The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) is pleased to announce the new leadership of the Journal of Baltic Studies (JBS): Dr. Ammon Cheskin and Dr. Mike Loader, both of the University of Glasgow, will serve as Co-Editors. Cheskin and Loader assumed their roles on May 1, 2025 after Dr. Matthew Kott stepped down after eight years of distinguished service as JBS Editor-in-Chief.
JBS is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal published on a quarterly basis that aims to progress and disseminate knowledge about the political, social, economic, and cultural life – both past and present – of the Baltic states and the Baltic Sea region.
“I’m delighted to step into the role of Editor,” said Cheskin. “I sincerely hope to make a small contribution, even if it is technical, to Baltic Studies, a field that I have already seen flourish impressively in my academic lifetime.”
Dr. Ammon Cheskin, Co-Editor, Journal of Baltic Studies
Dr. Mike Loader, Co-Editor, Journal of Baltic Studies
JBS experienced substantial growth under Kott’s leadership, moving from publishing 24–28 articles a year to 40, more than doubling annual downloads, and building a permanent, professional editorial staff.
Those investments in staff have paid dividends: Loader started as an editorial assistant in 2018 and was promoted to Assistant Editor and finally Editor before assuming his new role. “I have a long-term perspective on the journal’s operations,” Loader said. “The continuing focus for me will be on professionalization – our bread and butter of maintaining our high language and editing standards and training our staff.”
Such a focus is required to maintain the standard quality of publications that JBS readers have come to expect, especially at a higher volume and in light of new challenges facing academic publishing.
Chief among those challenges, said Kott, is the rising use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field. “The team at JBS will need strength and endurance in order to weather this coming storm and to keep the journal’s scholarly integrity intact,” said Kott. “Knowing the people who work for JBS, I have every confidence that they are the right people for the job.”
Kott’s work has placed the Journal in a strong position to take on these challenges. AABS President Jörg Hackmann described Kott’s tenure as “impressive,” and the AABS Board voted in spring 2025 to grant Kott complimentary AABS membership for the next ten years.
Hackmann remarked that the new challenge of AI will intertwine with the constant challenge for area studies to be seen as relevant: “Baltic Studies should link regional expertise and the description of regional issues with wider phenomena, and address the broader relevance of the research.”
AABS President Jörg Hackmann (R) presents outgoing Editor-in-Chief Matthew Kott (second from right) with complimentary AABS membership. Incoming Co-Editors Ammon Cheskin (L) and Mike Loader (second from left) look on.
Cheskin has taken this charge to heart as he joins the JBS staff for the first time. “My first academic paper came out in JBS, and I remember well the thrill of having my manuscript accepted, and then published,” he said. “I’m an enthusiastic advocate of area studies and get a thrill out of supervising and reading other people’s research.”
AABS is delighted to welcome Cheskin and Loader to their new roles and offers its sincere thanks to Kott for his leadership. JBS will continue to be the leading peer-reviewed voice in Baltic Studies scholarship.
To read the latest issue of JBS, visit https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rbal20/current. To submit an article, visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rbal.