A Case for Using Feminist Editorial Practices in Scholarly Journals: An Analysis of Computers and Composition

Neoliberalism influences are evident in the editorial practices of many high-ranking scholarly journals. Given the importance that journals have in tenured/tenured-track academics’ careers, they are an important arena to analyse and in which to implement best practices. I argue that Shari Stenberg’s (2015) concept of feminist repurposing can be used to make visible the impacts of neoliberal practices and also helps to disrupt them by enacting different alternatives in the university system, of which scholarly journals are a part. In order to illustrate what a feminist ethics of editing would look like, I analyse the feminist-inspired practices of Computers and Composition’s editorial staff. Drawing on published interviews and survey I administered, I show how feminist repurposing editorial roles from gatekeeper to colleague and mentor have beneficial impacts on the scholarship produced.