The Journal of Writing Analytics Bylaws

The Journal of Writing Analytics Bylaws

Givens

  • The Journal of Writing Analyticsis
    • published by the WAC Clearinghouse,
    • indexed in the Scopus database, and
    • licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 United States License.
  • The journal published its inaugural issue in 2017, with regular and special issues published annually.
  • Given writing analytics' broad recognition as a new research area explicating writing processes and written texts with tools and methods drawn from writing studies, corpus linguistics, cognitive psychology, and learning analytics, the journal is uniquely positioned to publish innovative, multidisciplinary research. The journal provides a platform for scholarship in this nascent research area.
  • The Bylaws of the journal are informed by the Bylaws of the WAC and the WAC Clearinghouse Guidebook and are stated as follows.

Article 1 – Name, Offices, and Organizational Structure

Section 1.1. Name. The journal shall be known by the name The Journal of Writing Analytics.

Section 1.2. Offices. The Journal of Writing Analytics is published on the WAC Clearinghouse website.

Section 1.3. Sponsorship. Editors-in-Chief will enter into or maintain a relationship with a sponsoring institution. Institutional sponsorship can follow an Editor and should include resources for hosting a conference and publishing issues. As part of the application for the editorship, candidates will clarify plans for institutional sponsorship.

Section 1.4. Organizational Structure. The Journal of Writing Analytics has two structural components, including an Editorial Team and a Board of Reviewers. Members of these two groups constitute the membership of the journal.

  • The journal has two Editors-in Chief. These two lead a team of at least seven members, currently consisting of two European Editors, an Associate Editor, two Executive Editors, two Developmental Editors, an Advisor for Early Career Board of Reviewers, a Technical Specialist, and an Editor Emeritus/Emeriti. Final decision-making rests with the Editors-in-Chief, who seek advice from editorial team members.
  • The journal also has a Board of Reviewers. National and international reviewers are recruited for their disciplinary expertise, as well as their alignment with the research area in writing analytics. Reviewers provide expert peer review of submitted manuscripts. Such review is essential to assure the validity, rigor, and credibility of manuscripts. Reviewers also serve the function of quality assurance, along with promotion of the journal and seeking new manuscripts. Reviewers are invited to serve at the invitation of the Editors-in-Chief, after consultation with members of the Board of Reviewers. Reviewers serve for two-year terms or longer, based on recommendations of both other members of the Board of Reviewers and the Editors-in-Chief.

Section 1.5. Elections. The members of the Editorial Team shall elect each Editor-in-Chief to a two-year term. Editors-in-Chief may continue for a second term, for a total of four years, based on Editorial Team approval. The terms of the Editors-in-Chief will be staggered so that they do not start the same year. The incoming Editor-in-Chief shall be mentored by the existing Editor-in-Chief. Responsibilities may be distributed based on incoming and existing status or based on preferences and expertise.

Applications for Editors-in-Chief will be announced in mid-November and will include submission of an application packet in response to the specific call. The application will include interviews by the Editorial Team. Following a quorum, appointments will be made by a majority vote (51 percent) of the Editorial Team. All applications must demonstrate relevant publications; preferred applications will demonstrate experience working directly with the journal. This preference applies to authors who have published in the journal as well as current and former Editorial Team members. Together, the co-editors will provide a complementary perspective to fit the multidisciplinary and collaborative nature of writing analytics.

Section 1.6. Vacancies. Any vacancy of the Editorial Team and the Board of Reviewers shall be filled through reasonable efforts to solicit qualified candidates followed by an election of the journal membership.

Section 1.7. Quorum and Voting. A majority (51 percent) of the Editorial Team in office immediately before a meeting begins will constitute a quorum for action. A majority vote of the Editorial Team present at a meeting at which there is a quorum will constitute an action of the team. Past Editors-in-Chief (or, Emeritus Editors-in-Chief) may remain in an advisory, ex-officio capacity without voting privileges.

Section 1.8. Removal. Editors-in-Chief may be removed at any time, with or without cause, by a majority vote of the Editorial Team in office. The notice of a meeting at which Editors-in-Chief may be removed must state that one of the purposes of the meeting is to consider removal of an Editor-in-Chief.

Article 2 - Purpose

Section 2.1. Mission Statement. The Journal of Writing Analytics provides a forum for academic discourse, research, and multidisciplinary collaboration in writing analytics.

Section 2.2. Online Journal. The Journal of Writing Analytics is one among several scholarly journals published by the WAC Clearinghouse. Access to the journal is without charge in alignment with the goal of wide dissemination.

Section 2.3. Guiding Principles. The journal is guided by the WAC Clearinghouse's guiding principles. These include "Principles for Open-Access Scholarly Publishing" and other relevant documents on the "Invitation to Contribute Submit Scholarly Work" including the following: "WAC Clearinghouse Commitment to Publication Ethics," Commitment to Diversity, Equity, inclusion, and Justice, and Commitment to Accessibility.

