Continuity with Change

• Date: 01 May 2014
• Published date: 01 May 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12213

Editorial

300 Public Administration Review • May | June 2014

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 74, Iss. 3, pp. 300–301. © 2014 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12213.

those papers that were rejected without review.  e

average time to an “accept” or “revise” decision was

approximately 60 days when we include only those

papers sent out for review. Going forward, we plan to

continue this short cycle from submission to editorial

decision as a service to authors and readers.

 e most signif‌i cant factor in making a timely

editorial decision is the amount of time it takes for a

reviewer to complete a review assignment. Reviewers

are asked to complete their reviews within 30 days.

Ensuring that reviewers keep their commitment is

important for us and for our authors. In 2013, two-

thirds of PAR reviewers delivered their reviews on

time or early. Our process for selecting reviewers is

meticulous, but we are not infallible. We always select

content area specialists and strive to make sure some,

if not all, of the reviewers possess expertise in the

specif‌i c research methods and analytic tools applied

in the manuscript. Recruiting at least one reviewer for

each manuscript from outside the traditional public

administration f‌i elds also breaks down silos between

disciplines and promotes and links the scholarship

published in PAR to larger audiences.

 e quantity and variety of scholarship published in

PAR this past year is impressive.  e six regular issues

include 61 research articles, and the special issue on

health care reform added 11 more. In 2013, PAR also

published four  eory to Practice articles (Donald P.

Moynihan, editor), a Public Administration and the

Disciplines feature (Bradley E. Wright, editor), two

Administrative Prof‌i les (Anne M. Khademian, editor),

15 Perspectives, 41 commentaries on articles, and 34

book reviews (Rogan Kersh and Sonia M. Ospina,

editors).

PAR remains highly selective. Not including spe-

cial issues, PAR’s acceptance rate for 2013 was

approximately 15 percent, which is in line with other

f‌i rst-rate academic journals such as the American

Journal of Political Science and the Journal of Public

Administration Research and  eory.  e rate at which

newly submitted manuscripts are declined with com-

ments from the managing editor, but not sent out for

external review, has remained at about 40 percent of

all submissions.  e primary reasons for not sending

A

s announced in the November/December

2013 issue of PAR, the managing editorship

moved from Indiana University to Florida

State University (FSU) on January 1, 2014. While this

move introduced changes to backroom operations, it

has not altered the commitment of the editorial team

at both Indiana and FSU to assemble the f‌i nest issue

every two months and to provide the very best service

to PAR’s authors and reviewers.

Despite a steep learning curve, the transition to FSU

has been smooth because of the sure direction and

assistance from Editor in Chief James L. Perry and

his staf‌f at Indiana. Over recent weeks, I have come

to truly appreciate the exceptional insight and tire-

less work of my predecessor, Michael McGuire.  e

training, assistance, and feedback provided by Michael

and his editorial assistant, Rachel Fyall, who will stay

on board through spring, has been integral to this

transition.  e FSU managing editor team—Editorial

Assistant Kate Wassel, Associate Managing Editor

Portia Diñoso, and myself—will strive to match

the high standards of quality control and attention

to customer service to authors and reviewers that

Michael set.

 ese changes should go unnoticed to authors and

reviewers. PAR continues to use Editorial Manager

software to manage and track manuscripts, authors,

and reviewers (http://www.editorialmanager.com/

par). Guidelines for submissions can be found at

the publisher’s Web site, Wiley Online (http://

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28I

SSN%291540-6210). Following these guidelines care-

fully will ensure timely processing of your paper.

 e primary operational goal of PAR continues to be

minimizing the elapsed time between an initial manu-

script submission, an editorial decision, and, if the

paper is accepted, publication.  is criterion is impor-

tant in how we assess our own performance. In 2013,

under Michael McGuire’s leadership, the performance

of the PAR editorial team was stellar in this regard.

Over the last year, PAR has received 389 new submis-

sions and 149 revised manuscripts through Editorial

Manager.  e average time to an initial editorial

decision on a new submission was 28 days, including

Continuity with Change

Richard Feiock

Florida State University