Twenty Years of JEMS: A Geographical Content Analysis

Abstract

This paper reports on the issues of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS), and its predecessor, New Community, published during the period 1991–2010. Its main focus is on the changing geographical distribution of content, both for the ‘host’ countries of immigrants and the ‘sending’ countries of emigrants. Evidence is presented to show a shift away from a focus on the UK and Europe, with more material on other host-country contexts (North America, Australia); nevertheless, even at the end of the two-decade period, Europe still accounted for three-quarters of the host-country papers. A broadly similar pattern is evident when authors’ countries of institutional affiliation are tabulated. Concerning the geography of sending countries, we find a decline in articles on ‘traditional’ sending regions such as the Caribbean and South Asia, and a rise in the number of articles on the ‘newer’ sending regions—Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. We also note a progressive feminisation of the authorship of JEMS articles: from two-thirds’ male authorship during the 1990s to parity by the end of the 2000s. The final part of the paper makes selective comparison, based on authors’ geographical affiliation, between published and rejected papers.

Keywords:

• Geographical Content Analysis
• Article Authorship
• Feminisation of Authorship

Notes

1. All quotes in this paragraph are taken from the journal's inside cover during this period (late 1990s), where the scope and purpose of the journal are spelled out.

2. These rates are calculated on the basis of papers submitted and papers published within the same year. Whilst simple to calculate, this does not reflect the time-lag which inevitably occurs between submission and publication, which may be two or three years, especially if papers have to go through a revision process, as most do. It also needs to be pointed out that acceptance rates are higher for special-issue papers, which are more likely to be accepted en bloc. If we take special issues out of the calculation, the current acceptance rate for ‘stand-alone’ papers drops to 25 per cent.

3. Although not all authors from these three universities were staff members or research students attached to these specific institutes.

4. Reviewing the data for all the papers published in JEMS in 2011 (including the yet-to-be-published issue 10), we do find a marked female majority—62 per cent.

5. The continuing strong supply of papers on Europe and from Europe-based scholars has been boosted in recent years by the EU-funded IMISCOE Network of Excellence (‘International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe’), which has funded dozens of large conferences and specialised workshops throughout the period since 2004.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Martyna Murawska

she has recently completed a Master's in Economics at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland