The Negotiation Journal at Harvard is in REAL Danger

3 Comments

Carrie Menkel-Meadow (UC-Irvine) has asked us to post the following letter/message regarding the Negotiation Journal at Harvard’s PON.  Kind of ironic in light of Harvard’s # 1 ranking in the USNews ADR Specialty Rankings.

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

It was so good to see so many of you in person at ABA-DR Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.

 I am writing as one of the editors of  Harvard Program on Negotiation’s  Negotiation Journal, which I know so many of you read and use in your teaching and research.  I have been affiliated with and benefited from the Journal since its inception over 40 years ago.

The Negotiation Journal has long held a unique place in the dispute resolution community.  Complementing our academic publications, like the Ohio Journal of Dispute Resolution, Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Cardozo J. of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Dispute Resolution (Missouri), Conflict Resolution Q, and others, the Negotiation Journal is a space for practitioners, researchers and teachers to explore, challenge, and share pedagogical approaches and evolving best practices from their real world practice and negotiation teaching and research. Its published articles, in shorter form than most scholarly journals, inform us from research studies and theory enhancing pieces, which can illuminate our teaching, research and practices.  The Journal has long had an active book review and short research note section as well. It also used to have a section collecting notices about new publications and important dates and conferences (published quarterly).

There is currently a very active conversation underway at Harvard’s  Program On Negotiation (which hosts the Journal) which puts into question whether the Negotiation Journal will survive the year.  The more academically minded on PON’s Executive Committee point to how infrequently it is apparently cited in scholarly work – which is not, in others’ view, the only criterion that is related to the Journal’s mission or purpose. 

IF YOU’D LIKE TO SEE THE Negotiation CONTINUE, please take five minutes to send a note to Jim Sebenius at jsebenius@hbs.edu.  Jim has graciously stepped in to assess the demand for the Journal and to create a strategy for its future, which might include Open Source publication.  Particularly helpful to him:

  • Do you subscribe to and read the journal?  Have you written for it?
  • Example of recent articles that you have particularly enjoyed or found valuable?
  • Do you assign or use articles in your teaching, research or practice?  If so, examples?
  • Thoughts about its future?

Notes received before June 18th will be collected and shared at the next PON Executive Committee meeting.  Feel free to indicate if you’d like your thoughts to be shared anonymously. 

Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond to this and send an email to Jim Sebenius at Harvard Business School.

Carrie Menkel-Meadow (Associate Editor,  Negotiation Journal)

On behalf of editors, Daniel Druckman, Melissa Mainwaring and others.

3 thoughts on “The Negotiation Journal at Harvard is in REAL Danger”

  1. Such a shame. Different from law review with more useful tips for clinical professors and practitioners and dispute system designers. Government ADR programs benefit from more accessible journals from reputable ADR and academic institutions. It helps us influence judges, attorneys, parties to try ADR.

  2. Negotiation Journal is of great value to academics and practitioners. It is the alter ego of the Journal of International Negotiation which cannot prosper if it is the only academic periodical in the field.

  3. This would make me so sad! I’ll be sure to send an email too. From the research highights to the exercises to the articles, I have found the journal so useful as an interdisciplinary access point to everything people are doing across our field.

Comments are closed.