2008Q3 Reports: CL Journal

Computational Linguistics Journal Report for 2007-2008 Robert Dale, Editor

1	Summary

The journal is in a very healthy state.  For the first time in several years,
we now have a backlog of articles awaiting publication (a good thing or a bad
thing depending on your point of view).  Our first 'Early Access'
article -- whereby a pre-final version of an article is made available on the
MIT Press website -- has appeared, and there are now a considerable number of
articles in the pipeline; we are in transition to a process whereby articles
are shipped to MIT Press as they come in to us in their final form from
authors, although we are still ironing out some bugs in this process.

Our next issue to hit the streets, 34-2, is a special issue on Semantic Role
Labelling. This year will also see our first ever Survey Article, 'Inter-Coder
Agreement for Computational Linguistics', by Ron Artstein and Massimo Poesio;
and another special issue on Prepositional Phrases is in the works.

The big news, of course, is that from the beginning of 2009 CL will be an open
access journal, and primarily electronic, so 34-4 will be our last primarily
hard copy issue.  We are still working out some of the details of how this
will all work; our current plan is to continue to have MIT Press manage the
journal production processes.  Other significant changes to the way the
journal operates are under discussion.

We are still putting the final touches to the new CL online review management
system, which uses the Open Journal Management System software.
We expect this to be up and running in time for the transition to our new OA
status.

As ever, Mary Gardiner has provided magnificent support as editorial assistant
for CL.


2	Statistics

Here are the usual statistics relating to the journal.  Our mean time to first
decision has improved significantly, dropping to 100 days where in previous
years we have floated between 120 and 145 days.  

2007
----

First submissions in 2007
=========================

Total: 55
Accepted: 1 (the SRL introduction)
Accepted with revisions: 0
Revise and resubmit: 18
Reject: 21
Reject without review: 11
No decision yet: 4

Average time to decision: 93 days
Average time to decision (exc. articles without review): 100 days

All submissions in 2007
=======================

Total: 86
Accepted: 15
Accepted with revisions: 3
Revise and resubmit: 17
Reject: 16
Reject without review: 11
No decision yet: 24

Average time to decision: 71 days
Average time to decision (exc. articles without review): 89 days

Breakdown:

New: 55
Resubmission of an article from 2006 or before: 24 Resubmission of an article
from 2007: 7

2008
----

First submissions in 2008
=========================

Total: 14
Accepted: 0
Accepted with revisions: 0
Revise and resubmit: 1
Reject: 1
Resubmit as squib: 1
Reject without review: 5
No decision yet: 7

Average time to decision: 14 days
Average time to decision (exc. articles without review): 41 days

All submissions in 2008
=======================

Total: 21
Accepted: 2
Accepted with revisions: 1
Revise and resubmit: 1
Reject: 0
Resubmit as squib: 1
Reject without review: 5
No decision yet: 11

Average time to decision: 24 days
Average time to decision (exc. articles without review): 44 days

Breakdown:

New: 14
Resubmission of an article from 2007 or before: 7 Resubmission of an article
from 2008: 0


     Computational Linguistics
     Book Review Editor's report
     Graeme Hirst
     May 2008
 
 
BOOK REVIEWS PUBLISHED
 
In 2007 we published 14 book reviews in the journal, plus a few brief
notices.
 
Most reviews are published in a timely manner -- that is, within 12
months of receipt of the book.  This allows six months for the
reviewer (most take less) and five months for journal production.
 
 
MATERIAL REVIEWED
 
I am continuing to be fairly strict in deciding if a book is to be
reviewed, but try to include all books that are in "core"
computational linguistics, as well as a variety of books from
adjacent and overlapping disciplines that are likely to be useful in
CL.  We do not review technical reports, doctoral theses, conference
proceedings, or workshop proceedings, except if revised for
publication as a book by a recognized publisher.  Sometimes it has
proved to be impossible to find a reviewer for a book who has
sufficient expertise in the subfield and yet does not have a conflict
of interest due to an association with one of the authors, editors,
or contributors of the book.
 
 
PRODUCTION MATTERS
 
I am indebted to Nadia Talent for long hours of reading out loud with
me to check the galleys.
 




 
                           Computational Linguistics
                      Squibs Editor Report for 2007
                             

At the beginning of year 2007, there were two submissions in the
squibs pipeline. In the course of year 2006, 10 additional papers were
(re-) submitted. At the end of 2007, there were four submissions left in 
the pipeline. Thus, 8 decisions were made over the year. 

The results were as follows:

  * 2 papers accepted 
  * 5 papers rejected
  * 1 invitations to revise 
 

The mean time taken for these decisions was 96 days.

Thus far, 4 papers have been (re-) submitted to the Squibs Editor in 2007.


   -- Pierre Isabelle
      Squibs editor for Computational Linguistics
      25 May 2008