Article 3 – Calendar

Section 3.1. Publishing Calendar. The journal shall publish at least one issue annually, generally in the fall/winter. Since the journal employs a rolling publication schedule to publish work rapidly, two issues ranging over two years may concurrently be underway with individual articles published as they complete the peer review process. Funding the cost of editing each journal issue will be the responsibility of the Editors-in-Chief.

Section 3.2. Conference Calendar. The journal shall provide an annual conference during the first quarter of each academic year. While the Editors-in-Chief serve as the primary administrative organizers for annual conferences, they will invite Editorial Team members and Board of Review members to participate in both the planning and delivery of such events. Individuals who have published in the journal, as well as other colleagues involved in the field of writing analytics, are invited to participate in annual conferences. Editors-in-Chief recruit new research at the annual conference and related conferences. Funding the cost of hosting the conference and collecting registration fees are the responsibility of the host site and should be overseen by the Editors-in-Chief.

Article 4 – Editorial Process

Section 4.1. Focus and Scope. The journal publishes articles in a variety of stated genres, which currently include: Research Articles, Research Notes, Innovations, New Quantitative Techniques, Writing Analytics in the Classroom, White Papers, and Book Reviews. Submissions will follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition, 2020) (and subsequent editions) in manuscript structure, reporting of results, and crediting sources. The journal generally uses numeric section headings.

Section 4.2. Peer Review Process. Manuscripts will be reviewed by specialists in a variety of fields. Depending on emphasis, manuscripts will be matched with appropriate members of the editorial board.

Scholars are encouraged to contact the editors in advance of submission to identify research directions and ensure alignment with the journal's multidisciplinary and applied aims. The preliminary process is intended, for accepted manuscripts, to result in publication within four to six months of submission. The journal follows double-masked peer review processes unless both author and reviewer agree to waive the process (for example, for additional review). The journal adheres to the "WAC Clearinghouse Commitment to Publication Ethics."

The review process occurs in four phases:

  • Phase 1: Desk Check. Upon submission, the Editors-in-Chief may consult with the Editors to ensure that the manuscript is aligned with the journal's emphasis. At this early stage, Editors-in-Chief determine submissions that are developed especially for the journal and work with authors to bring promising manuscripts to peer review.
  • Phase 2. Board of Reviewers. Once approved by the Editors-in-Chief, the manuscript will be assigned to two members of the Board of Reviewers who are specialists in the submitted area of research. Manuscripts will be reviewed within four weeks and returned with one of four recommendations: publish as submitted; publish with minor changes; revise and resubmit for consideration; and reject. Scoring guides tailored to genre are used with all manuscripts.
  • Phase 3: Appropriate Placement. Upon recommendation of the Board of Reviewers, the Editors will suggest the next appropriate steps. Developmental editing is a key part of the review process. Manuscripts with a recommendation to publish with minor changes will be assigned to a Developmental Editor who will be available as a resource to authors in their revision process. Manuscripts with a recommendation to revise and resubmit for consideration will be returned to the author with feedback they can address if they intend to resubmit, at which point the manuscript will begin with a desk check.
  • Phase 4: Publication. Upon the recommendation of the members of the Board of Reviewers, manuscripts are published in the journal. Manuscripts will be sent for editing before publication, and authors will be responsible for any formatting or outstanding requirements needed for publication.

Section 4.3. Editorial Recusal. Members of the Editorial Team or Board of Reviewers must recuse themselves from editorial decisions related to work under consideration where they are a named collaborator on a publication, presentation, or grant application for the same study.

Section 4.4. The Role of Artificial Intelligence. The journal follows the position issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics on Authorship and AI tools. That is, AI tools as non-legal entities, cannot assert the presence or absence of conflicts of interest nor manage copyright and license agreements and therefore cannot be considered authors.

Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing the use of AI in the paper, with attention to tool selection. Such disclosures must appear in a note published with the paper. Authors remain responsible for the content of their manuscript are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics.

Reviewers must not upload manuscripts submitted to the journal to any AI tool as part of their review in order to protect author intellectual property.

Article 5 – Bylaws Review

Section 5.1. Bylaws review shall be undertaken at least every five years by the Editors-in-Chief and the Board of Reviewers. Proposed amendments to the bylaws require a quorum of the Editorial Team and a majority of that membership to be formally adopted.

Section 5.2. Calls for review of bylaws can be considered by the Editors-in-Chief and the Board of Reviewers anytime outside the standard five-year review period as needed.

Draft Bylaws 10-24-25; revised 10-29-2025; finalized 11-10-2025