Making Invisible Service Visible

Etel Solingen, Distinguished Professor of Political Science

It’s important to describe in the statements all the activities performed in the context of professional service. Responsibilities vis-à-vis professional associations, reviewing for journals, and editorial board duties differ significantly across the discipline and even within the same subfield. They can be rather minor in some cases and quite extensive in others, so it’s useful to be explicit what those duties entailed. Reviews for leading journals are often much more time consuming because they have explicit questions that the reviewer must address. It may be useful to attach the set of questions that are posted in the editor’s invitation to review to illustrate the specific demands of that particular review process. Other items that would be useful to describe is required preparation for annual editorial board meetings and the process of selection for the editorial boards (for instance, is there a vote?).