Editorial

Citation

Bendl, R. (2011), "Editorial", Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 30 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/edi.2011.03030aaa.002

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Equality Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, Volume 30, Issue 1

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion – An International Journal (EDI) (formerly Equal Opportunities International) celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The journal is coming of age and is a publishing medium which is well respected by equality, diversity and inclusion scholars as well as by scholars from other disciplines. EDI owes its greatly improved profile to those who have worked for it in these years. In 2006, together with ten other journals, Emerald bought Equal Opportunities International from Barmarick Publications. Together with this new publisher, Mustafa Özbilgin took over as new Editor of EDI at the same time. This new editorial team, Mustafa Özbiligin as Editor, Myrtle Bell as Professional Insights Editor and Finola Kerrigan as Book Review Editor, completely relaunched EDI which at the time gave an additional boost to the then emerging community of scholars working on equality, diversity and inclusion. First, the editorial team set up an Editorial Advisory Board, which reflects the international and cross-disciplinary nature of the journal, and an Editorial Review Board. Nowadays, these two boards consist of more than 80 well-known and highly respected scholars from all over the world. Between 2006 and 2010, this team has published 40 issues of EDI, including 14 special issues. Altogether, they have published more than 240 papers, of which 118 were part of special issues, with 14 guest editorials. Also, 35 book reviews were published and more than 20 professional insight texts.

Second, and in addition to this considerable quantitative contribution, the editorial team’s qualitative improvements and efforts have greatly improved EDI’s standing so that it has become the journal of choice for leading international scholarship in the field of equality, diversity and inclusion at work and in organisational settings. The names of authors who have published in the journal in the last years, and which read like the “who’s who” of the equality, diversity and inclusion community, confirm this. The previous editorial team introduced a rigorous process of refereeing (a triple-blind review process) which provides extensive developments feedback for the authors – even when the paper submission is rejected. Furthermore, a new section, Professional Insights, was established which hosts conference reports and well as interviews with eminent scholars and activists in the field. The introduction of a Book Review section which features single and multiple book reviews as well as extended book review essays has complemented these major qualitative changes of EDI.

Mustafa Özbilgin’s editorial dedication has been reinforced by his presence at all major conferences which offer gender and diversity streams and by his founding of the annual Equality Diversity and Inclusion Conference (EDI Conference) which was hosted first at the University of East Anglia in 2008. Finally, mention must be made of Mustafa’s inclusive efforts and friendliness as well as open-mindedness and open-heartedness which have made such a great contribution to EDI in its late 20s and should be acknowledged at this landmark 30th birthday of the journal.

As with human beings, round birthdays often represent times of change. In 2010, Mustafa Özbilgin became Editor of the British Journal of Management and decided to pass on the journal to a successor. And so, from Issue 1 of the 2011 volume, I am the new Editor of EDI. It is now my task, duty and pleasure to direct the journal into its 30s. Owing to the outstanding work of the former editorial team, I can rely on high-quality contributions to EDI as well as on the enthusiastic support of equality, diversity and inclusion scholars. On the one hand, my aim is to contribute to an even wider recognition of the journal in terms of local contexts. This means more focus on papers from regions which have been somewhat underrepresented in EDI and which also focus on equality, diversity and inclusion issues from an organizational perspective. These regions could include, for example, South America, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Russia and China. On the other hand, I plan to make a further step towards the inclusion of EDI in the prestigious indices such as Thomson Reuters (formerly ISI), a process which the former editors have already begun. With this in mind, I aim to maintain a triple-blind review process, a developmental stance and the successful structure of the journal including articles, Professional Insights and book reviews as well as special issues. As time is passing by quickly and the planning for special issues for 2012 and 2013 has to be set in motion now, I have already commissioned the following three special issues:

1. 1.

   Gender and Diversity in Organizations in South Asia edited by Jawad Syed (j.syed@kent.ac.uk) and Edwina Pio (edwina.pio@aut.ac.nz).

2. 2.

   Inclusion in Higher Education edited by Haifa Takruri (h.takruri-rizk@salford.ac.uk) and Kate Booth (k.m.booth@salford.ac.uk).

3. 3.

   Diversity and Inclusion in Monstrous Organizations edited by Torkild Thanem (torkild.thanem@fek.su.se) and Alison Pullen (alison.pullen@uts.edu.au).

More calls for papers relating to special issues are in the planning stage and will be announced on EDI’s web site soon. Also, in the next issue, the new Professional Insight Editor and Book Review editors – in other words, the complete new editorial team will be presented. However, at this early stage, I want to thank Nancy Rolph as Publisher and Rachel Gerlis as Assistant Publisher for their professional support as well as understanding and care.

Like its predecessors, this editorial team will be present at the major equality, diversity and inclusion conferences and will contribute to further developments of the scholarly equality, diversity and inclusion community: as Convenor of the EGOS Standing Working Group on Gender and Diversity, together with Elina Hentonnen, I aim to present papers of this stream in one special issue of EDI each year. My membership of the EURAM Board helps to establish closer connections to this association and will help me to attract scholars to the journal, particularly from outside the equality, diversity and inclusion community. As I have participated in all of the EDI Conferences and organized the 3rd EDI Conference in Vienna in 2010, I know many of the EDI scholars personally and will retain my association with them for the success of EDI. Furthermore, the editorial team’s participation at the meetings of the Academy of Management (AoM) and the memberships in the different divisions and interest groups – especially the gender and diversity division – will continue to secure valuable contributions to EDI from scholars all over the world. To this end, I would like to announce here that from 2011 an EDI Editorial Board Meeting will take place at the AoM each year.

This international context, however, brings me also to local contexts. To date, Mustafa Özbilgin’s, Finola Kerrigan’s and Myrtle Bell’s location provided – of course next to many other local contexts – excellent access to scholars based in Great Britain, Turkey and the USA for EDI. I hope these scholars will retain their connection to EDI and to continue to consider the journal as a publishing outlet for their research, despite our relative locations. I am located in the German-speaking area in Austria, specifically at the Vienna University of Economics (WU Vienna). In this regard, EDI will benefit from receiving more submissions from the Swiss, German and Austrian contexts. As the new editorial team will show, other local regions will be targeted under the remit of EDI’s policy of inclusion.

However, the editorial team will not be able to achieve all this and to guide EDI well into its new decennium alone. For EDI to be successful, we need your support as authors, reviewers and editors of special issues. Please continue to serve as ambassadors for the journal and to promote article submissions to the journal where you can.

Regine Bendl