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REDLINES, RED FACES: Everyone agreed that the long delays in the publication of the American Anthropological Association's flagship journal were embarrassing. By September, however, a dispute over the causes had become so intractable that the journal's editor resigned.
The production process for American Anthropologist was "constipated," says William E. Davis, the association's executive director. The December 2000 issue surfaced last July, and subscribers received the June 2001 issue just a few weeks ago.
Under Robert W. Sussman, the editor since 1998, Mr. Davis says, the quarterly publication was the only one of the association's 10 journals that routinely sent its authors "redlines" -- galley proofs with copy-editing changes clearly marked for comparison to previous versions. Authors were constantly revising their copy, requiring further rounds of editing, says Mr. Davis. And Mr. Sussman, a professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, broke with previous practice by requiring that galleys be sent to the authors of the dozens of book reviews in each issue.
To ease the burden on its production staff, the association ended those practices last summer, over the editor's objections. Most of the articles for what would have been Mr. Sussman's last five issues are already in the pipeline. By the end of this month, Mr. Davis says, the journal will be back on schedule.
Mr. Sussman and his wife, Linda K. Sussman, a research associate in anthropology at Washington...