African Geographical Review Seeks Associate Editors

The African Geographical Review (AGR) is searching for new Associate Editors for the journal. To apply, please review the below. The completed application should be received by Friday April 8, 2022. 

1. Associate Editor—Human Geography 

2. Associate Editor—Physical Geography 

3. Associate Editor—Geospatial 

Background to the Journal 

The African Geographical Review (AGR) is a leading international peer reviewed journal for geographical scholarship relating to Africa. It publishes the highest quality research in all fields of geography, including human, nature – society, physical and the techniques. The journal publishes several types of articles, including research manuscripts, commentaries, methodological notes, field notes, featured reflections, and book reviews. 

The overall aims of the AGR are to enhance the standing of geography of and in Africa, to promote better representation of African scholarship, and to facilitate lively academic conversations regarding the African continent. 

We are proud to highlight that significant number of AGR submissions come from African scholars working globally and Institutions on the African Continent. 

I. ROLE 

The Associate Editors will work with the Chief Editor on all aspects of the African Geographical Review, a refereed journal published by Taylor & Francis, on behalf of the African Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. The Associate Editors shall serve a 3-year term, and if interested and available, be re-appointed for a second 3-year term (for a maximum of 6-years). Associate Editors would have the opportunity to apply to become Chief Editor during their first or second term. 

S/he must work hard to support the growth of the AGR which provides an excellent outlet for the publication of geographical material relating to Africa; enhancing the standing of African geography, and promoting a better representation of African scholarship. Additionally, s/he must commit themselves to ensuring that the journal maintains its reputation of publishing the best material on African geography scholarship. The Associate Editors work dutifully with the Chief Editor in the selection, editing, and publishing of all journal content. 

II. RELATIONSHIP WITH ASG AND AGR EDITORIAL BOARD 

The Editors report to the President of the ASG and regularly update the president on the status of the journal. Taylor & Francis is currently publishing the journal 4 times a year and will remain responsible for the marketing aspects of the journal. The Chief Editor and the Associate Editors will work with the publishers and the Editorial Board to ensure successful production of the 2 

AGR. In particular, the editors will supply Taylor & Francis with manuscripts in a timely manner and work with the ASG Chair to ensure that ASG journal subscribers have timely access to the journal. 

III. DUTIES 

  • Work in partnership with the Chief Editor, the AGR publishers, the ASG Chair, and the AGR Editorial Board, to define the overall strategic direction for the journal. 
  • Actively solicit manuscripts for journal issues. 
  • Maintain regular communication with the Editorial Board and attend an annual meeting of the Editorial Board to discuss journal review policies and procedures and the general direction of the journal. 
  • Conduct initial screening of all manuscripts and forward those that meet Journal criteria to selected reviewers. 
  • Work with authors to revise manuscripts based on reviewers’ comments and the editors’ recommendations for improvement (e.g., clarity, development of ideas, scholarly accuracy, overall quality, and compliance with publication guidelines). 
  • Serve along with the Chief Editor as the primary liaison to authors. 
  • Return rejected manuscripts to authors with constructive formal letters. 
  • Coordinate journal production with the Chief Editor to ensure a regular production schedule. 
  • Together with the journal publishers and the Chief Editor, participate in journal promotion and development activities including sponsorships and other appropriate advertising. 
  • Perform other tasks as assigned by the Chief Editor. 

IV. QUALIFICATIONS 

The Associate Editors of the Journal must possess the following attributes: 

  • Excellent communication (oral, written, and editing) skills 
  • Be an active member of the AAG (ASG membership is an added advantage) 
  • Be a scholar in good academic standing 
  • Have excellent interpersonal skills 
  • Have creative ideas and approaches to expand the journals reach and diversity 

V. APPLICATION PROCESS: 

To apply for this position, please submit: 

  • a letter of interest that details your qualifications for the position, the specific position (Human, Physical, or Geospatial) and a visionary statement as the future editor of the journal (2-page max). 
  • a current curriculum vitae (5-page max) 

The completed application should be received by Friday April 8th, 2022. Please submit electronic copies of your application to the Co-chairs of the Search Committee, Dr. Ben Neimark (b.neimark@lancaster.ac.uk) and Dr. Godwin Arku (garku@uwo.ca). 

Arrangements will be made to interview candidates virtually in April/May, 2022. Please contact Dr. Ben Neimark if you have any questions. 

