A published paper serves a scientist as a means of increasing his or her prestige, advancing his or her career and, often, determining his or her salaries. Little attention has been given to the power structure in science and the role of editorial board members in academic journals. However, some surveys shows that editorial board members of academic journals often publish in the same journal in which they serve. For example, a survey of in-house publication practice in six major accounting research journals revealed that a considerable number of editorial board members of these journals have been publishing in the journal they serve [Lee, 1996]. Willis and McNamee (1990) studied the institutional connections between editors and authors in leading sociology journals. Results suggest a pattern of institutional connections between editors and authors over time beyond random chance alone [Willis and McNamee, 1990]. In a survey of Educational Psychology journals, the percentage of journal-related authors ranged from about 1% to 33%, with the percentage of articles co-authored by journal-related authors ranging from 2% to 58% [Campanario, 1996].  

I would like to suggest the computation of an specific indicator to record the in-house publishing by editorial board members in the journals in which they serve. This index could be named “In-House Publication Index” or IHPI This IHPI could be computed as the fraction of papers published in a given journal authored or co-authored by editorial board members. Another possibility could be to compute the IHPI as a fraction of available space (number of pages) used by editorial board members.  

To investigate journal use by editorial board members, 30 Education journals included in the SSCI database were studied and the papers they published during a three-year period were counted (2000-2002). Two types of authors were defined: editorial board members (journal-related-authors) and other authors. An editorial board member is an editor(s)-in-chief, editor(s), deputy editor(s)-in-chief, or member of the editorial and advisory board. Book review editors and so called "managing editors" were excluded because the inclusion might have artificially increased the use of the journal by journal-related authors. Editor names were obtained from the editorial board and editorial committee lists published on the cover and/or first pages of every issue of the journals studied.

Journal use by editorial board members and by other outside authors is measured by indicators which give the number and percentage of journal-related authors, number and percentage of papers authored or co-authored by editorial board members, journal pages used and mean number of pages from papers authored or co-authored by editorial board members. The data show that journal use by journal-related authors varies.

Given that, in some research fields (as, for example, social sciences) it exist a high rate of rejection, the value of published papers as signs of excellence is high, so, prestige begets more prestige [Campanario, 1998a; Campanario, 1998b]. Publication is such a key ingredient in a successful academic career that it can be said to influence who gets promoted, who gets grants, and even who gets invited to speak at scholarly conferences.

The new IHPI, in addition to the rejection rate (percentage of submission that are rejected), could be used as an useful indicator for prospective authors which want to know how much space is available in journals for their manuscripts after discounting the space used by editorial board members.

References

Campanario, J.M. (1996) Commentary on influential books and journal articles initially rejected because of negative referees' evaluations Science Communication, 16 (3), 304-325.

Campanario, J.M. (1998a) Peer review for journals as it stands today-Part 1. Science Communication, 19, 181-211.

Campanario, J.M. (1998b) Peer review for journals as it stands today-Part 2. Science Communication, 19, 277-306.

Lee, T. (1996) The editorial gatekeepers of the accounting academy. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 10 (1) 11-30.

Willis, C.L. & McNamee, S.J. (1990). Social networks of science and patterns of publication in leading sociology journals, 1960 to 1985. Knowledge: Creation, Difussion, Utilization. 11, 363-381.