Editorial

Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics,Flensburg, Germany

On 29 December 1951, the American Name Society (ANS) was officially founded (Morgan, 1970). Less than two years later, the scholarly journal NAMES was established (Morgan, 1970). The German toponymist, Dr. Erwin Gustav Gudde (1889–1969) served as the first editor (Nuessel, 2013). Since those early days, the journal has had 12 separate editors who’ve each placed their personal stamp upon the publication. Of these scholars, one who has undisputedly had the greatest impact upon NAMES is Dr. Frank Nuessel who served as journal Editor-in-Chief for an astounding 11 years. Thanks to his uncompromising professionalism and scholarship, during his tenure, NAMES has grown to become one of the leading scholarly publications in onomastic research in the world today. In the winter of 2019, Professor Nuessel will formally step down as the Editor-in-Chief and will officially pass on the editorship to me. ¹ My personal and professional goal is to continue Frank’s legacy of excellence.

Although the ANS was founded and based in the United States, both the Society and its journal have always had a truly global focus, devoted to exploring names and naming practices around the world. As former ANS President Dr. Leonard Ashley explained in 2002: ‘the American Name Society is the American society for the study of names, but studies of names everywhere, and in all aspects’ (Ashley 2002, 68). Over the past decade, this international profile has significantly increased, thanks in no small measure to the growing diversity of NAMES readers and contributors. As the newly elected Editor-in-Chief, one of my primary aims is to continue to nurture and expand this cultural and linguistic legacy. I had that goal in mind as I assembled the new Editorial Board. It was of paramount importance to me to gather a team that represented a broad cross-section of not only professional expertise, but also cultural and linguistic perspectives. The new Board members are presented in Table 1.

Table 1 List of scholars and professional affiliations for the 2019 ANS Editorial Board

	Expert	Current Affiliation
	Michael Adams	Indiana University of Bloomington, USA
	Susan Behrens	Marymount Manhattan College, USA
	Gerrit Bloothooft	University of Utrecht, the Netherlands
	Luisa Caiazzo	University of Basilicata, Italy
	Edward Callary	Northern Illinois University, USA
	Lindsey Chen	National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
	Chris De Vinne	Ursuline College, USA
	Julia Kuhn	University of Jena, Germany
	Frank Nuessel	University of Louisville, USA
	Sharon Obasi	University of Nebraska Kearney, USA
	Maggie Scott	University of Salford, England
	Laurel Sutton	Catchword Branding
	Jan Tent	Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
	Sara Louise Wheeler	Wrexham Glyndŵr University, Wales

Long-time journal subscribers will doubtlessly recognize the names of many senior ANS members who served on the previous Editorial Board. However, the list also includes the names of onomastic scholars who will be joining the Board for the first time. The resulting blend of old and new reflects my primary mission as incoming Editor-in-Chief: maintaining the journal’s tradition of excellence, while integrating exciting innovations. Towards that end, in close cooperation with our publisher, Taylor & Francis, the journal will be instituting a number of changes to streamline and modernize the publication. These changes will include the introduction of an automated article submission process to allow prospective authors to not only quickly submit their articles, but also continuously monitor the progress of their submission.

Given the increasing financial and ecological costs of traditional print publications, the number of readers and institutions that prefer to access their subscriptions online has substantially increased (Archambault, Éric, et al., 2014). In keeping with this trend, the journal will significantly enhance its online selection. For instance, in addition to the regular catalogue of articles and reviews, the journal will also soon be offering the following online-only services: in-depth interviews and instructional videos featuring onomastic experts; a platform where international names scholars can address onomastic controversies that have captured public attention; and a special ‘Ask a Name Scholar’ portal where lay readers can pose burning questions about names and naming.

Each quarter, along with our regular contingent of new articles, we will also be offering an online selection of ‘onomastic classics’: pieces of scholarship that, despite having been published several decades ago, continue to influence today’s research. This rotating selection of classic and modern literature will be made available for free online viewing and PDF download. Readers can access these references via either the Taylor & Francis website or an ‘Editor’s Choice’ link on the ANS website. By providing ready-access to such high-quality literature, NAMES will continue to meet its dual objective of supporting the world’s next generation of onomastic scholars while contributing to the general public’s understanding of names (Bryant, 1976).