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Call for Abstracts: Special Issue of ‘Annals’ on “Networks”

Call for Abstracts for Special Issue 2024

Annals journal coverThe Annals of the American Association of Geographers is seeking contributions for a Special Issue on the topic of Networks to be published in 2024.

Networks represent connections between people, things, ideas, and events in physical, digital, or hybrid spaces. They facilitate the dynamic flow of geographic phenomena and interactions between them. The concept of networks is pertinent to a range of actively pursued topics in geography, including, but not limited to, those in environmental/biophysical, health, social-economic, political, cultural, transportation/mobility, communication, organization/collaboration, conflict, crime, and cyber/sensor geographies.

How and why do we perceive and represent geographic phenomena as networks? Do networked spaces challenge established geographic thoughts (e.g., the first law of geography)? Is there new knowledge emerging from networks that transforms how we perceive and represent spaces? Would the knowledge collectively foster new policies? A plethora of researchable questions allows us to explore rich and complex networks to advance the discipline and meet societal needs.

We welcome theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions to networks from a range of views, such as environmental/biophysical, social/economic, political/cultural, ethical/legal, behavioral, and ontological/cognitive perspectives.

Abstracts of no more than 250 words should be submitted by e-mail to Jennifer Cassidento (jcassidento [at] aag [dot] org) by March 31, 2022. Special Issue Editor Ling Bian will consider all abstracts and then invite a selection to submit full papers for peer review by June 1, 2022.

Papers will have a target maximum length of 5,000 words (including abstract, main text, references, tables, figure captions, etc.). First draft of papers will be due (via ScholarOne) by December 1, 2022 and final papers will be due by October 1, 2023 for publication in 2024.

For questions about this Special Issue, please contact Annals Editor, Ling Bian (lbian [at] buffalo [dot] edu). For questions about the abstract submission process, please contact the Managing Editor, Jennifer Cassidento (jcassidento [at] aag [dot] org).

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AAG seeks GeoHumanities co-editor – extended due date for applications

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) seeks applications for the position of co-editor of GeoHumanities. The new co-editor, whose responsibilities include overseeing the solicitation, review, and publication of scholarly articles for the journal, will be appointed for a four-year editorial term beginning January 1, 2023.

The aim of the journal is to draw on and further explore the multifaceted scholarly conversations between geography and the humanities that have been evolving over the past decade.  As such, the journal serves as a home for the critical and creative interdisciplinary work of artists, authors, historians, geographers, literary and feminist theorists, environmentalists, philosophers, and others working across a broad spectrum of disciplines, and at scales from the personal and local to the international and global. In support of these goals, the editorial candidate should possess demonstrated expertise in Geography-Humanities scholarship, experience working in and with interdisciplinarity, a distinguished record of scholarly achievement, and a commitment to working constructively with authors during the review process. Institutional support for the new editor (especially time released from teaching) is desirable but not mandatory. The AAG will provide a stipend of $10,000 per year to be used for expenses and honorarium at the editor’s discretion.

The editor will work in coordination with the AAG Publications Director. The Publications Director bears primary responsibility for the logistics of processing manuscripts and for assembling and coordinating the publication of each journal issue in collaboration with the editors and the journal’s publisher. Editor candidates, therefore, should share the AAG Council’s vision of an accessible, decentralized, and collaborative editorship for GeoHumanities.

The application package should include a complete CV along with a one-page statement that addresses the prospective editor’s qualifications for the job, including previous editorial experience. Complete application packages should be submitted by e-mail to Jennifer Cassidento at jcassidento [at] aag [dot] org by January 21, 2022.

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A Space to Cultivate: An Interview with Debbie Hopkins and Neha Arora of the AAG Review of Books

In June 2020, Debbie HopkinsAssociate Professor in the Department for Continuing Education and the School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford, took over as Editor-in-Chief of the AAG Review of Booksreplacing Founding Editor Kent MathewsonPublished quarterly, The AAG Review of Books highlights recent texts in geography and related disciplines. The journal features book reviews by geographers and other scholars at various points of their academic careers. 

We recently asked Debbie and Neha Arora, PhD Candidate in Human Geography, Stockholm University, and Editorial Assistant at The Review, to talk with us about their work this past year. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: What were you expecting from The AAG Review of Books, and what has surprised you? 

