2027 PLSA


 


Scope and Procedures for PLSA, Starting with the 2027 Volume1

The Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America (PLSA) publishes select peer-reviewed papers based on presentations delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA). The goal of PLSA is to increase the impact of the Annual Meetings, and to give Annual Meeting presenters an opportunity to broaden the reach of their research.  Publication in PLSA serves as the version of record of an Annual Meeting presentation and provides durable access to the research.

Submissions

 Who can submit to PLSA
The author (or authors) of any presentation given at an LSA Annual Meeting can submit a paper based on their presentation to PLSA. Both oral and poster presentations are eligible. Papers based on accepted abstracts that were not presented at the LSA Annual Meeting are not eligible for submission.
 

Frequency of publication

PLSA is published in one annual volume, with each volume containing papers based on presentations at the Annual Meeting of the same year.
 

Requirements for submissions

Papers published in PLSA should be based on a poster or oral presentation given at the LSA Annual Meeting. Deviating substantively from the Annual Meeting presentation may result in a decision to decline publication.
 
  • Title: The title should either be identical to the title of the presentation given at the LSA Annual Meeting, or closely related to it. In case the two titles differ, the original title should be given in a footnote, with a short explanation of why the titles are not the same. In most cases, this will also be identical to the title used when the abstract was submitted for consideration for the Annual Meeting.
  • Formatting: Submissions should be formatted following the provided stylesheet.2
  • Length: Submissions can be no longer than 6,000 words (excluding references).
  • Upon acceptance: For papers accepted for publication, additional changes may be requested in terms of formatting, submission of image files, etc.
  • Submission deadline: In order to be considered for publication in PLSA, papers must be submitted no later than March 31 at 11:59pm Pacific Time of the same year in which the paper was presented at an LSA Annual Meeting.
 

 Reviewing of PLSA Papers

 Reviewing for PLSA is a two-stage process:
  • Abstract review: The initial review is based on the abstracts of poster and/or oral presentations that are submitted for presentation at an LSA Annual Meeting. All abstracts are subject to rigorous, double-anonymous review (by at least two reviewers) under the auspices of the LSA Program Committee.
  • Full paper review: Submissions to PLSA are based on presentations delivered at the LSA Annual Meeting, and must incorporate feedback received during the Annual Meeting. All PLSA submissions then go through a second round of review. These reviews will be conducted by members of the PLSA Editorial Board, overseen by the Editor/ Co-editors of PLSA. Each submission will be reviewed by at least one member of the PLSA Editorial Board. The Editors/Co-editors can also, as needed, recruit additional outside reviewers for specific submissions (for example, when evaluating a submission requires specific technical skills or knowledge).
  • Editorial independence: The final decision to publish or not rests exclusively with the PLSA Editor/Co-editors. Although the Editor/Co-editors report to the LSA Executive Committee, the Executive Committee will play no role in editorial decisions.

Single-anonymous review

Since all submissions to PLSA are based on presentations given at the LSA Annual Meeting, the identity of the author(s) will be publicly available at the time of submission to PLSA. Review will therefore be single-anonymous, with the identity of the author(s) known to reviewers, but the identity of reviewers not known by the authors.
 

Questions considered during full paper review

During the full paper review stage, the three questions below will be considered by the assigned reviewers. Only submissions for which all three questions are answered in the affirmative will be accepted for publication in PLSA. In considering these questions, reviewers will be asked to respond in the positive only if the submission already meets the expectations and will require no more than minimal revision. For any submission that will require substantive or major revisions, the relevant question or questions below should be answered in the negative. This therefore means that only submissions that require at most minor, non-substantive revision will be accepted for publication.
  1. Is the submission substantively related to the abstract that was accepted for presentation at the Annual Meeting?
  2. Does the research follow standard practices relevant to the area of research?
  3. Is the research free from any substantive flaws sufficient to preclude publication?
The member or members of the PLSA Editorial Board that review a particular manuscript will communicate to the Editor/Co-editors their answers to the three questions above. It is not expected that these reviewers prepare a lengthy review report, as is typical for publication in other LSA journals.
 
For papers recommended to be rejected (i.e., for which at least one of the questions above receives a negative answer), the reviewer will be expected to supply a short motivation for the negative answer (a few brief paragraphs per question will suffice). These responses should be written in a manner appropriate for sharing with the author, and should be framed as constructive feedback. A space will be provided for the reviewer, if they wish, to add additional separate comments to the Editor/Co-editors that will not be shared with the author.
 
For submissions that are recommended for publication (i.e., for which all three of the questions above receive a positive answer) the reviewer may request minor changes to be made.
 

Editorial decision

The decision about a submission will be made by the PLSA Editor/Co-editors, based on their own independent judgment as informed by the recommendations of the members of the PLSA Editorial Board.
 

Does publishing in PLSA mean that I cannot submit my work elsewhere?

