2014Q1 Reports: CL Journal

Our raw submission numbers appear to keep the healthy trend of previous years, in 2013 we have received 111 new submissions and a total of 152 submissions if including resubmissions from the beginning of the year. As in previous years the number of thematically or qualitatively unsuitable submissions is high (48). As in previous years, a significant proportion of the inappropriate submissions are often very short (of typical conference paper length) and either outside CL's scope, or unaware of relevant literature.

Our average time to first decision for articles for 2013 is 52 days overall and 82 days if excluding submissions rejected right away. Papers are submitted from all over the world, with the main submitting countries begin China, India, Spain, the US, and the UK.

Since the beginning of 2010, we have averaged around six long articles per issue. Currently, we operate with a small number of articles in reserve, which gives us some ability to combine related articles in the same issue, and provides some insurance in case we have a temporary drying-up of material. However, articles are published (in an not-yet-proofread form) under a 'Just Accepted' tab on the MIT Press website as soon as they have been accepted for publication, so that they are accessible prior to being formally assigned to an issue. The editorial hand-over from Robert Dale to Paola Merlo is completed. Graeme Hirst, who served as book editor for the last 28 years, has indicated he would like to step down. The search for a new book editor will start very soon.

Summary Statistics

All submissions in 2013, including survey proposals

Total: 152 Accept: 15 Accept with revisions: 6 Proposal accepted: 2 Revise and resubmit: 20 Reject: 23 Reject (not suitable): 48 Withdrawn: 1 Withdrawn with no review: 3 No decision yet : 34

Computational Linguistics, Squibs Editor Report for 2013

At the beginning of year 2013, there was only one submission in the squibs pipeline pending from the previous year. In the course of year 2013, 19 papers were (re-) submitted as squibs. This is an all-time record number for squib submissions. At the end of 2012, there were six submissions left in the pipeline.

Thus, 14 decisions were made over the year. The results were as follows:

• 4 papers accepted
• 5 papers rejected
• 5 invitations to revise and resubmit

The mean time taken for those decisions was 64.7 days.

Computational Linguistics, Associate Book Review Editor Report for 2013

At the beginning of year 2013, I had two books in my book review pipeline pending from the previous year. In the course of year 2013, six new books were added to the pipeline. And over the same year, reviews have been published or queued for publication for four of those books. Thus, at the end of 2013, four books were left in my pipeline.