Debbie: I find book reviews very interesting. As I expected, I have experienced the submissions as an art form, a particular form of writing that doesn’t have to be formulaic. Geographers tend to write more like humanists, a little poetic. Storytelling is something geographers do quite naturally, but we know we have to write a certain way to be published. 

The Review allows you to have fun with yourself. That’s exciting for academics. You’re reviewing this book but how does it fit with the world? 

Getting into it, I had very big shoes to fill. I was intimidated to meet Kent. He was very generous and supportive as I got going. Something that surprised me was the generosity with which reviewers engaged with the material. Reviewing is quite a selfless act. Particularly as I started this in the pandemic, dealing with that, taking classes online, homeschooling, dealing with personal tragedies. For people to say, yes I will do that. Across career stages, quite phenomenal. It’s no small feat, but people seem to get a lot out of it.

 

Neha: Absolutely everything has been a pleasant surprise! When I joined, I was expecting to be limited to an administrative role, especially since I did not have much experience in publishing. But Debbie encouraged me to be a part of the entire process, opening so many avenues to learn and grow. This has allowed me to expand networks, get a deeper look into the academic world as well as the publishing industry, read across disciplines and hone my editing and writing skills. Most exciting, however, has been trying to figure out new ways of broadening the scope of the journal. I never expected to be a part of these conversations. I was even surprised by how smoothly our little team works across continents, with Debbie in the UK, Jennifer in the US, and me first in South Africa and then in Sweden. I am also incredibly lucky to have these amazing women as my mentors. 

Q: Talk to us a little about the three different review types that the Review publishes? 

Debbie: The book review essay is our space to cultivate and have that additional benefit for the person reviewing, able to communicate more of their own perspective, ideas, and research. Also, it includes a variety of formats – often involving two or more books discussed in relation to one another. We like for reviewers to explore the relationships among texts, and sometimes bring in their teaching experiences or professional experiences. The book review is a standard review. That is the submission we see the most. Even this quite traditional form – one book, 1,500 words  – can show a surprising variety. The forum tends to spring from an author-meets-critic type event at conferences. A group of reviewers interrogate the book, ask questions, challenge, and then the author responds, creating a nice dialogue. 

Q: What are some changes and new approaches you’ve been trying out this past year? 

Neha: Under Debbie’s guidance, we started this year with a very clear vision and focus – driving diversification and inclusion across the board. We looked at not only the kind of books we were sourcing, but also sourcing them from beyond ‘main’ publishers and Anglophone geography, as well as looking beyond just books and reviewing other media such as films, or complementing a book review by including content from a podcast. Equally important has been a focused effort to seek a diverse range of reviewers across multiple axes (ECRs, gender, geography). We are also keen on empowering reviewers to engage in new ways with the books, by encouraging creativity and flexibility with the format of the reviews.  

This is of course work in progress and such an immense learning experience. I never wholly appreciated the challenges in achieving these extremely important – and timely – objectives, not only at the journal, but across academia. Something as simple as the accessibility of university websites beyond the Anglophone world makes it very challenging to reach out to new potential reviewers. Even the more popular universities do not have pages for their PhD students or ECRs. Similar issues exist with geography associations elsewhere and smaller publishing houses. It’s understandable that they do not have the resources to expand their online presence. And it just means we need to find other ways, and change will happen more slowly.  

Debbie: Right now, we are reliant on what comes to us, but we need to go beyond the languages that Neha and I can engage with. If there is a review you’d like to write because you think an English-speaking audience would be interested, we want to know. We will remain an English-speaking journal, but need to enter into a dialogue. 

We also want to reach beyond books and review other media – I think it is important that we engage with those. Books will remain very important for our discipline. Most recently we had a forum for a documentary. I can see how it will be very important teaching material, as well. 

We did a review of a book about a British TV show – Landscapes of Detectorists, which offered interesting commentary on citizen science and the public reach. It’s important that our reviews think about the power of the spoken word, as well as written. 

Neha: I have to say here that it is so incredibly exciting to work with Debbie on this – she is always in favor of pushing boundaries, is always open to discussing new ideas and constantly encourages curiosity. She is providing me with a roadmap to be the kind of academic I hope to be. 

Q: Can you talk a little about the freedoms and possibilities for an author writing for the Review?

