Notes for Pacific Linguistics editors
Prospective editors of collections of papers (whether thematic collections, festschrift volumes or conference proceedings) should give PL early notice of their intention to submit their collection for publication, indicating what articles will be included in the volume. Among the questions the PL Board asks when evaluating a collection of papers for possible publication is this: Does the collection have sufficient unity of subject matter to be saleable? (Collections of disparate papers are of interest to few purchasers.) Early consultation with PL may avoid the rejection of a manuscript.
There is a difference between the tasks of an editor and a copyeditor (see Notes for copyeditors). The editor, whose name will appear on the volume, has academic responsibility for the volume, i.e. is responsible for every word that occurs in it. This includes ensuring that the authors' contributions are of publication standard, are well presented and are written in good English, that the submitted manuscript (hard copy and electronic) adheres to PL's guidelines, and that the chapters are consistent with each other. We often find, for example, that reference lists at the ends of the various chapters in a would-be volume are in different formats: it is the editor's job to ensure consistency. If you are planning an edited collection, then it would be wise to draw your contributors’ attention to A guide for Pacific Linguistics authors as early as possible, in order to save yourself unnecessary labour.
PL staff will normally communicate only with the volume editor (and if there is more than one editor, with one nominated editor), not with the authors of the articles in a collection. However, each contributor will receive a contract for signature.