The Revolving Door of Acta Politica
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Editorial The Revolving Door of Acta Politica Acta Politica (2008) 43, 1–3. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ap.5500218
This 43rd volume of Acta Politica marks a number of important changes for this journal, not the least that Hans Keman has finished his tour of duty as co-editor of this journal. Acta Politica owes a lot to Hans. Transformation processes are always delicate to manage, and this is certainly the case for a scholarly journal. Reputation is a crucial asset in academia, and it is often important to be able to build on this form of social capital. Acta Politica has been transformed quite rapidly and successfully from a national, Dutch, journal into a truly international journal. It has to be acknowledged that ‘international’ in practice still largely means ‘European’, in terms of author submissions, choice of reviewers and subscriptions. But gradually we do receive more manuscripts from the other side of the ocean, and we do feel confident that this process will continue in the years ahead. Hans Keman was the right man in the right place to guide the journal in this transformation process. For those who are less familiar with Dutch political science: Hans enjoys a solid reputation in Dutch academic life. As a good historian he also knows that internationalization of academic life should not result in some kind of free-floating research, but that the historical development of one’s own community should always be taken into account. Partly because of this quality, he was successful in convincing the Dutch Political Science Association that ‘going Dutch’ was no longer a feasible option. Going international was a major step ahead, not just for the journal but also more generally for political science in the Netherlands. ‘Going international’, however, was not an easy option, as one has to obtain the confidence of authors and reviewers. Luckily we could build here on Hans’s extensive international network, partly dating from his period at the helm of the European Journal of Political Research, where he too, was instrumental in creating a stronger international profile. Reviewers are sometimes difficult to find, and even more often, it is difficult to convince them to turn in their review within a reasonable time limit. More than once his international network of friends was extremely useful, if we wanted another opinion on a manuscript that had been lingering too long on someone’s desk. On a personal note: during these past four years it has been a real pleasure to be able to work together with Hans. Our meetings were always cheerful, with the discussion ranging from copyright issues, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ reviewers, the peculiarities of life in Friesland and the Frisian language, and not to forget the
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historical details of the noble art of playing cricket. But I was equally impressed by his strong commitment to the journal. Even during his stays in Australia or Firenze, I could expect his e-mails on the journal, late on Sunday evenings. And these e-mails never failed to amaze me by their talent for solid and w
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