Debbie: It would be interesting to have some conversations about certain kinds of books that are both good for interest in geography and perhaps less valuable for the actual discipline. People who work in policy don’t read what we think is policy. Some of the issue is managing that, finding it. I’d love for geographers to all have a conversation that brings people together. An advantage to the Review of Books is that it’s not peer-reviewed. Reviews can get published relatively quickly. We can be quite topical. It’s only a few months to publication, which is really quite unusual for academic publishing! We are never going to be an empirical research journal. 

We want The Review of Books to welcome young geographers [as reviewers and as part of the] network, part of dialogue. Some of the great relationships I’ve had are because I’ve written with people, been part of community. We are interested in getting to know people who are interested in ideas and contributing to the community in some way.  

I envision the Review as a space to be working through ideas and concepts. A place where a reviewer has the freedom to speak. The articles are all free access after a year, and two articles per issue are open access right away.  

Q: What is the “spark” you are looking for, either in a book, or in a writer, or both (in a submission)? 

Neha: There is such a diversity in the reviews that we get and publish that it is hard to pinpoint one characteristic. But the reviews that I enjoy reading the most are the ones with a personal story. The reviews that go beyond describing the strengths and flaws of the book but describe how the reviewer connected with the book as a reader. This could be through an overlap with their own work, or how it brought back a memory from the field, or just an emotional response. 

Debbie: Representing the diversity of the discipline is so important to me. So something I haven’t seen before, a book, author, a fresh take, someone who wants to review and speaks with passion. It’s finding that match…. Something that comes together and shows the really cool work geographers do. That real-worldness of our work. Geographers are interested in changing the world. When we see these reviews and this academic work being tied to tangible world events, that’s really special. 

Q: How can someone submit their work?

Debbie: I’m very open to just an email. We are preparing a new submission page for later this year or early in 2022. Our current page on the AAG website has information and guidance on submitting. 

Often the best reviews are the ones where the reviewer approaches us. Review essays are more difficult for us to solicit. It has to be a passion, so we have to rely on people to approach us, often because of a contemporary trigger (e.g., protest). Forums are very much the same. 

For more information on submitting to the AAG Review of Books, see our page for the journal.

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AAG Welcomes New Annals Editor

Brian King has been named a co-editor of Human Geography and Nature & Society for The Annals of the American Association of Geographers

King is a professor and Head of the Department of Geography at the Pennsylvania State. His research, teaching, and outreach focus on livelihoods, conservation and development, environmental change, and human health, centering on Southern Africa. More recently, his laboratory group (HELIX: Health and Environment Landscapes for Interdisciplinary eXchange) is examining how COVID-19 is transforming the US opioid epidemic. Beyond the university, his affiliations span numerous departments at Penn State and other institutions. At Penn State, he is a Faculty Research Associate with the Population Research Institute, Research Affiliate with the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, and Faculty Affiliate with the School of International Affairs and Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse. King is also an Honorary Research Associate with the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town and was selected as a National Academy of Sciences Kavli Fellow in 2017.

King served on the Editorial Board of the Annals from 2016-2019, as well as on the Editorial Boards of African Geographical Review since 2019 and of Geoforum since 2014. His book States of Disease: Political Environments and Human Health (University of California Press, 2017received the Julian Minghi Distinguished Book Award, and was reviewed in April 2019 in The AAG Review of Books. An active member of several AAG Specialty Groups, including the Cultural and Political Ecology and Development Geographies specialty groups, he has also served in leadership roles, including successive terms as Director, Vice Chair, and Chair of the Developing Areas Specialty Group (which changed its name to Development Geographies in 2008).

King joins Human Geography editor Kendra Strauss of Simon Fraser University and Nature & Society Editor Katie Meehan of King’s College London to respond to the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including an increase in manuscript submissions and a decrease in reviewer availability. He will also support the editors’ ability to devote additional attention to upcoming special issues of the Annals. He will serve in the capacity of co-editor through December 31, 2023.

 

 

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AAG Welcomes New Editor of AAG Review of Books, Thanks Outgoing Editor

The AAG is pleased to announce Debbie Hopkins as the new editor of the AAG Review of Books. The AAG sincerely thanks founding editor Kent Mathewson, whose vision and ideas have shaped the AAG Review of Books since its beginnings eight years ago. Hopkins will take the helm when Mathewson steps down on July 1.

