Editorial

Award for Best Article in NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics for 2013

For the fifth consecutive year, the independent Committee for the Best Articles in NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics has evaluated all of the articles published in our journal according to explicit criteria (theoretical content, methodology, innovation, interdisciplinarity, documentation, writing style, objectivity, future impact, and overall quality of scholarship). At its annual meeting in San Francisco January 8–11 2009, the American Name Society agreed to provide an annual award for the best article in NAMES. We are pleased to announce that this year’s winner is Christopher L. Robinson, HEC-Paris. France, for his article entitled “What Makes the Names of Middle-earth So Fitting? Elements of Style in the Namecraft of J. R. R. Tolkien,” which appeared in NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics 61:2 (2013), 65–74. A note on the award and the past winners appears in this issue of the journal. We would also like to express our appreciation to the three members of the committee for their hard work in making such a difficult decision:

1. Michael F. McGoff (Binghamton University, SUNY)

2. John Algeo (Professor Emeritus, University of Georgia)

3. Kemp Williams (IBM)

Appreciation

I would like to thank the members of the Editorial Board for their dedication and hard work in making NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics the excellent journal that it is. They are:

1. John Algeo (Professor Emeritus, University of Georgia)

2. Edward Callary (Northern Illinois University)

3. Christine De Vinne (Notre Dame of Maryland University)

4. Thomas J. Gasque (Professor Emeritus, University of South Dakota)

5. Margaret Lee (Hampton University)

6. Michael F. McGoff (Binghamton University, SUNY)

7. Lisa McNary (North Carolina State University)

8. Jan Tent (Macquarie University, Australia)

9. Iman L. Nick (University of Cologne, Germany)

10. Peter E. Raper (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa)

I also wish to thank Chris De Vinne, whose work as Reviews Editor for the journal is exceptional. We all appreciate the hard work.

60 Things Journal Publishers Do

Kent Anderson, CEO/Publisher of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, has published an informative essay entitled “Stick to Your Ribs: A Proposed List — 60 Things Publishers Do:” <http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/08/28/stick-to-your-ribs-a-proposed-list-60-things-journal-publishers-do/> (August 28 2013). The list provides a detailed enumeration of the tasks carried out by journal publishers. This article offers administrators, contributors, and colleagues insights into the multiple tasks carried out by journal editors. It appears in The Scholarly Kitchen (a moderated and independent blog intended to fulfill the Society for Scholarly Publishing’s mission of providing opinion in this field. The Society for Scholarly Publishing was founded in 1978 (<http://www.sspnet.org/>) and its mission statement is (<http://www.sspnet.org/about-us/about-ssp/>):

To advance scholarly publishing and communication, and the professional development of its members through education, collaboration, and networking.

Requirements for Submissions to NAMES

Several recent submissions to the journal indicate that authors have not paid attention to the following requirement for submissions to NAMES. We ask that all authors read and comply with this prerequisite for submissions to the journal. Following these rules will facilitate the processing of submissions, and it will expedite editorial responses. This policy was decided at the meeting of the Executive Council of the American Name Society January 2011 and published in the Editorial in NAMES 59:2 (2011), 65.

NAMES is dedicated to publishing a broad diversity of previously unpublished scholarly articles and book reviews in the field of onomastics. Authors from every corner of the world are therefore warmly encouraged to submit their work. Please be aware, however, that NAMES requires all submissions to adhere to US American English grammar, punctuation, spelling, and style. All manuscripts must be scrupulously edited before submission to ensure the highest standard of academic writing. Work with numerous factual, typographical, and/or grammatical errors will not be accepted for peer review. Before submission, it is therefore strongly recommended that all manuscripts be carefully edited for style, content, and grammar by an experienced proofreader who is a native-speaker of US American English. Any contractual arrangement, which the author(s) may enter into will, however, be exclusively the sole financial responsibility of the author(s). Please be aware that the use of professional proofreading services will in no way guarantee the acceptance of a submission by the review committee and Journal editorial staff. However, the failure to appropriately edit a submission will automatically be considered sufficient grounds for immediate, unqualified rejection.

Adrian Room

Former Editor of NAMES: A Journal of Onomastics, Edward Callary (Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, IL) reported that onomastician Adrian Room (1933–2010) passed away. He authored many books on names of all sorts, as attested in his Wikipedia site: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Room>.