About EJOPA

The eJournal of Public Affairs is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, open-access journal published by Missouri State University. By providing an academic, nationally refereed venue for such work, EJOPA aims to advance the status of scholarship focused on public affairs and civic engagement topics. 

Meet the Executive Leadership Board for the eJournal of Public Affairs:

The eJournal of Public Affairs has formed an executive leadership board who will drive the collaborative work of the eJournal. This board includes:

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Katherine (Kathy) Nordyke, PhD ​

Director of Citizenship and Service-Learning and of the eJournal of Public Affairs. Dr. Nordyke also co-chairs the Carnegie Recertification for Community Engagement application process, is the PI for Fuse (a federally funded grant through the Department of Homeland Security) and serves as a co-ADP Coordinator for Missouri State University. Previously, Kathy served as a reviewer and contributor for the eJournal.

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Charles Whitaker, MS​

Manager of Communication & Operations for service-learning and currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the eJournal of Public Affairs. Charles also directs the communication efforts for Fuse. Prior to the re-launch of the eJournal, Charlie served in the capacity of both the Associate Editor and a contributor for the eJournal of Public Affairs. 

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Catherine (Cathy) Copeland, PhD​

Director of the American Democracy Project (ADP) at AASCU and serves as the liaison for the partnership collaboration of the eJournal of Public Affairs and ADP/AASCU and has been instrumental in the re-launch of the eJournal.  Prior to her work at AASCU/ADP, Dr. Copeland served as faculty at several institutions of higher education, including, but not limited to, James Madison University, the University of Alabama, and Indiana University-Purdue University.

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Rachelle Darabi, PhD

Faculty Emeritus at Missouri State University and currently serves as the Student Ombudsman. Dr. Darabi has a lengthy history with the eJournal of Public Affairs, not only in her prior role as Associate Provost of Student Development and Public Affairs, but as a member of the Editorial Board for the eJournal and a contributor. During Dr. Darabi’s tenure at Missouri State University, she was actively involved in AASCU, AACU, and ADP, and worked tirelessly to move the Journal of Public Affairs to the eJournal of Public Affairs with national and global presence. 

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Mary Ann Wood, MS ​

Director, Office of Public Affairs Support and coordinates and oversees the development of multiple activities that promote the university’s public affairs mission including the Public Affairs Conference, Public Affairs Talks, Democracy Week, the US Naturalization Ceremony, and other special events. She also serves as co-chair of the Carnegie Recertification for Community Engagement application process and is part of a 13-member non-partisan community organization called the Informed Voter Coalition whose goal is to educate voters and engage candidates with constituents.

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Tim Eatman, PhD

Dean of the Honors Living-Learning Community at Rutgers University and was the co-director of Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life. Dr. Eatman also has a long history with the American Democracy Project (ADP) and the eJournal of Public Affairs and collaborated with Marc Cooper on the eJournal prior to the untimely passing of Dr. Cooper.  Dr. Eatman’s goal is to move forward the legacy that Marc Cooper created with the eJournal of Public Affairs. Additionally, Dr. Eatman’s work includes serving as the co-editor of the Cambridge Handbook of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (2017), serving in a national capacity with the Association of American Acolleges and Universities (AAC&U) Summer Institute on High Impact Practices, serving on the Advisory Panel for the Carnegie Engagement Classification for Community Engagement, as is a Board Member of the American Association of State Colleges and University (AASCU) and the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE). 

https://www.aacu.org/people/timothy-k-eatm

Chapman Rackaway, PhD

Director of Civic Engagement and Professor of Political Science (Chair) at Radford University is a scholar in the field of civic engagement and is actively involved with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the American Democracy Project both as a contributor and in serving on the Editorial Board. Chapman’s goal is that the eJournal of Public Affairs is the “Gold Standard” for journals that focus on civic engagement and public affairs topics, research, and scholarship.

In addition to the Executive Leadership Board, we are currently recruiting members for the eJournal Editorial Board, for guest editors, and for reviewers.

Editorial Board

  • Rachelle Darabi
  • Rob Catlett
  • Rich Halstead-Nussloch
  • Carolyn Colvin
  • Molly Kerby
  • Mike Kimball
  • Marc Kruman
  • Peter Levine
  • Andrew P. Lokie, Jr
  • Cecilia Orphan
  • John Saltmarsh
  • Mike Stout
  • Joseph Zompetti

Focus and scope

EJOPA is focused on scholarship related to engagement in the public arena and in particular but not limited to the following themes:

  • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, problem solving, and leadership related to citizenship and civic engagement
  • Considerations of citizenship and what it means to be a citizen, including global citizenship and eCitizenship
  • The relationship between social media and civic engagement
  • Assessment of civic-engagement projects

Publication

EJOPA publishes scholarly articles, with or without embedded multimedia included in the article, including research studies, best practices, reviews of the literature, and book reviews. We will also consider publishing scholarly and creative endeavors in alternate forms of media (e.g., videos, photo-essays, written essays).

Manuscripts submitted are reviewed on a rolling basis, so authors can upload them to https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/ejopa/ at any time they reach closure. Final manuscripts will be subjected to copy-editing proof reading prior to publication.

Open access

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Submissions are free to all and readership is free to all. EJOPA thanks Missouri State University for its support and making this possible.

Peer review

The Managing Editor will read each submission to determine which ones will go forward for review. If the submission is to be reviewed, then the Managing Editor will determine which reviewers are most capable of judging the quality of the submission. These reviewers will read and comment on the redacted submission. In addition, the reviewers will indicate whether or not they believe that a given submission should be published in EJOPA as is or with revisions. The Managing Editor, informed by the reviews, will determine whether or not to publish a given submission.

ACCEPTANCE RATE

Due to a prevalence toward working with guest editors, EJOPA operates in a manner that results in relatively higher acceptance rates. Typically, at least two of the three annual issues involve guest editors who, within this process, are able to recruit articles. The results from colleague networking has produced a higher quality of submissions and therefore has yielded a higher rate for acceptance. In addition, EJOPA’s approach for managing editors has been to encourage and support authors to make additional efforts to evolve the article to satisfy the editorial review process for publication. We often work closely with authors to achieve the quality necessary for publication. EJOPA still insists on high standards for publication and relies on reviewers in a double-blind review process to help us ensure quality and scholarly research integrity. 

Partnerships

The eJournal of Public Affairs is a partnership between Missouri State University and the American Democracy Project. The American Democracy Project is an initiative by the American Association of State Colleges & Universities in partnership with The New York Times. Read more about ADP and AASCU: American Democracy Project | AASCU