Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Memories of Editorship and the Internationalization of the Journal of Borderlands Studies

The Journal of Borderlands Studies (JBS) has evolved from a small regional journal devoted primarily to the United States–Mexico borderlands into one of the leading international journals dedicated to the study of borders and borderlands. This autoethnographic account offers a historical analysis of that transformation from the perspective of an editor who participated in many of the changes it describes. Drawing upon the complete publication history of the journal between 1986 and 2018, the article examines how editorial decisions contributed to broadening the scope of border studies, encouraging comparative and interdisciplinary scholarship, and fostering an increasingly international community of authors, reviewers, and readers. While the field of border studies underwent a Kuhnian transformation throughout this history, each generation of editors inherited the work of its predecessors while preparing the journal for those who would follow. In that sense, the history of the journal is one of collective stewardship, illustrating how academic publishing contributes to the growth of an international scholarly community.