Public Journal of Semiotics (PJOS) changes site address:
http://journals.lub.lu.se/pjos/
Public Journal of Semiotics (PJOS) was established in 2007 by Prof. Paul Bouissac as a nonprofit organization aiming to “publish original research articles in domains relating to semiotics”. A general principle has been to interpret semiotics broadly as the systematic study of meaning, in perception, cognition, communication, language and any kind of media, and thus to publish high-quality research irrespectively of whether the author sees themselves as working in “semiotics proper”, in (cognitive) linguistics, media studies, or any related field. It was then, and continues to be, fully free of charge for both authors and readers, living up fully to the principle of open access, guided by idea the that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Under Prof. Bouissac’s leadership, 4 volumes and 8 issues, with 4 papers per issue, were published until 2013, when I had the honor to take over as editor-in-chief, starting from Vol. 5.
During the last five years, I have endeavored to continue the life of the journal following the same basic principles: free open access and well-written articles dealing with various aspects of meaning making, preferably combining theory with empirical research. I have emphasized the need to write in a way that is both professional, and accessible for a broader audience. Sections on theoretical background are expected to provide summaries of the theoretical framework employed, and not to assume much prior knowledge of, say, Peircian semiotics, Conceptual Metaphor Theory or Deconstruction. Combining, elaborating or criticizing such frameworks, with an open mind, is always appreciated.
Over the past five years, we have similarly published 4 volumes, and the latest issue Vol. 8, Issue 2, will appear by the end of 2018. The topics of the papers have varied, but iconicity (in speech, images and gestures) has been a recurrent topic. Purely theoretical papers dealing with the nature of (linguistic) meaning and relations between theoretical frameworks have also appeared among the issues. Relatively few contributions have not made it past the initial editorial review, and for those who have, I have ensured a double-blind protocol where (in most cases) two external reviewers provide detailed reviews and recommendations. If the latter are “accept with revisions”, authors need to reply to these, and with the help of extra editorial comments, have usually been able to make their paper into worthy contributions to the public discussion of topics that are relevant for semiotics, and often society at large.
If I have to be self-critical, I should mention that we have not always managed to publish two issues per year as planned, due to the rather extensive (completely pro bono) work in turning a manuscript from submission to a published article. It has often been difficult to find willing and competent reviewers, and while I have had the help of assistant editors for about half the time since I assumed the role as editor-in-chief, for the rest I have been on my own, taking on all roles from editor-in-chief to copy-editor and also the one to finally get the papers in camera-ready form. I have often felt like Count Dracula (think Coppola’s film), saying “welcome to my castle”, driving the coach, carrying the bags and making dinner… But let us not over-extend the metaphor!
But the job has become easier lately, due to improvements on the technical side, as the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform at Lund University has been much improved since the beginning of this year. I can now use it much better than the old system in order to run papers through the process, and to communicate with reviewers and authors. There has been one glitch, however. Until now, we have kept the original Internet site address for the journal (pjos.org), which redirected to the present site. But with the improvement of the OJS system, the security check has reacted against redirects to a server in another country, and readers and authors have sometimes found it impossible to register. For the reason, as of August 22, 2018, the only site for the journal is http://journals.lub.lu.se/pjos/
Please bookmark it, and use it to read fully public and original work in semiotics. And even if the journal is not among the highest ranked in the field (since it does not have powerful publisher to back it up), I encourage you to submit your work on new empirical results and theoretical insights in (human) meaning making to PJOS!
Jordan Zlatev, Professor in General Linguistics
Division for Cognitive Semiotics, Lund University
Editor-in-chief of Public Journal of Semiotics (PJOS)
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