Reflection after 3 years managing journal

Our journal publication has been qualified as Sinta 2 by Ministry of Research and Technology/ National Research and Innovation Agency. It’s been 3 years since I got involved in the editorial work and now I felt everything was a worth effort. 

The journal was established since 2010, but it was hard to get systematic work. We barely published on time, just because the authors took more time to revised. And they got away with that. It actually worked two way: the lazy authors and inconsistent journal manager. It’s not easy to get people do their work when you’re not even the boss. Also, it’s our custom to never hazzle because we don’t want to embarass them. So, both sides work in telepathy but different codes. We messed up.

As a government publication–where fund is not a problem– our biggest enemy is time management. Back then, June publication might available on December and December version would be released on January next year. It was awful, I know. It’s like how people perseived govenment agency: lazy, late, and incompetent. 

OMG, if this publication is our projection, we’re really bad. 

Granted Sinta 2 doesn’t mean our works are tremendous or super scientific. No, we’re not that kind. In this journal, we record our parliamentary work in a scientific prose. The journal is supposed to be an archive people can look when they’re working on legislative review. Most of our work contributed to academic manuscript used to make regulations or vice versa (made based on regulations process). This is so good because we’re the only parliamentary journal on social science (we have 4 other journals about law, economy, politic, and general parliamentary studies). This is our niche.

I want this journal to be an easy reading. Our biggest audience is not the scientific community, but Member of Parliaments (MP)–or their assistants–and the whole citizens. Let’s not forget why we’re here. We’re supposed to give feedback to MP. I want it to be a window for people to see what’s going on in the parliament. I want MP to look the scientific view they can use during their service. 

After 3 years, we’re still far from perfectly written, but we managed to beat our most evil opponent: unpunctuality. We got to published in time. We stick to our schedule. Some articles were postponed because they failed to meet the deadline.

We fix our templates. We’re teaching people how to write in formal language (it was an adventure. Every time I found weird word and I brought it to discussion. It’s enlighting). We pick  the sentenses and challenge it, “Do people understand this?”

At this point, I’m proud, relieved, and grateful.