Seven days - a week in the life of Mitchell A Belfer
by Mitchell A Belfer
12 September 2011
The founder of the Central European Journal of International and Security Studies on reconstructing the USSR, potential expansion to the South Caucasus, and dealing with an irate reader from Belarus
Monday
In the first of nearly two dozen emails awaiting answers, a contributor from Belarus is fuming about one of our Russian staff writers' use of the archaic term Belorussian instead of the more modern Belarusian. Ah, central and east Europeans. The rest of the morning is spent assessing our web-trackers – to see where our latest articles on Somalia's Al-Shabab militia and sustainable finance had their greatest impact – and reading up on the latest headlines. I embark on more damage control, ranging from publishing houses whinging over as yet unpublished book reviews to potential authors cross at rejected submissions. Then off to lunch at the local restaurant, U Kasparka, with David Erkomaishvili, head of our media centre and my key advisor. We discuss CEJISS's new design and personnel changes, and make a decision to introduce open-access political maps. It is time to get back to the office and read through the newest contributions to our Central Europe in the World news service. I send the stories off to our webmaster for immediate publication on our webpage, and to our social networking officer. With the final submission of our next issue only days away, the rest of the afternoon is occupied with examining peer reviews and deciding on the draft order of articles to send to the printers.
Tuesday
I get to the office for a meeting with the head of our academic centre, Hanna Vasilevich, to sort out our six month priority list. We tentatively agree on a reconfiguration of our review boards, look over a few CVs and send offers of cooperation to two candidates. We also work out the theme, logistics and budget for a CEJISS conference examining the USSR twenty years on from its disintegration. Importantly, the conference will attempt to reconstruct the USSR for the 21st century since, in this part of the world, the residue of ideological suppression is still acutely felt. In the late afternoon a new eContribution on China's political imperialism arrives. As I open it I notice that track-changes are left in place along with a suspicious editorial note, suggesting that the article has been published before, which has my eyebrows raised. I immediately email the author and ask her to clarify, which she promptly does. Satisfied, I forward the article to our language editor and receive an out-of-office reply. I take a mental note and decide to give her 24 hours before taking on the editing myself. I desperately need to get home and write but decide to meet a colleague at Cafe Pavlac for a quick one, which predictably turns into a long one.
Wednesday
I decide to work from home and do a bit of writing – a good choice as the coffee and tea flow caught my adrenaline at the right moment. I manage five pages on a book chapter and lay the foundations for my next Editor's Note. Arriving at the office at 1pm, I look to see if our language editor has responded; she has not. I start editing Tuesday's article and am finished within an hour. Almost on cue my inbox indicates a new email. It is from Jason Whiteley, author of Father of Money: Buying Peace in Iraq, who is also an incoming associate editor heading a new war on terrorism testimonial service CEJISS will offer this autumn. He is asking for a progress report which I cannot provide since I have not yet been able to assemble a support team. In the late afternoon I receive a text from our language editor saying that she will be offline for six days. It is still the holiday season so I am not too bothered but take the opportunity to flood her inbox with things to do once she returns.
Thursday
Although most of our services are conducted in English, we have commenced two non-English newsletters, in Czech and Russian. These are both due out at the end of September, and I have not heard any news from the two teams. This morning, I contact the leaders of both projects and ask for their status. Both respond within the hour and calm my fears by attaching first drafts. I continue my writing and the day passes with few interruptions until 4pm when I receive notice that two of our expected book reviewers need additional time, which I grant. At half past seven I arrive at Cafe Jericho for an informal meeting with an officer of the Azerbaijani embassy here in Prague. We discuss a wide spectrum of issues and avenues of potential cooperation, and I become very interested in expanding our services to the South Caucuses.
Friday
My day starts with a metro ride to Prague 6, Dejvice – the opposite side of town from my office. I am readying myself for a personal trip to the United States and Canada and my bank finally received my new credit card. I jump back onto the metro and race to the office, since our weekly Central Europe in the World updates will be pouring in. I start into them, paying close attention to sensitive spelling, laughing to myself that the over-excited Belorussian/Belarusian achieved his intended goal. The articles flow well, but since I have the weekend to finish editing, I put them aside and start my own writing again. Before heading out for the weekend I set a meeting for next Monday, with our review editor and our webmaster, as we are going to standardise submission procedures and the length of our reviews.
Saturday
After a long sleep, and a slow breakfast, I review the news and become somewhat outraged by Turkey's reaction to the leaked United Nations report on Israel's enforcement of its Gaza blockade. My curiosity is aroused as to what the true motivation behind Turkey's response was, and I decide to use CEJISS resources to investigate, inviting a close friend and colleague from Brussels to write both an eContribution and a peer-reviewed scholarly article about the transformation of Turko-Israeli relations. I grab my laptop and head to the terrace at Tynska Literature Cafe to write this article, as the combination of scant internet access, Bernard Pivo and an intellectual atmosphere help arrange my thoughts. Back home and I relax over endless episodes of 'Allo 'Allo.
Sunday
I wake much earlier than intended and turn on the computer to write. I end up getting severely distracted, write nothing and relax over a book. As evening creeps up, I realise that I have not finished editing the news stories due for publication tomorrow and get on it immediately. The work is slow but uncomplicated and I finish around two hours later, just in time to read an apologetic email from the advisor to an Indian parliamentarian who, falsely, claimed to have published an article with CEJISS some weeks before. The issue was brought to my attention by the actual author who complained at the theft of his intellectual property, prompting me to consult with our lawyer and draft a letter demanding explanation and a formal retraction. It seems that such legal swaggering paid off as the latest email provides evidence of precisely our demands.
