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Four Years of EJPA in Retrospection and Perspectives for the Future

2013; Hogrefe Verlag; Volume: 29; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1027/1015-5759/a000162

2151-2426

Matthias Ziegler, Karl Schweizer,

Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Free AccessEditorialFour Years of EJPA in Retrospection and Perspectives for the FutureMatthias Ziegler and Karl SchweizerMatthias ZieglerSearch for more papers by this author and Karl SchweizerSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:January 29, 2013https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000162PDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInReddit SectionsMoreFour years ago, in 2009, when Eric de Bruyn stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment, Karl Schweizer assumed his position, and now in 2012, Matthias Ziegler has agreed to take over the responsibility for the journal as the new Editor-in-Chief. This change in personnel change seemed to us an appropriate point in time to look back and to reflect on the characteristics and major advancements of the recent past.The editorial work during the last 4 years was conducted by the Editor-in-Chief in cooperation with four Associate Editors. Initially, Valentin Bucik, Antonio Godoy, Tuulia Ortner, and Manfred Schmitt served in this position. But, because some of them had been serving already for quite some time, they preferred to retire during this period, and the team of associate editors underwent some changes. The editorial team was pleased to welcome Laurence Claes, Johnny Fontaine, and Symeon Vlachopoulos as new Associate Editors, who joined the team in 2011 and 2012. All of them have greatly contributed to the continuing high standards of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment.In addition, the installment of an editorial management system brought great changes with regard to the administrative work during this period. This manuscript submission system was of great help and has considerably reduced the workload of our editorial assistants, Michael Altmeyer and Michael Schreiner, who kept the files and were in charge of contacting the authors. The electronic manuscript administration process now guarantees a safe and reliable exchange of submissions and information.We are also proud to report that there was a considerable increase in the impact factor during the last 4-year period. What initially began at 1.26 steadily increased up to 2.52 in 2011. Furthermore, there was an associated rise in the number of submissions as well as rejection rate, while the number of issues and papers per issue remained relatively constant. Such a rise is unusual and cannot really be expected because of the peculiarities of the assessment area (Schweizer, 2010).When we searched for reasons, we found one major reason to lie in the degree of internationalization of our journal. It was interesting to observe that Alonso-Arbiol and van de Vijver (2010) – who compared the periods from 1992–1996 and 2005–2009 – found a decrease in the degree of internationalization during the previous period, whereas the 2010–2011 issues represented a much higher degree of internationalization than previously found (Schweizer, 2011). Furthermore, it turned out that the teams of authors have tended to become more and more international, indicating increasing cooperation around the world (Ortner & Vormittag, 2011).Changes in the editorial board, especially a new editor, are sometimes accompanied by changes in a journal’s strategy. Major changes for the European Journal of Psychological Assessment at this point in time, however, would be counterproductive given its success in the recent past. Therefore, large parts of the journal’s mission statement will remain valid for the next years.First, submissions from all areas of psychological assessment are welcome. A look at the recent analyses by Alonso-Arbiol and van de Vijver shows that a large number of papers published in the European Journal of Psychological Assessment have a clinical background. Obviously, clinical psychology is one of the most important fields of psychology. Consequently, an equally strong demand for new measures or improvements in already existing measures should manifest itself in an assessment journal. Nevertheless, research on psychological assessment and its findings are also vital concerns of other psychological research traditions such as educational psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, or cross-cultural psychology. Maintaining and improving assessment standards in all areas of psychology is a goal to which the European Journal of Psychological Assessment is committed. Therefore, the emphasis on inviting submissions from all areas of psychology is renewed.Second, papers reporting on the construction of new measures of interest to practitioners and/or academics are of course still welcome. Also, submissions describing developments for existing measures are welcome, if such developments go beyond just showing the psychometric properties of test scores derived from translations.Third, the mission statement explicitly calls for papers that contribute to our knowledge of the whole assessment process and include diverse methods. Especially with regard to theses topics, the field of psychological assessment still has many unanswered or only partially answered questions. For example, McClelland once said: “A scientist cannot believe what people say about their motives” (McClelland, 1987, p. 11). Of course, research dealing with implicit and explicit measures has shed a lot more light onto this general statement, but an important issue remains unclear: What actually happens when people answer questionnaire items? Some theoretical models do exist (e.g., Krosnick, 1999), but more research is needed. Equally challenging are questions that concern the broadly taught multimethod approach in assessment. One pertinent question that needs further empirical research is how to integrate data from different methods (e.g., interview, test data, questionnaire, observation ...) to come up with individual decisions.Finally, the field of psychological assessment has seen many methodological advances over the past few years. Some of them cater to the need of very specific research fields, while others potentially affect all fields of psychological assessment. The mission statement also invites papers introducing such new methods if they have a clear bearing on assessment research or practice. Outlining the advantages of the new method compared to existing approaches certainly helps to meet that requirement.The next few years will be a great opportunity for the new editorial team. Fortunately, much expertise remains on board to assist in achieving a smooth transition. Maintaining the journal’s success in terms of high-quality papers remains the highest goal. Along with trying to further increase the internationality and the breadth of topics, this task will be quite challenging. Ultimately, the reader will decide. Any feedback regarding the journal is therefore always welcome and can be directed to [email protected].References Alonso-Arbiol, I. , & van de Vijver, F. (2010). A historical analysis of the European Journal of Psychological Assessment . European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 26, 238–247. Link, Google Scholar Krosnick, J. A. (1999). Survey research. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 537–567. Crossref, Google Scholar McClelland, D. C. (1987). Human motivation. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar Ortner, T. M. , & Vormittag, I. (2011). Articles published in EJPA 2009–2010. An analysis of the features of the articles and the characteristics of the authors. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 27, 290–298. Link, Google Scholar Schweizer, K. (2010). Judging a journal by the impact factor: is it appropriate and fair for assessment journals? European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 26, 235–237. Link, Google Scholar Schweizer, K. (2011). A rise beyond expectations. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 27, 217–219. Link, Google ScholarMatthias Ziegler, Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt University Berlin, Rudower Chaussee 18, 12489 Berlin, Germany, +49 30 2093 9447, +49 30 2093 9361, zieglema@hu-berlin.deKarl Schweizer, Department of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Mertonstr. 17, 60054 Frankfurt a. M., Germany, +49 69 798-22081, +49 69 798-23847, k.schweizer@psych.uni-frankfurt.deFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 29Issue 1January 2013ISSN: 1015-5759eISSN: 2151-2426 InformationEuropean Journal of Psychological Assessment (2013), 29, pp. 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000162.© 2013Hogrefe PublishingPDF download