From the Vineyard Volume 7, Number 1
This section includes notes on the following:
The first issue of a new periodical slated to appear by the end of 1998 will be of interest to some Journal readers. Pre-Columbiana: A Journal of Long-distance Contacts is to be published under the editorship of Stephen C. Jett, professor of geography at University of California, Davis. The aim of this scholarly periodical is to provide an outlet for publishing high-quality research on the much-debated question of whether there were voyages across the oceans before Columbus's discovery that influenced the course of civilization in the western hemisphere. Conventional professional journals in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, geography, and history rarely consider this topic to be of value and so will not publish on the question. About the only outlet for studies of the problem have been unconventional periodicals that do not meet scholarly standards in the selection of their articles.
Jett has assembled an advisory board of editors from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. This board includes several noted scholars with strong academic credentials in the field, such as Clinton Edwards, Carl Johannessen, Alice Kehoe, David Kelley, Mary Ritchie Key, and Paul Tolstoy. All articles must pass review by peer scholars before being accepted. Not just pro-"diffusionist" pieces will be used; responsible critiques from opponents will also be sought. John Sorenson, a long-time associate of Jett in this area of study, serves as book review and bibliographic editor. Each issue of Pre-Columbiana will include a section summarizing recent publications that were not abstracted in the Sorenson and Raish bibliography on pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts published by FARMS/Research Press in 1996. Subscription information can be obtained from ESRS West, P.O. Box 4175, Independence, MO 64050.