Tomaselli, K. G. (2022). Journals editing, editor recognition, and impacting disciplines. Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde, 59(2), 10–15. https://doi.org/10.17159/tl.v59i2.12820
“Why edit (a journal)?” When asked this question, some have responded thus: “To get promoted”. This anecdote underpinned a panel discussion at the 2021 National Scholarly Editors’ Forum (NSEF) on “Whether research (and editing) should be fun”. Organised under the auspices of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), this annual meeting involves editors from all 320+ journals registered in South Africa, though thanks to electrical loadshedding and other considerations, less than 100 could participate at any one time. The panel was organised and chaired by Phillip de Jager of the Department of Finance and Tax, University of Cape Town. He is associate editor of Meditari Accountancy Research, the Journal of Accounting in Emerging Economies, and the South African Journal of Accounting Research. This is a discipline where its professors tend to show greater allegiance to the profession than to the university, with attendant implications for (lack) of research and publication (Venter and de Villiers 1246). The editor of the Australian Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies wrote in a special issue dedicated to its two recently deceased founders that she was advised not to expend her energy editing a journal, as she is “sacrificing” her own time “to support others” (Allmark 330).