Once a year, the journal will also publish a special issue devoted to a single theme. Journal readers are encouraged to suggest a topic of interest for this special issue, and onomastic scholars are invited to either contribute articles or serve as a guest editor. While any area of names and naming is eligible for consideration, priority will be given to topics that address languages, cultures, literatures, times, social issues, places, and/or spaces that have as yet received comparatively little scholarly attention. Moreover, theme suggestions that offer creative and fresh approaches to the analysis and interpretation of well-documented onomastic phenomena are warmly welcomed.

Along with these innovations in content, the journal itself will also undergo important changes in format. In accordance with new production regulations introduced by Taylor & Francis, NAMES will be introducing updated style requirements based on the Chicago Manual of Style. In particular, stylistic guidelines for e-references will be instituted. The importance of this standardization cannot be overemphasized. From online linguistic corpora to digitalized historical manuscripts, the international scientific community has witnessed a veritable explosion in the number and type of scholarly references available online. The new regulations for e-referencing will assist journal contributors and consumers alike in better navigating these new sources of information.

Despite these changes, there are many aspects of our journal that will remain. Each year, NAMES will continue to present an award for ‘Best Article of the Year.’ Winners will be selected by the ANS Editorial Board and will receive a commemorative plaque and cash prize during the ANS annual meeting. Awardees will be featured on the ANS website, the journal webpage of Taylor & Francis, and in official press releases sent to the international media. Another journal hallmark which will remain is the Review Section. Managed by former ANS President and current Book Review Editor, Dr. Chris De Vinne, this feature will continue to offer objective, intelligent reports on the newest onomastic literature appearing on the global market today.

Another aspect that will remain largely unchanged is the article review process. As before, submissions will be subjected to a rigorous but fair blind review, which consists of both qualitative and quantitative assessment by at least two members of the Editorial Board. All submissions will be independently judged across a variety of content and format criteria. For the sake of transparency, the assessment criteria used to determine whether or not a submission is accepted for publication will be posted on an ‘Author Checklist’. This checklist will appear on the ANS website and the Taylor & Francis webpage for NAMES. This heightened transparency will provide authors with fair, honest, and respectful treatment of their submissions, while still offering readers reliable, innovative, thought-provoking scholarship.

This critical balance between kindness and conscientiousness is, in my opinion, one of the most important assets of NAMES and one of the greatest legacies of Dr. Nuessel’s editorship. During the 11 years I served on the NAMES Editorial Board, I was consistently impressed with his ability to maintain this delicate equilibrium. When faced with adversity and chaos, duplicity and rancor, he remained stalwart and focused, faithful and true. His integrity, kindness, generosity, and reliability, as both a scholar and a gentleman have been invaluable to the journal and the society. Over his years of mentorship, Frank has taught me so many lessons through his words and his deeds. One of the most important, though, has been that leadership is not defined by the possession of power. True leadership comes from empowering others with generosity of the mind, heart, and spirit. Thank you, Frank, for all you have given us, and inspired us to be.

Notes on Contributor

I. M. Nick holds a BA (Germanic Languages and Literatures); BSc (Clinical/Abnormal Psychology); MA (German Linguistics); MSc (Forensic and Investigative Psychology); PhD and the German ‘Habilitation’ (English Linguistics). Her research includes forensic linguistics, multilingualism, language-policy, Holocaust studies, and onomastics. She is the President of the Germanic Society for Forensic Linguistics (GSFL), the Immediate Past President of the American Name Society (ANS), and the incoming Editor-in-Chief of NAMES.

Notes

1 June 2018, the ANS Executive Council voted unanimously to accept Dr. I. M. Nick’s nomination as the new Editor-in-Chief of Names: A Journal of Onomastics.