As the new editor of The AAG Review of BooksDebbie Hopkins brings a background in research, teaching, writing, and editing on transport and mobilities, sustainable urban development, low carbon transitions, and mobile labor. She is an Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Oxford, UK, jointly appointed between the School of Geography and the Environment, and the Sustainable Urban Development (Department of Continuing Education) program. She completed her master’s degree (Geography, with distinction) at King’s College London in 2010, PhD at the University of Otago (New Zealand) in December 2013, and postdoctoral training at the Centre for Sustainability (Otago, New Zealand, 2014-2016), and the Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford (2016-2017).

In addition to her responsibilities at the AAG Review of Books, Hopkins is the Associate Editor (Transport and Mobilities) of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Transport Geography. She has also been part of several large research centres and grant applications, including the Energy Cultures project (2013-2016, Otago), the Centre for Innovation and Energy Demand (2016-2018, Sussex, Manchester and Oxford), and the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions (2019-2022, multi-institutional). In addition to this, she leads research on low-carbon transitions, labor and mobilities, largely in relation to freight/trucking and waste. She has co-edited two books: Low Carbon Mobility Transitions (GoodFellow Publishers, 2016) and Transitions in Energy Efficiency and Dema

nd (Routledge (Open Access), 2018).

Kent Mathewson is former Fred B. Kniffen Professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University. Mathewson helped start the AAG Review of Books in 2012, and has also been a book review editor for other publications such as the Annals of the AAGHistorical Geography, and Geographical Review for the past 25 years. His founding of the AAG Review of Books is rooted in his conviction that the books geographers publish are the discipline’s face to the world and offer a guide to measure progress in the discipline. AAG wishes him well and reiterates our thanks as he steps into retirement from both LSU and the AAG Review of Books.

Published quarterly, the AAG Review of Books is a special journal highlighting recent texts in geography and related disciplines. The journal features book reviews by geographers and other scholars at various points of their academic careers. We look forward to working with Dr. Hopkins.

 

 

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‘The Professional Geographer’: COVID-19 Announcement

To the authors, readers, reviewers, and staff members who contribute their energy and insight to The Professional Geographer,

I am grateful to this community of scholars and practitioners, whose contributions to The Professional Geographer have helped maintain its high quality and excellent reputation. Your dedication to scholarship and reflections on practice have put The Professional Geographer in a strong position to weather the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Right now, all of us are experiencing intense personal and professional demands. As teachers and professionals, we must move our work online, with increasing requests of our students and colleagues. As parents and caregivers of family and friends, and as individuals, we are called upon to cope with change, uncertainty, economic stress, and threats to our own and loved ones’ health.

In recognition of these realities, and to respond to our community’s needs, The Professional Geographer will adjust its customary timetables for submissions and reviews to accommodate everyone who will need extra time this year because of increased professional and personal obligations. Our team will make every effort possible to move the editorial process along smoothly, working within the realistic timeframes needed by each person we work with, as the need arises. For example, we may need to extend the review period for a submitted paper, or give an author extra time to make revisions. Editorial decisions, which rely on voluntary peer-reviews, may be prolonged as a result.

In short, we expect to slow down the production process in the coming months, to help our contributors and staff rise to the unexpected challenges of this global public health crisis. Production of The Professional Geographer will not stop, however. Perhaps now more than ever, our discipline needs the excellent scholarship and professional reflections the journal provides on how and with what tools we learn about the world and work to solve its problems.

As the editor of a journal that has evolved over 70 years to fulfill this mission, I am confident that even this challenge will lead us to become more robust, once we get through this tunnel. I look forward to working with you. Together we will endure this challenging moment. I ask for your patience and resilience, and thank you for your support of our community.

Editor, The Professional Geographer

Heejun Chang

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‘The AAG Review of Books’: COVID-19 Announcement

It has been my pleasure to serve as Editor in Chief for the AAG Review of Books for eight years. As I work on the transition to a new incoming editor, to prepare for the rest of 2020, we have been served up with an unexpected challenge, in the form of the COVID-19 crisis.

The publishing industry is already reacting to this public health emergency, moving back publication dates and slowing editorial schedules. A ripple effect in timelines and publication dates for the Review is inevitable. Coupled with this reality, we also need to be responsive to the personal and professional needs of our reviewers and staff, as they manage unanticipated family and professional obligations at this difficult time.

Accordingly, we expect to slow down the pipeline of new book reviews during this first part of 2020, which will affect our timetables for the next several issues.

