Council of Editors of Learned Journals

Council of Editors of Learned Journals
Name	Council of Editors of Learned Journals
Formation	1957
Type	Nonprofit organization
Headquarters	United States
Region served	International
Leader title	President

Council of Editors of Learned Journals is a professional association for editors of academic journals that engages with scholarly standards, editorial policies, and publication ethics. The organization interacts with institutions such as American Council of Learned Societies, Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, American Philosophical Society, and Association of American Universities to coordinate practices affecting journals like The Journal of American History, PMLA, The American Historical Review, Science, and Nature. It connects editors who work on titles published by presses including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Harvard University Press, Johns Hopkins University Press, and University of Chicago Press.

History

The organization was founded during a period marked by debates in venues such as The New York Times Book Review, Times Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Science Magazine, and Nature Communications, with early involvement from figures associated with Columbia University Press, Princeton University Press, Yale University Press, MIT Press, and Stanford University Press. Throughout the Cold War era, interactions occurred alongside initiatives from UNESCO, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Ford Foundation, and drew attention from scholars connected to Harvard University, Princeton University, Yale University, University of Chicago, and Oxford University. In later decades the council engaged with policy debates influenced by rulings and guidelines from bodies such as Office of Research Integrity, Committee on Publication Ethics, Association of American Publishers, Library of Congress, and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Mission and Objectives

The council's stated goals align with standards advocated by organizations like Committee on Publication Ethics, World Association of Medical Editors, Council of Science Editors, Association of Research Libraries, and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, promoting integrity in journals such as The Lancet, BMJ, Cell, Journal of the American Medical Association, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Objectives emphasize editorial independence in contexts involving stakeholders like Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, Association of University Presses, American Council on Education, European Research Council, and Wellcome Trust. It supports best practices referenced in documents from NIH, NSF, European Commission, Horizon 2020, and Plan S.

Membership and Governance

Membership comprises editors and editorial board members connected to titles at institutions including Columbia University, Duke University, Cornell University, Brown University, and Johns Hopkins University, as well as representatives from publishers such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, Taylor & Francis, and SAGE Publications. Governance features elected officers and committees modeled after structures used by Modern Language Association, American Historical Association, American Political Science Association, Association for Computing Machinery, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Procedures for ethics and conflicts mirror policies from Committee on Publication Ethics, Office of Research Integrity, American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and Royal Society.

Activities and Programs

Programs include workshops and training influenced by curricula from Council on Library and Information Resources, Association of Research Libraries, Digital Preservation Coalition, LOCKSS Program, and Portico. The council runs initiatives on peer review reform that engage stakeholders such as Publons, ORCID, CrossRef, COPE, and OpenAIRE, and collaborates on digital projects with JSTOR, Project MUSE, HathiTrust, arXiv, and SSRN. It has convened working groups on diversity and inclusion reflecting conversations with American Anthropological Association, Society for Historical Archaeology, Modern Language Association, American Sociological Association, and Association for Computing Machinery.

Publications and Resources

The council issues guidance and model policies that draw on standards from Committee on Publication Ethics, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, National Information Standards Organization, DataCite, and Research Data Alliance. It distributes newsletters, style guides, and toolkits referencing practices seen in Chicago Manual of Style, MLA Handbook, APA Publication Manual, Council of Science Editors Manual, and AMA Manual of Style. Resource repositories coordinate metadata and identifiers with services like CrossRef, ORCID, DOAJ, Scopus, and Web of Science.

Conferences and Events

Annual meetings attract editors, publishers, and librarians associated with American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries, Society for Scholarly Publishing, European Association of Science Editors, and International Congress of Historical Sciences. Sessions have featured panels on open access, peer review, and citation metrics with speakers from Wellcome Trust, European Research Council, National Institutes of Health, Horizon Europe, and Plan S, and have held joint symposia with Association of University Presses, Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, Baltimore Book Festival, and Frankfurt Book Fair.

Influence and Impact on Scholarly Publishing

The council has influenced editorial standards adopted by journals such as Science, Nature, The Lancet, PMLA, and American Political Science Review, and informed policy debates involving Plan S, NIH Public Access Policy, Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, Committee on Publication Ethics, and CrossRef. Its recommendations have affected practices at publishers including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley-Blackwell, and have intersected with initiatives from Digital Science, Clarivate Analytics, Google Scholar, JSTOR, and ResearchGate.

Category:Academic publishing organizations