Bylaws of The Society for Economic Theory, approved 2007-2-16

ARTICLE I - NAME, PURPOSE

1. Name The name of the organization is The Society for Economic Theory.
2. Incorporation, purpose The Society is incorporated in the State of California, USA, as a nonprofit public benefit corporation. Its purpose is to facilitate academic and scientific communication among economic theorists and, in particular, to publish Theoretical Economics as a free peer-reviewed journal. Theoretical Economics is an international scholarly journal dedicated to making freely accessible the results of research in economic theory.

ARTICLE II - EDITORIAL BOARD AND EXECUTIVE BOARD

1. Editorial Board Members of the Editorial Board are called Associate Editors. Associate Editors receive no compensation except, possibly, reimbursement of reasonable expenses and, for members who are Co-Editors of Theoretical Economics, payments for processing manuscripts for the Journal.
2. Executive Board The Executive Board is a subset of the Editorial Board. It is responsible for formulating the overall policy and direction of the Society and Journal. All Co-Editors of Theoretical Economics are members of the Executive Board. The Executive Board shall have up to ten, and no fewer than three, members, in addition to the Co-Editors of Theoretical Economics.
3. Co-Editors The Co-Editors manage the day-to-day operation of the Journal.
4. Managing Editor One Co-Editor is designated the Managing Editor. The Managing Editor is the CEO of the Corporation and the Chair of Executive Board meetings. She/he is responsible for keeping records of the actions of the Executive Board and for assuring that corporate records are maintained. She/he also coordinates the operation of the journal, allocating each submitted paper to a Co-Editor. The Managing Editor is expected to allocate each paper within one week of receipt. For periods during which she/he is on vacation or otherwise unable to meet this target, she/he may appoint another Co-Editor to allocate papers. A paper allocated to one Co-Editor may be reallocated to another Co-Editor with the mutual consent of both parties.
5. Associate Editors The Associate Editors who are not themselves Co-Editors advise the Co-Editors regarding the publishability of papers submitted to the Journal. (They may, for example, referee papers or recommend referees.)
6. Treasurer A member of the Editorial Board is designated Treasurer. The Treasurer is the CFO of the Corporation. She/he tracks all financial information relevant to the organization's operation and provides annual written reports of such operations to the Editorial Board.
7. Secretary A member of the Editorial Board is designated Secretary. The Secretary assists the Treasurer and the Managing Editor with administrative tasks.
8. Appointment of Executive Board Each member of the Executive Board who is not a Co-Editor serves for a term of up to five years, determined at the time of appointment. When a member of the Executive Board who is not a Co-Editor resigns or comes to the end of her/his term, a candidate to be a new member is nominated by the Executive Board and then appointed by a vote of the Editorial Board. A candidate is nominated if and only if she/he receives the votes of at least two-thirds of the members of the Executive Board. A nominated candidate is appointed if and only if she/he receives the votes of at least two-thirds of the members of the Editorial Board.
9. Appointment, Suspension, and Dismissal of Co-Editors
   1. Each Co-Editor shall serve for a term of between three and five years. The length of a new Co-Editor's term will be agreed upon by the Co-Editor and the Editorial Board at the time the Co-Editor is appointed. After her/his term expires, a Co-Editor is expected to complete the handling, to publication or rejection, of all the papers she/he has been assigned.
   2. The Co-Editors (including the Managing Editor) are appointed and dismissed by the Editorial Board upon the recommendation of the Executive Board. An action is taken if and only if two-thirds of the members of the Executive Board (excluding the Co-Editor in question, in the case of dismissal) vote to recommend the action and two-thirds of the members of the Editorial Board (excluding the Co-Editor in question, in the case of dismissal) votes for the proposal.
   3. The Managing Editor may suspend a Co-Editor's right to access the files of submitted papers and to act on behalf of the Journal. Any such suspension expires in seven weeks unless the suspended Co-Editor is dismissed during this period using the rule in part b.
10. Appointment of Associate Editors Each Associate Editor who is not a member of the Executive Board shall normally serve for a renewable term of three years. Associate Editors are appointed by the Executive Board after consultation with the Editorial Board. The Editorial Board must be given at least two weeks notice of a proposed appointment of a new Associate Editor. An Associate Editor is appointed if and only if at least two-thirds of the Executive Board votes in favor.
11. Appointment of Secretary and Treasurer The Secretary and Treasurer each serve three-year terms (which are renewable). Each is appointed by a vote of the Executive Board; an appointment is made if and only if at least two-thirds of the Executive Board votes in favor. If at any time either position is unfilled, the Managing Editor is authorized to make a temporary appointment to the unfilled position until the Executive Board approves a regular appointment.

ARTICLE III - DECISION-MAKING

1. Method Except where otherwise specified, all policies are established by two-thirds majority voting among all members of the Executive Board. (That is, a motion passes if and only if it is seconded and receives the votes of at least two-thirds of the members of the Executive Board. In particular, a motion can pass at a face-to-face meeting only if at least two-thirds of the Executive Board is present (and votes in favor).)
2. Mechanics A vote may take place at a meeting of the Executive Board, by email, or through the Executive Board's website. For a vote by email or through the Executive Board's website, the motion to be voted upon may be announced either in an email message to all Executive Board members or by a posting on the Executive Board's website. Each voter has up to three weeks from the time of the announcement message or posting to cast her/his vote. Any vote not received in three weeks will be deemed an abstention.
3. Face-to-face Meetings An official face-to-face meeting of the Executive Board requires that each Board member receive written notice at least two weeks in advance (where "written notice" may include e-mail notification).
4. Record-keeping The Managing Editor shall be responsible for keeping records of Board actions, including overseeing the taking of minutes at all face-to-face Board meetings, sending out meeting announcements, and making available on the Executive Board's website the minutes and the agenda.

ARTICLE IV - EDITORIAL DECISIONS

1. Goal for Paper Processing Delay The goal of the Journal is that each Co-Editor report a decision on each paper that she/he handles within twenty weeks from the date the Journal received the paper. For papers of 9,000 words or less the goal is ten weeks, and for papers of 3,500 words or less the goal is six weeks.
2. Communication of Decision A Co-Editor communicates her/his decision on each paper that she handles directly to the author of the paper.
3. Visibility of Files No member of the Executive Board (including any Co-Editor) may see the file of any paper of which she/he is an author or a close personal associate of an author. With this exception, all Co-Editors have access to the full file of every submitted paper, including any referee reports, the names of the referees, and the correspondence between the author and the Co-Editor handling the paper. With the same exception, members of the Executive Board who are not Co-Editors have access to this information, by request to the Managing Editor, for all papers in process on the previous July 1 or received since that date.

ARTICLE V - REVIEWS

All operations of the Society shall be subject to external review every five years.

ARTICLE VI - AMENDMENTS

These Bylaws may be amended by the following mechanism. Any proposed amendment must be recommended by a two-thirds majority of the Executive Board and then approved by a two-thirds majority of the Editorial Board.