Due to my retirement looming within the next year, I am stepping down as co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal. This has been a very sad but necessary decision for me, and one that is also not without its silver-lining, truth be told. The daily/weekly chore of trying to get reviewers for articles and then trying to ensure reviewers stick with the process to the end, is not an easy one. I understand that this is an issue for many journals so please do consider being a reviewer when you can, and sticking with it until publication if the article is deemed to have enough merit. It is very much appreciated!
On a less parochial note, I have seen some fantastic journal developments during my time as co-editor with Richard. The number of advisory boards has increased from two (North America and Australasia) to four (Africa and East Asia, expanding to Asia as a whole). The new Latin America advisory board will also be formally inaugurated at the main editorial board meeting this month. This means that the global reach of the journal has expanded significantly, hopefully generating more articles and reviewers from those parts of the world. This will, in turn, increase the diversity of journal content, ideas, discussion and main board membership (advisory board editors are members of the main board). The consolidation of the new advisory boards is apparent in the publication of the African special edition and almost-published East Asian special edition. A special edition is something the Latin American board may consider in time. There will also be merit in fostering connections between Boards, to initiate rich cross-cultural and important conversations and debates. This could lead to some very exciting work. As you know, the journal also received an impact factor in 2023 of 1.8, which puts us on a par with the most esteemed social work journals. We are, of course, delighted with this and see it as evidence of the journal’s flourishing.
An area of research and scholarship that I am currently concerned with is free expression and debate in higher education. My recent research (as yet unpublished), undertaken with social work students across Scotland, evidenced that students were reluctant to speak about a number of controversial issues in the classroom, something that is deleterious to learning and to authentic engagement with difficult and contested issues. Doesn’t social work deal with messy issues of human interaction every day? How can we explore those issues if students feel fearful about opening up? One of the aims of the journal is:
to contribute to fostering critical thinking skills within our student community and so particularly welcomes articles that are challenging, attempt to think through difficult ethical dilemmas, and foster viewpoint diversity and constructive debate.
I feel passionately that we need to keep this endeavor alive, in the classroom and in the journal. Perhaps an increase in articles tangling with difficult topics would provide a firmer ground for educators and students to explore, debate and constructively disagree about contemporary issues. In this way, the journal could build on its contribution to the social work knowledge canon and could play its part in the rich, on-going social work conversation. I really do hope so.
Finally, I would like to introduce Professor Gary Spolander, from Robert Gordon University who will be taking over from me as co-Editor-in-Chief. Gary intends to introduce himself properly in a forthcoming editorial, so I will leave that to him. Suffice to say, we are very lucky to have him join our Board and to take on the leadership role. His experience, international profile and ideas for the journal will be very valuable indeed.
So, I say ‘goodbye’ as editor with immense gratitude to Anna Parkinson from Taylor and Francis, the staff who make the peer review and production processes go so smoothly, authors, reviewers, advisory board members and editors and the members of the main board. You make the journal the success that it is. A special thanks goes to my co-Editor-in-Chief, Professor Richard Ingram, who has been a pleasure to work with and has shared all the successes, laughs, trials and tribulations along the way. I know the journal will continue to grow and flourish under the new leadership team, and I look forward to seeing what the future brings.