From the Editor

Citation

Baruch, Y. (2005), "From the Editor", Career Development International, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi.2005.13710aaa.001

From the Editor

A year into the Editor role, and I feel it is a good time to converse with the community. It has been a very good year for Career Development International (CDI), I believe.

We have moved to full electronic review process, which has reduced the turnaround time significantly. Our average turnaround time, from day of submission to day of decision e-mail, is less than 35 days. Moreover, the reviews that we provide to authors are high quality, in-depth, and constructive (i.e. using positive criticism). Each manuscript is blind-reviewed by two reviewers and in the few cases where there is disagreement, manuscripts are passed to a third reviewer – usually a member of the Editorial Advisory Board. I owe a great deal of thanks to our dedicated reviewers for helping CDI to provide such a timely developmental process.

The rejection rate is around 70 per cent, and a substantial share of this figure consists of outright rejections or returning certain manuscripts to authors. I do not believe that it is fair either on authors and reviewers to allow underdeveloped manuscripts, and those that do not fit the Journal’s remit, to enter the review process. This would be to waste reviewers’ time and energy, and it does not help authors either. I reject a paper outright only if I see no reasonable chance for it to succeed in the peer review process.

I would like also to thank the Editorial Advisory Board, which has made a strong contribution throughout the year, particularly in reviewing controversial manuscripts, in recommending the annual Best Paper award, and in promoting the Journal. CDI benefits from being part of Emerald stable of journals and receives great support from Paula Fernandez, the Journal’s Managing Editor. The number of full-text article downloads from CDI has increased significantly over the last 12 months and the Journal’s international profile, enhanced through the establishment in 2004 of a CDI-sponsored Best Symposium award in the Careers Division of the Academy of Management, continues to strengthen.

One feature that I anticipate will be a great success is the series of Special Issues being lined up for publication in the Journal in 2005 and 2006. I would encourage prospective contributors to offer proposals – do not hesitate to contact me if you have a great idea for a unique SI for CDI.

I look forward to another flourishing year with CDI.

Yehuda BaruchUniversity of East Anglia, UK