The Welcome statement on our home page defines the mission and scope of Composition Studies. We pride ourselves in being a venue of publication for works that don't fit neatly in other composition journals with more narrowly defined boundaries. We also try to provide some elements not available elsewhere, such as published course designs. In each issue, we publish a rationale for a specific course, along with the course syllabus and course calendar.
Our staff currently includes the following: Editor Brad Lucas, Book Review Editor Lynée Lewis Gaillet, Managing Editor Amy Milakovic, and Production Editor Jason King.
The positions of managing editor and production editor are filled by doctoral students, generally for one year terms. The intern position changes every semester and is filled by an undergraduate student. We recently formed an advisory board comprised of scholars from across the country.
There are special opportunities for graduate students to get involved in CS. The assistant editor position is a competitive administrative position that students can apply and interview for. If selected, this position replaces teaching or other activities that normally serve as funding for the graduate student. Our current production assistant is also a graduate student, but whether or not this will remain the case in the future is uncertain.
Our review process is fairly standard. We give a preliminary review to each manuscript we receive in-house. If the manuscript is suitable for the journal, it is sent to two outside reviewers who specialize in the area addressed. Those reviewers are given specific instructions to respond to the manuscript and get their reviews back to us in six weeks. Each reviewer then sends a recommendation (Accept, Revise and Resubmit, or Reject), as well as a formal review for the editorial staff and the author. Outside readers typically do not identify themselves in the letter. When both reviews come in, the editor determines the ultimate response to the author, then writes a letter with recommendations and encloses the two reader reviews.
If the author revises the manuscript and resubmits it, the revised manuscript goes back to the two original reviewers. They, at this point, make an ultimate recommendation of Accept or Reject. Again, the editor decides the final course of action but usually follows recommendations of outside readers.
