Call for Assistant Editors
Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad (Frontiers) is an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal that communicates the latest research on study abroad to reflect on critical issues and concerns for academics and professional practitioners. With its interdisciplinary scope, Frontiers aims to document and disseminate innovative advancements and foster dialogue and debate for a wide audience in international education. Frontiers focuses on areas such as:
- New approaches to address challenges in the field,
- Development of tools and measures for assessing the intellectual, personal, and intercultural development of students in an international and intercultural context,
- Innovative study abroad program models or interventions,
- Discursive explorations of the cultural and intellectual underpinnings of international educational exchange,
- Examples of good practice in study abroad programming; and
- Reviews and analysis of books, monographs and articles written on topics related to U.S. study abroad and higher education.
As recently noted by Frontiers’ current Editor, Dr. Elaine Meyer-Lee, this mission and scope of the Journal have attracted to it a consistently increasing number of authors—from senior scholars and teaching faculty members to doctoral candidates and study abroad practitioners. The resulting rapid and significant increase in submissions has encouraged us to consider updating our review process and restructuring our editorial team so that we can maintain our commitment to a high-quality and timely review process while also upholding free, open access to publications in Frontiers. We have thus far updated our reviewer guidelines and introduced new rubrics to better guide reviewers. These have been publicly shared on our website.
New Roles on Our Editorial Team
We are now looking for Assistant Editors to join our Frontiers team. These new leadership roles will help us respond to the increasing demand on our editorial and publication service while expanding the pool of talent on which we draw as we seek to support authors and lead research on study abroad in new directions. Assistant Editors will be appointed on a voluntary basis to contribute to our peer review and editorial decision-making processes as well as to internal deliberations on the quality and inclusiveness of research published by Frontiers and other initiatives that may be undertaken to enhance the Journal’s impact and reach.
Role Description
Assistant Editors are early- to mid-career researchers with a demonstrated record of scholarly activity in the area of study abroad. Eligible early-career researchers are colleagues within 1-7 years of being awarded their terminal degree. Assistant Editors can also be mid-career practitioners with commitment to research and/or reflection in the area of study abroad, which may be demonstrated through eight or more years of professional experience in the field and, inter alia, (co)authorship of policy reports, evaluation studies, and other knowledge materials published by relevant and specialized organizations or magazines.
Assistant Editors are expected to join Frontiers’ Editorial Board, to attend and contribute to its annual meeting, and to review up to four manuscripts in a calendar year. While this maximum number is set to manage work distribution, Assistant Editors will always have choice over whether and when to accept (or decline) which manuscript review requests. They are also welcome to notify the Editorial Assistant of any periods of time through which they will be (un)available to consider review requests.
Assistant Editors will be selected to serve a three-year term, which will be renewable up to twice subject to their interest and performance. After their first term, Assistant Editors will be eligible to seek advancement to serve as Associate Editors.
Frontiers’ Priorities
In September 2023, the Frontiers Working Group on Journal Quality concluded a process of reflecting on about 200 items published in the Journal between 2018 and 2023. The insights generated from this process inform our particular interest in expertise on the topics listed below. Applicants to the Assistant Editor roles are strongly encouraged to reflect on how their experiences may be relevant to fulfilling this interest of Frontiers.
- Broader campus internationalization
- Campus debates/protests of global issues
- Climate change
- Collaborative online international learning
- Community-based learning and other high-impact practices
- Decolonialization
- Destination patterns
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Global learning
- Host community perspectives and impact
- Intercultural learning
- Partnerships, in which education abroad is often embedded
- Program variables
- Service-based learning
- Translational education and international academic exchange
Additionally, we are particularly interested in Assistant Editors who may expand our diversity of expertise on 1) quantitative methods in study abroad research; 2) critical and interdisciplinary approaches to study abroad; 3) methodological innovation and relevance-to-practice of study abroad research; 4) less common study abroad destinations; 5) student groups underrepresented in study abroad; and 6) large-scale studies, including research using big data.
How to Apply
Colleagues interested in joining Frontiers as Assistant Editors are welcome to apply by emailing us at frontiersjournal@forumea.org a copy of their complete CV and a brief (no more than one-page) cover letter describing their interests and potential contributions as Assistant Editors. Please use “Assistant Editor Application” as the subject of your email.
The application deadline is 11.59pm EST on Tuesday, September 24th.
Colleagues at community colleges, historically black colleges and universities, and foreign academic and research institutions are encouraged to apply.
If you have any questions, please feel free to direct them to us at frontiersjournal@forumea.org.