 No. Publication in PLSA does not prevent you from submitting a revised and extended paper based on the same research to a different journal. It will be important that the new submission represents a substantive development from the PLSA publication. This means that it will usually be substantially longer than the PLSA publication, that it gives a more thorough positioning of the research within the literature, and that it includes more extensive discussion of the theoretical implications of the research. It is also usually the case that an LSA Annual Meeting presentation covers only one part of a larger research project (due to the time limitations on oral presentations, and space limitations on poster presentations). PLSA publications will therefore also usually represent only part of a larger project. A submission to a different journal based on a PLSA submission will therefore also usually contain aspects of the research not included in the PLSA publication (additional experiments, additional case studies, substantive development of the theoretical argument beyond that included in the PLSA publication, etc.).
To avoid self-plagiarism, it is critical that authors do not include large portions of text from the PLSA publication in their submission to a different journal, and in particular not without the proper attribution. Papers in PLSA are published ‘open access’, under a Creative Commons license, and authors retain the right to reuse their work without permission from the publisher.
It is important that authors who intend to submit an extended version of their PLSA paper to a different journal make sure that they can meet all of the requirements above. Failure to do so may preclude an author from being able to submit their research elsewhere after publication in PLSA. When submitted to a different journal, authors should also confirm the policies of that specific journal, and alert the editor at the time of submission of the relationship between the submitted manuscript and the PLSA publication.
 

The Editor/Co-editors of PLSA

 


The Editor/Co-editors shall be members of the LSA. Although it is not a requirement, the Editor/Co-editors will typically be mid-career or senior members of the LSA. The decision about whether a single Editor or a team of Co-editors will be appointed for any specific period rests with the LSA Executive Committee.
 

Recruitment and appointment of the Editor/Co-editors

During the last year of an Editor/Co-editor’s term, a Search Committee consisting of at least two members will be established to recruit a replacement for the Editor/Co-editor stepping down. One member of this Committee will typically be a current Editor/Co-editor of PLSA. Members of this Committee will be approved by the LSA Executive Committee.

In coordination with the LSA Executive Director, the Search Committee will circulate a call for applications for the open position to all LSA members. After the application deadline has passed, the Search Committee will review all applications, and identify a short-list of candidates to be interviewed (most likely remotely). Based on this process, the Search Committee will then prepare a nomination for the PLSA Editor/Co-editor, which will be submitted to the LSA Executive Committee for approval.
 

Term of service

The term of service for PLSA Editors/Co-editors shall be four years, with the option of renewal subject to approval by the LSA Executive Committee. In the case of there being a team of Co-editors, typically no more than half of the Co-editors will cycle off per year. This will result in a staggered system where at most half of the Co-editor team are new, ensuring editorial continuity and easier transition between Editors/Co-editors. To establish this staggered succession system, it will be necessary for the terms of some members of an initial Co-editor team to be shorter than four years.

PLSA Editorial Board

 
The PLSA Editorial Board shall be comprised of LSA members, and the Board shall have at least 10 members. Additional members may be added to the Editorial Board based on the workload associated with service on the Board. A recommendation for adding additional members will be made by the Editor/Co-editors to the LSA Executive Committee for their approval.
 

Recruitment of Board members

The LSA will maintain an interest form where LSA members can indicate their interest in serving on the PLSA Editorial Board. The form will be available on the PLSA website, and also on the LSA’s website. As needed (but at least annually), the LSA will include a call for applications in a message sent to all the LSA members.
 
Although all LSA members are eligible to indicate their interest in serving on the Board, we are especially interested in recruiting early-career LSA members for the Board. At the LSA’s other journals (Language, Phonological Data and Analysis, Semantics and Pragmatics, Journal of Black Language and Culture), it is more typical for mid-career or senior linguists to serve in editorial roles. Serving on the PLSA Editorial Board therefore allows an opportunity for early-career LSA members to gain experience in an editorial role.
 
The workload of the PLSA Editorial Board will be significantly lower than that of associate editors or editorial board members at other LSA journals, since submissions to PLSA are received only once per year and since the review process is significantly streamlined in comparison to that used at other journals. This ensures a lesser impact of this service on early-career LSA members at a time in their professional development when they should focus on establishing their careers through research and teaching.
 

Selection and approval of Board members

As needed (but at least annually), the Editor/Co-editors of PLSA will review statements of interest received through the process described above. The Editor/Co-editors will then select from among this list potential Board members, taking into consideration issues such as: (i) balance of expertise on the Board (including both academic and non-academic areas of expertise), (ii) geographic representation of the Board, (iii) gender and ethnic composition of the Board, etc. Based on this, the Editor/Co-editor will prepare a list of individuals nominated for Board membership which will be presented to the LSA Executive Committee for approval.
 

Term of service

A term of service on the PLSA Editorial Board will be two years, with the option of renewal based on a recommendation by the Editor/Co-editors. To ensure continuity among Board members, typically no more than half of the Board members will cycle off per year. This will result in a staggered system where roughly half of the Board members are new and half are continuing members.
To establish this staggered succession, the term for roughly one half of the members of the first PLSA Editorial Board will be for only one year.
 
[1] The substantive content for the PLSA Scope and procedures will be those approved by the Executive Committee and presented here, but the format/presentation will be reformatted to conform to the Cambridge Core platform requirements.
[2] Link to be added once the style sheet is available on Cambridge Core.