Please rest assured that we will continue to work toward providing timely, well-considered reviews of the most current books concerning geography, geospatial public policy, and global geopolitical issues. We expect that the timing of our work will be influenced by these significant external forces at work in all of our lives and the publishing industry this spring.

I greatly appreciate your patience and understanding during the coming months. Thank you for your contributions to the journal, your contributions to the field, and your readership.

Editor, the AAG Review of Books

Kent Mathewson

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‘Annals of the AAG’: COVID-19 Announcement

The Long View

When the Annals was launched in 1911, penicillin did not yet exist. As Editors, we are taking the long view on the COVID-19 pandemic. While the journal has persevered through many global crises, the present moment is clearly not business as usual.

We recognize these are exceptional times that are creating unusual burdens for individuals and communities. Many people are taking on additional duties as they cope with self-isolation and social distancing; cancelled classes, school and childcare; caring for and assisting older people and those with underlying health conditions; and the very real needs of students, staff and colleagues in our institutions. Those with caring responsibilities are facing more demands on their time, not fewer. These caring responsibilities are diverse and include friends, neighbors, colleagues and students—not just family members or dependent children.

We have chosen not to suspend our journal activities or operations for a set period, given the uncertain duration of this crisis. Instead, we are slowing things down, in order to stay nimble and responsive to differential challenges, capacities, and needs of our staff, contributors, and community members. Editorial decisions and copy-editing will be slower than usual; the window of reviewing will be extended and adapted to personal circumstances; responses and communications may be uneven or delayed. The months ahead will test all of us in different ways. Through difficult times, we ask for your patience.

Most important, we ask that our readers put care and community first. Peer review and academic publishing is, at its core, an act of goodwill—it requires sustained, thoughtful engagement with others, a kind of relation-building. We fully recognize and respect that not all members of our community are in a position to submit or review papers at this time. If you are able to engage in peer review, we will work with you to fully take account of your circumstances.

In the months to come, we expect to see trials and tests like never before, requiring us to pull together as a community. In this community, we find strength and hope. Reflecting on the recent words of Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, we take some inspiration: “in the years to come, let them say of us: when things were at their worst, we were at our best.”

Editors, Annals of the American Association of Geographers

Ling Bian, David R. Butler, Katie Meehan, Kendra Strauss

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‘GeoHumanities’: COVID-19 Announcement

Not Business as Usual: A Message from the Editors of GeoHumanities

There is little about being an academic in the current time that can be called “business as usual”. Academic publishing is no exception. It is the joint act of many people – authors, reviewers, readers, people in the offices of publishers and professional societies such as the AAG, editors, and many others. All of us live in communities that have been, and increasingly will be, shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We join with our fellow AAG editors in choosing not to suspend our journals’ activities or operations for a set period, given the uncertain duration of this crisis. Instead, we are slowing things down, to allow more space and time for listening to the different challenges, capacities, and needs of our staff, contributors, and community members. Editorial decisions and copy-editing will be slower than usual; the window of reviewing will be extended and adapted to personal circumstances; and responses and communications may be uneven or delayed. The months ahead will test all of us in different ways. Through difficult times, we ask for your patience.

Alongside our fellow AAG editors, we ask that all of us who contribute to the existence of our journals put care of self and others first. Submission of papers and peer review are, we believe, at their core, a means of building, maintaining and sharing an academic community. They require sustained, thoughtful engagement with others – a relation-building founded on trust, generosity and empathy as well as rigour, honesty and accountability. This engagement takes many forms, works to different tempos, and is itself immersed in a world of cares and responsibilities. For many of us, ‘not business as usual’ means taking time to simply care for others and ourselves; for others, it means slowly taking stock of events, and reserving our voice until a time when we feel a contribution is feasible and useful. As such, we urge critical conversations on the links that have been, and continue to be, drawn between academic publishing, productivity, and career progression within academia. Universities and the apparatus that surrounds them can, and will, frame articles as measures of academic ‘belonging’ and ‘success’, reducing the work involved to metrics, and arguably glossing the many values that scholarship can provide to both the individuals undertaking it and their potential audiences. This framing can also erase or ignore other sites where other practices are cherished and valued – including caring for ourselves and others – practices that are especially important during times of crisis.

Please take good care.

Editors, GeoHumanities

Tim Cresswell and Deborah Dixon

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