Mitchell A Belfer is founder and editor in chief of the Central European Journal of International and Security Studies in Prague
Monday
In the first of nearly two dozen emails awaiting answers, a contributor from Belarus is fuming about one of our Russian staff writers' use of the archaic term Belorussian instead of the more modern Belarusian. Ah, central and east Europeans. The rest of the morning is spent assessing our web-trackers – to see where our latest articles on Somalia's Al-Shabab militia and sustainable finance had their greatest impact – and reading up on the latest headlines. I embark on more damage control, ranging from publishing houses whinging over as yet unpublished book reviews to potential authors cross at rejected submissions. Then off to lunch at the local restaurant, U Kasparka, with David Erkomaishvili, head of our media centre and my key advisor. We discuss CEJISS's new design and personnel changes, and make a decision to introduce open-access political maps. It is time to get back to the office and read through the newest contributions to our Central Europe in the World news service. I send the stories off to our webmaster for immediate publication on our webpage, and to our social networking officer. With the final submission of our next issue only days away, the rest of the afternoon is occupied with examining peer reviews and deciding on the draft order of articles to send to the printers.
I get to the office for a meeting with the head of our academic centre, Hanna Vasilevich, to sort out our six month priority list. We tentatively agree on a reconfiguration of our review boards, look over a few CVs and send offers of cooperation to two candidates. We also work out the theme, logistics and budget for a CEJISS conference examining the USSR twenty years on from its disintegration. Importantly, the conference will attempt to reconstruct the USSR for the 21st century since, in this part of the world, the residue of ideological suppression is still acutely felt. In the late afternoon a new eContribution on China's political imperialism arrives. As I open it I notice that track-changes are left in place along with a suspicious editorial note, suggesting that the article has been published before, which has my eyebrows raised. I immediately email the author and ask her to clarify, which she promptly does. Satisfied, I forward the article to our language editor and receive an out-of-office reply. I take a mental note and decide to give her 24 hours before taking on the editing myself. I desperately need to get home and write but decide to meet a colleague at Cafe Pavlac for a quick one, which predictably turns into a long one.
I decide to work from home and do a bit of writing – a good choice as the coffee and tea flow caught my adrenaline at the right moment. I manage five pages on a book chapter and lay the foundations for my next Editor's Note. Arriving at the office at 1pm, I look to see if our language editor has responded; she has not. I start editing Tuesday's article and am finished within an hour. Almost on cue my inbox indicates a new email. It is from Jason Whiteley, author of Father of Money: Buying Peace in Iraq, who is also an incoming associate editor heading a new war on terrorism testimonial service CEJISS will offer this autumn. He is asking for a progress report which I cannot provide since I have not yet been able to assemble a support team. In the late afternoon I receive a text from our language editor saying that she will be offline for six days. It is still the holiday season so I am not too bothered but take the opportunity to flood her inbox with things to do once she returns.
Although most of our services are conducted in English, we have commenced two non-English newsletters, in Czech and Russian. These are both due out at the end of September, and I have not heard any news from the two teams. This morning, I contact the leaders of both projects and ask for their status. Both respond within the hour and calm my fears by attaching first drafts. I continue my writing and the day passes with few interruptions until 4pm when I receive notice that two of our expected book reviewers need additional time, which I grant. At half past seven I arrive at Cafe Jericho for an informal meeting with an officer of the Azerbaijani embassy here in Prague. We discuss a wide spectrum of issues and avenues of potential cooperation, and I become very interested in expanding our services to the South Caucuses.
My day starts with a metro ride to Prague 6, Dejvice – the opposite side of town from my office. I am readying myself for a personal trip to the United States and Canada and my bank finally received my new credit card. I jump back onto the metro and race to the office, since our weekly Central Europe in the World updates will be pouring in. I start into them, paying close attention to sensitive spelling, laughing to myself that the over-excited Belorussian/Belarusian achieved his intended goal. The articles flow well, but since I have the weekend to finish editing, I put them aside and start my own writing again. Before heading out for the weekend I set a meeting for next Monday, with our review editor and our webmaster, as we are going to standardise submission procedures and the length of our reviews.
After a long sleep, and a slow breakfast, I review the news and become somewhat outraged by Turkey's reaction to the leaked United Nations report on Israel's enforcement of its Gaza blockade. My curiosity is aroused as to what the true motivation behind Turkey's response was, and I decide to use CEJISS resources to investigate, inviting a close friend and colleague from Brussels to write both an eContribution and a peer-reviewed scholarly article about the transformation of Turko-Israeli relations. I grab my laptop and head to the terrace at Tynska Literature Cafe to write this article, as the combination of scant internet access, Bernard Pivo and an intellectual atmosphere help arrange my thoughts. Back home and I relax over endless episodes of 'Allo 'Allo.
I wake much earlier than intended and turn on the computer to write. I end up getting severely distracted, write nothing and relax over a book. As evening creeps up, I realise that I have not finished editing the news stories due for publication tomorrow and get on it immediately. The work is slow but uncomplicated and I finish around two hours later, just in time to read an apologetic email from the advisor to an Indian parliamentarian who, falsely, claimed to have published an article with CEJISS some weeks before. The issue was brought to my attention by the actual author who complained at the theft of his intellectual property, prompting me to consult with our lawyer and draft a letter demanding explanation and a formal retraction. It seems that such legal swaggering paid off as the latest email provides evidence of precisely our demands.
Mitchell A Belfer is founder and editor in chief of the Central European Journal of International and Security Studies in Prague
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