal's explicit policies on topics large and small, and advocated for important initiatives to the ACL executive board. All while also managing the monthly submission process. The remaining editorial team extends our warmest thanks to Lillian on behalf of the entire TACL community for all she has done for the journal — our jobs are much easier due to her foundational work.

We note that Mark Johnson’s co-EiC term ends in June 2020, at which point TACL will revert to having two co-EiCs. Brian Roark’s term ends June 2021, and Ani Nenkova's June 2022.

== Statistics ==

=== Number of submissions, days to first decision and distribution of decisions ===

In the table below, we present statistics on submissions to TACL over the past five years.
These include the total number of submissions, broken down by quarter, as well as the peak number of submissions in any month of that year. The results also include the distribution of paper decisions (see key below) and how long it took to reach those decisions, mean with standard deviation and median.

=== submissions === peak | === decision pct. === | days to 1st decision
Year Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 total month | (a) (b) (c) (d) | mean (std) median
2015 29 42 27 51 149 21 | 6.7 22.8 37.6 32.9 | 52.8 (18.0) 48
2016 44 29 31 58 162 21 | 4.3 24.1 41.4 30.2 | 52.4 (17.1) 49
2017 33 35 46 67 181 25 | 6.6 16.0 49.2 28.2 | 55.2 (15.4) 53
2018 41 19 40 54 154 20 | 3.2 24.7 45.5 26.6 | 54.4 (14.4) 53
2019 39 39 38 51 167 29 | 3.6 23.4 43.1 29.9 | 50.1 (13.1) 48

(a) = accepted as is
(b) = conditional accept: acceptance guaranteed if conditions met
(c) = rejected, encourage resubmission but no guarantee of acceptance
(d) = rejected with 1-year moratorium on TACL submission.

''Observations'':

We see that the number of submissions has remained fairly stable, with slightly more peakiness this past year, perhaps due to authors strategizing with respect to the timing of their submissions more than previously. Our mean time to decision has reduced slightly, as has the variance, but overall these numbers demonstrate stability in the reviewing process.

Of the 31 (c) resubmissions during 2019, the decision percentages were:
(a) 16%; (b) 45%; (d) 39%

=== Number of TACL papers presented at conferences ===

42 TACL papers were presented at ACL-sponsored conferences in 2019:
21 at ACL; 10 at NAACL and 11 at EMNLP.

=== Publishing statistics ===

45 papers were published in vol. 7 (2019) compared with 48 in vol. 6 (2018).

2019Q3 Reports: TACL Journal Editor

2019-07-18T14:53:01Z

Roarkbr: Created page with "== Approval and launch of professional submission-system support == The proposal from the TACL editors-in-chief for professional paid support of the submission system is now..."

== Approval and launch of professional submission-system support ==

The proposal from the TACL editors-in-chief for professional paid support of the submission system is now under consideration by the ACL executive committee. Getting this approved is an urgent priority, so that we can port our system during the summer, thus leaving sufficient time for Lillian Lee's help with the transition before her term ends in December. In addition to on-going professional system support, the vendor will also upgrade us to the most current version of OJS 2 (2.4.8) and patch in existing customizations.

== Personnel updates ==

As noted in our previous report (2019Q1, link below), an ad hoc search committee (chaired by Jan Hajic) was organized to search for a new co-Editor-in-Chief (EiC) to replace Lillian Lee, who will be retiring from TACL in December 2019. We are pleased to announce that the search committee has selected Ani Nenkova as a new TACL co-EiC, and she has accepted the position. Her term will run until June 2022. We note that Mark Johnson’s co-EiC term ends in June 2020, at which point TACL will revert to having two co-EiCs. Brian Roark’s term ends June 2021.

We have continued to expand our action editor and standing reviewer teams, which now stand at 62 and 256 individuals, respectively.

== Indexing update ==

We are pleased to report that we have completed all of the requirements to submit an application for inclusion in the Web of Science (WoS), and that application has been submitted by MIT Press. An application to Scopus is also now complete and will be submitted shortly. We have also applied for indexing in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

== Statistics ==

Since our last report (2019Q1) was published within the last two months, the statistics have not substantially changed, so we refer readers to that report for these numbers. We will provide updated statistics in our next report.

The 2019Q1 Report can be found [[2019Q1_Reports:_TACL_Journal|here]].