Volume 21 of Scandinavian-Canadian Studies/Études scandinaves au Canada marks the beginning of a new phase in the evolution of the journal. For the first time we are introducing into our “Table of Contents” the category Editions and Translations. The proximate occasion of this development was the submission by Alaric Hall, Steven D. P. Richardson, and Haukur Þorgeirsson of “Sigrgarðs saga frækna: A normalised text, translation, and introduction.” But the change depends more importantly on the journalʼs move into electronic publication. For although the journal will continue to be available in hard copy though print-on-demand, its primary realization has become as a virtual text that is published online. This means that we are able to include submissions longer than those typically accepted by journals and we are also able to produce editions and translations in parallel formats, whether in paired columns or facing-page format. The present translation employs both strategies, columns in its PDF form, facing-page as an HTML file.

It is our hope that the inclusion of Editions and Translations will provide scholars with a refereed venue for both translations and editions, a venue that will make widely available texts that might otherwise languish unedited or untranslated—or simply unpublished. Sigrgarðs saga frækna, a short fornaldarsaga, is just the kind text that might once have looked in vain for scholarly publication, but there are many other potentially valuable texts that we would like to present to readers.

Although we have published Review Articles before, it is perhaps worth underlining our willingness—exemplified by the present volume—to include pieces published under this heading. Sometimes these will involve discussions of multiple related works, but it can also be the case that a review addresses a longer and deeper study to the issues raised by a particular book.

With this volume we have moved to a system of “rolling publication.” That is, submissions will be published on the website as soon as they reach final form. They will be issued within a volume when a volume is complete. At this point they will gain their final pagination and they will be available on paper through print-on-demand. It is our expectation that volumes will come out yearly.

Volume 21 is my last as editor of Scandinavian-Canadian Studies. This note gives me the opportunity to thank those who have made my tenure such a worthwhile experience. In particular I would like to single out for praise Martin Holmes of Humanities Computing at the University of Victoria. He established the electronic protocols to which we adhere and did almost all of the coding that has generated the volumes produced during my tenure. TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) compliance is the gold standard of journal publication. Martin both insisted we conform to this standard and made it possible.

I would also like to thank my colleague Helga Thorson who joined me as Book Review Editor in volume 18. She has been the best of collaborators on this project. I am delighted that she has agreed to become the next Editor of the journal. Joining her as the new Book Review Editor will be Natalie van Deusen of the University of Alberta, who will bring to the journal her own expertise in the preparation of TEI compliant electronic editions, a further reason for our move into the publication of such texts.

Finally I must express my gratitude to the many contributors and referees without whom there would be no Scandinavian-Canadian Studies. Their generosity and patience should not go unacknowledged; nor should I forget the support of the Editorial Board—we have appreciated their guidance. We rely of course on the support of the Association for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies in Canada, to which the journal belongs, and ACCESS Copyright which has provided financial support over the years.

 

John Tucker,
Department of English,
University of Victoria