EDITING AN ASAO VOLUME

Guidelines originally prepared in 1985 by Margaret Rodman, revised in 1999 by Andrew Strathern and Pamela J. Stewart, in 2002 by Michèle Dominy, in 2004 by Jeannette Mageo and the book series editorial board, in 2008 by Rupert Stasch and the book series editorial board, and in 2025 again by Rupert Stasch with Jess Marinaccio.

PHASE 1: THE SESSION

The qualities that make a good ASAO session pave the way for a successful volume. As you organize your session you should be thinking ahead to the volume, if joint publication is your goal; pay attention to (1) the breadth and depth with which you cover the relevant ethnographic material (2) comparability of chapters around a set of clearly defined theoretical and ethnographic questions, (3) originality and scholarly significance, and (4) the consistency with which varying contributions address a set of common theoretical and ethnography questions. The final session and the later volume should be strong theoretically and ethnographically. It should also be rich in cross-links between chapters: contributors should speak directly and indirectly to the introduction and one another’s work.

Across the session meetings and volume development, seek to organize your collective process in ways that help all participants improve the quality and value of their potential contributions. Encourage each contributor to make comments on each paper. These should be written, but verbal comments at the meetings can also be very helpful. As organizers and potential editors, you should comment extensively on each paper. The more rigorous you are in suggesting revisions before and after the symposium, the fewer changes you are likely to be asked to have your contributors make later on. Seven chapters plus an introduction and conclusion makes a good-sized volume. One hundred thousand words for the entire volume is a rough limit.

Every volume must have an introduction and a conclusion. The volume editors generally write the introduction. Edited collections need either an interesting, innovative topic or a fresh perspective on an important older topic. The introduction should clarify what the volume attempts in this regard; this project should also be discussed in cross-talk between chapters. The volume's integrity should be created and carried not simply by its introduction and/or conclusion but also by the manner in which the chapters engage one another. The introduction should also situate the volume clearly in the ethnography of the Pacific and within anthropological theory, as well as in relation to other recently published works.

PHASE 2: PREPARATION FOR SUBMISSION TO SERIES EDITOR

Discuss your plans for a volume with the Series Editor as it is being developed. The Series Editor will guide you in the timing of when to prepare a New Book Outline form for submission to the publisher and for use in setting up a peer review process. This form will include a two or three page overview of the volume followed by chapter abstracts. The overview should clarify the volume's unifying theoretical and ethnographic questions. The overview should also suggest the volume's contribution to one or more literatures: how does it compare to other recent works and what is its special contribution? Be sure to highlight thematic cross-connections between the chapters. Chapter abstracts should be written by the chapter authors, not by the editor, and should clarify the chapter's relation to the volume's unifying theoretical and ethnographic questions, its special contribution to the volume as a whole and its cross-talk and intersections with other chapters.

At the earliest stage possible, instruct volume contributors to follow the publisher’s style guide, available at the following two URLs (in long and short versions, respectively):

https://www.berghahnbooks.com/uploads/authors/doc_style_US.pdf

https://www.berghahnbooks.com/uploads/authors/Berghahn_housestyle_US.pdf

Note also that ASAO volumes should follow the “author-date” style of citing works, not the “short title” style that Berghahn also lists as an option.

The Series Editor will also guide you around the timing and structure of the initial peer review process. Typically the Series Editor will read the entire manuscript prior to placing it with peer reviewers, to make any suggestions about basic changes or improvements that would help the peer reviewers' ability to work with the submission. For the peer review process itself, please submit a complete file, well-formatted and proofread, with all its parts. 

PHASE 3: REVIEW AND REVISION

The Series Editor will place the manuscript with reviewers, partly drawing on communications with you and with the publisher's editorial staff. Peer reviews then become a basis of formal decisions about publication, and editorial advice to the editors and chapter authors. For volumes being accepted for publication, normally it is after peer review of a complete manuscript that the publisher offers a formal contract. After the editor and authors have received the peer reviews and Series Editor's guidance, you should guide your authors in final revision of their contributions, and preparation of everything you will need for submission of the production manuscript. Once a contract has been issued, often only the Series Editor is involved in checking the final submission with you (rather than the manuscript being reviewed again), prior to your submission of the production manuscript and related materials to the publisher.

PHASE 4: PRODUCTION

After you and your authors have completed final revisions, you and the Series Editor will submit the final manuscript and supporting materials (e.g. forms related to image permissions) to Berghahn, and the volume editors work with Berghahn’s production team through the further stages of bringing the work to publication. It takes up to one year from this point to the work being physically distributed. Some specific aspects of the production process are described at the following “author info” page on Berghahn’s website, a bit down the page under the heading “PRODUCTION”:

https://www.berghahnbooks.com/authors/

PHASE 5: DISTRIBUTION

Berghahn publishes the book initially in hardcover. The Press handles distribution and advertising, including displays at the conference meetings. Some further information about publicity and distribution can be found at the same “author info” page at Berghahn’s web page listed above, in the section titled “Marketing.”