Looking Back at EJIL 2012 – The Stats

This is the time of year when we look back and collate some statistics on the publication record of EJIL.

Here is a new statistic. In a previous Editorial (‘Demystifying the Editorial Process’), I explained that the Editorial Board did not regard EJIL as a mere refereeing service of the unsolicited submissions which arrive week in, week out. We also like proactively to explore areas of international law, raise questions, set scholarly agendas typically by commissioned symposia. We believe that this approach is what gives EJIL its distinct identity. I ‘guesstimated’ that the balance between solicited and unsolicited pieces was more or less half and half. Here are the hard numbers for 2012:

• Solicited pieces: 23 for a total of 361 published pages
• Unsolicited pieces: 25 for a total of 588 published pages.

We continue to think that we strike the right balance; let us know if you think otherwise.

Now to our ‘normal’ stats for 2012. A brief reminder: data for published articles reflects submissions and acceptances which in part took place the year before.

Gender

The percentage of submissions by women rose in 2012 to 33%, 12 percentage points higher than in 2011. This shift was reflected in the percentage of accepted articles, with 31% of accepted articles by women, up from 29% in 2011, although the percentage of published articles written by women dropped to 23% in 2012. Given the higher submission and acceptance rates in 2012, we expect a jump in the published articles rate for women authors in 2013, the first part of which will reflect these higher figures.

Regional origin

Of the total number of manuscripts submitted in 2012, 48% of articles came from EU countries, 5% originated from Council of Europe countries outside the EU, 25% came from the US and Canada, and 22% from the rest of the world. The percentages for articles that were accepted for publication are: EU 57%; CoE outside the EU 6%; US and Canada 24%; rest of the world 13%. Finally, articles actually published in 2012 came from: EU 61%; CoE outside the EU 13%; US and Canada 16%; rest of the world 10%. Notably, these percentages show a welcome increase in submissions from the US and Canada, up from 8% in 2011, partly resulting from our efforts to encourage our North American colleagues to publish in the EJIL.

Linguistic origin

49% of submissions came from English-speaking countries and 51% from non-English-speaking countries, whilst for published articles in the 2012 volume the percentages were: English speaking countries 35%, and non-English-speaking countries 65%.