Personnel Review: successes and challenges

Personnel Review

ISSN: 0048-3486

Article publication date: 4 March 2014

588

Citation

Pezet, N.C.a.E. (2014), "Personnel Review: successes and challenges", Personnel Review, Vol. 43 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-12-2013-0233

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited


Personnel Review: successes and challenges

Article Type: Editorial From: Personnel Review, Volume 43, Issue 2

After a handover period, graciously aided by the previous editor, Professor John Leopold, we have now been co-editors of Personnel Review for just over a year and a half. We would like to thank Professor Leopold for his robust and assured editorship of the journal, which he successfully steered towards ISI recognition. The journal’s latest five year impact factor (1.236 for 2012) is a testimony to the solid foundations laid by him.

He is a hard act to follow but there are strong signs that the journal continues on a strong upward trajectory. Download and user figures are improving, from 118,382 downloads and 1,473 users in 2005 to 295,059 downloads and 2,758 users in 2012 (the latest annual figures available).

Further, we are delighted to announce that the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) List 2013 has awarded Personnel Review a top “A” rating. We are proud of this achievement; the culmination of the stewardship of successive editors over its 33 year history, and an indication of the strong reputation of the journal.

We continue to be an integral part of the award structure at prestigious international conferences, including the Academy of Management and the British Academy of Management, as well as being slightly overwhelmed, but delighted, at the rise in number and quality of submissions to the joint European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD)/Emerald award for Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards: now at a high of 45 submissions from 41 institutions around the world.

Of course, we are keen to ensure that the journal maintains a clear focus on the "core" and "traditional" areas of human resource management, but we welcome in particular papers that revisit and take a fresh look at familiar topics. The discipline itself continues to evolve and as editors, we intend to ensure that Personnel Review is at the vanguard of these developments and welcome also articles on non-traditional and emerging areas of HRM.

We have been impressed by the range, scope and diversity of articles from across the globe submitted to and published in the journal. Reflecting this strong internationalisation of the journal are two forthcoming special issues: one on HRM in Africa, the second on HRM in the public sector in China (2014-2015).

We remain committed to publishing articles of high academic quality, underpinned by strong empirical findings. The sharp increase in submissions to the journal over the past six years means that getting past the "desk reject" is becoming tougher. However, Personnel Review will strive to provide constructive and detailed feedback to articles that get to the review stage as another mark of the quality of the journal. A number of our long-standing regional, associate and book editors have stepped down, and to Jos Benders, Tanya Bondarouk, Penny Dick, Steve McKenna, Tracy Scurry, and Parbudyal Singh, we extend our gratitude for completing these demanding jobs with unwavering professionalism. We have appointed new regional and associate editors and will expand the editorial board over the next few months to address the increase in submissions to the journal. We have also refreshed our reviewer list and will continue to do so over the next 18 months.

Over the next year, there will be subtle but important changes to the journal itself and to its web site. The journal issues will be longer, reflecting the increased number of submissions, though the number of issues per year will remain the same. The web site will be developed over the next 12 months to provide more timely information about events, achievements and opportunities related to Personnel Review. We will keep you posted via our editorials and the journal web site.

Nelarine Cornelius and Eric Pezet
Editors in Chief, Personnel Review

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