Editorial

Citation

Ng, E.S. (2016), "Editorial", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 35 No. 7/8, pp. 394-396. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-10-2016-0080

Introducing a New Editorial Team

I am honoured to be taking over the editorship of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) from Professor Regine Bendl who has been editing the journal since 2010. Both my predecessors, Professors Mustafa Özbilgin and Regine Bendl, have done an outstanding job raising the profile of the journal. I pledge to work my hardest to maintain the journal’s standing and reputation as a respected outlet for EDI scholarship.

Thanks to Professor Bendl’s efforts, EDI is currently indexed under the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) by Thomson Reuters. This is a pre-cursor to being included in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI). My goal is to work towards SSCI indexation, increase the number and quality of submissions to EDI, and make EDI the choice journal for equality, diversity, and inclusion scholarship from a broad spectrum of disciplines.

Incoming Editorial Team

As a part of the transition process, I am pleased to introduce a new Editorial Team. At the moment, the EDI Editorial Team is organized by region (Africa, Australasia, South America). I am changing the editorial structure, and would be appointing Associate Editors in place of Regional Editors. The Associate Editors are subject matter experts on EDI scholarship, drawn from Africa, Australasia, Europe, and the Americas. Collectively, they will be responsible for making editorial decisions based on their subject matter and methodological expertise. This change is intended to streamline and improve the peer-review process, allowing for faster and more developmental decisions for authors and contributors. The Associate Editors are well-published, highly respected, and accomplished scholars whom many of you already recognized. I am proud to introduce the incoming Editorial Team, supported by an Editorial Assistant.

Associate Editors: Erica French (Queensland University of Technology); Julia Nentwich (University of St. Gallen); Nceku Nyathi (University of Cape Town); Christina Stamper (Western Michigan University); Ahu Tatli (Queen Mary, University of London); Claartje Vinkenburg (VU Amsterdam).

Editorial Assistant: Fatma Ashour (Dalhousie University).

I understand that the rigour and high standards of a journal rest with those who serve as reviewers. They share their time and expertise willingly, and help promote the journal’s excellence by providing current and informed feedback to the authors. I have appointed a panel of seasoned and emerging scholars who are active researchers to serve on the journal’s Editorial Review Board (ERB). Members of the ERB have been instructed to provide thoughtful, developmental feedback, and in a timely fashion to ensure that authors receive high quality reviews to improve their manuscripts.

I have also assembled a panel of distinguished senior scholars who have made significant contributions to the field to the journal’s Editorial Advisory Board (EAB). The EAB will offer advice on the strategic directions of the journal and assist with special assignments (e.g. assess special issue proposals). They will also serve as ambassadors for EDI, and actively encourage submissions to the journal.

Peer-review changes

One of my first editorial decisions is to raise the word ceiling of submissions, move the journal from triple to double-blind, and expedite the peer-review process. These policies have already been put in place as I begin the transitioning process during 2016.

Word limit: I am pleased to announce that EDI has now raised the word limit from 6,000 words to 8,000 words to allow authors to have more meaningful conversations, to facilitate deeper discussions on the theoretical and practical implications of their research, and to articulate the contributions of their work to the literature. We will expect greater clarity and description of the research methodology (where appropriate) and look for meaningful contributions to extend our knowledge in the field, as we aim to improve the quality of papers we publish. Occasionally, we will allow a paper to exceed the word limit if warranted (please check with your Editor).

Double-blind review: I also understand that it is frustrating for authors to wait for long periods of time before they hear back from the journal. To improve turnaround times, I have reduced the number of reviews from three to two, in line with other peer-reviewed (Thomson Reuters) journals, to expedite the peer-review process. The move from triple to double-blind is compensated with additional screening by an Associate Editor.

Review process: all submissions will initially be screened by EDI’s Editorial Assistant to ensure that the manuscripts meet the journal’s formatting, structured abstract requirement, and word count. The Editorial Assistant will then assign your manuscript to one of the Associate Editors who will be your “action editor” based on their subject matter and methodological expertise. The Associate Editor makes a determination on whether the manuscript should be desk rejected or sent out for peer review based on the fit with EDI’s aim and scope, quality of writing, and relative contributions to scholarship and practice. The Associate Editor will then make a decision on the manuscript based on the recommendations from the reviewers plus their own reading of the manuscript. Note: authors and contributors may request for a particular Associate Editor to be their action editor by writing the Editorial Assistant.

Review time: the incoming Editorial Team aims to convey an initial decision to the authors within 45 days from submission. Occasionally, it may take us longer to relay a decision to you because it may take us longer to match your paper with a reviewer with the right expertise. Reviewers also frequently ask for extensions because of their own workload. If we anticipate a delay in conveying a decision to you, we will keep you informed throughout the peer-review process.

Post acceptance: once your paper has been accepted for publication, it will appear as “EarlyCite” on the journal’s website. We encourage you to share your forthcoming papers widely among your colleagues and networks. The Editorial Assistant will also work with you to publicize your paper on social media sites. You can follow the journal’s news on Twitter @EDI_Journal.

Closing remarks

I want to express the heartfelt gratitude to the outgoing Editorial Team, and in particular to Doyin Atewologun, Anita Bosch, and Dimitria Groutsis for stepping up to the plate and taking on additional responsibilities during the transition process. I want to thank the outgoing Editorial Advisory and Review Board members for your past contributions and quality reviews to EDI. The new Editorial Team will do the utmost to raise the profile and standards of the journal. In closing, we look forward to serving the EDI teacher-scholar-practitioner community and encourage you to send your work to EDI.