From Editor Rich Gilman, SPQ Editor:
Dear Colleagues,
Wishing you all a great academic year! I had a chance to meet with many of you during the APA convention in Washington; thank you for sharing with me your excellent ideas and suggestions. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Several suggestions were forwarded to improve the review process and to shorten the time for authors to see their publications in print. Please know that we take all recommendations seriously and have quickly moved on them.
While all papers accepted in SPQ are published online within 30 days, many authors (including myself) find it rewarding to see their papers in print. Thus, in the first issue of 2018 you will see that the font and size of SPQ will match core APA journals. (As you may have noticed, while the look of the journal changed in 2017, the size was smaller and the font is different). These changes will allow us to capitalize on the APA brand and style, and the size increase means that we can include more papers per volume. We believe that these changes improve the look of the SPQ, and will significantly reduce wait-for-print times.
Also, our new policy of having all papers read by at least one statistical reviewer was lauded. One suggestion was to increase the number of statistical reviewers on the Editorial Board. Currently a third of the EB contain statistical reviewers, whose responsibility is to enure that the statistics and methods used are appropriate to the research questions and that the findings are presented accurately. I would love to see this percentage increase. Thus, please do not hesitate to contact me if you or someone you know would like to be considered on the EB as a statistical reviewer.Relatedly, a number general reviewers will be rotating off the EB in December. Please let me know if you or someone you know is interested in serving as a general reviewer for my final two years (2018-2020).
Statistics:
2016-2017 has been a great year for SPQ. Because of the quality of articles submitted to the journal, as well as work and dedication of our reviewers and past and current editorial teams, SPQnow ranks 6th of 58 journals in the category of Psychology-Educational, making it the top school psychology journal in the Social Sciences Citation Index. Its 2-year impact factor is 3.256, which matches or exceeds many journals in the APA stable (we are now on par with the Journal of Educational Psychology). The volume of submissions continues to increase. We have received 160 submissions in 2017 and are on track to break our record set in 2015.
But there is so much more to do. The quality of SPQ rests on the papers that are submitted. Please do consider this journal as your first choice when submitting studies that promise to advance the science, practice, and/or policy of school psychology. We provide a fair, balanced and timely response (within 21 days). As always, please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss a possible idea. I take my role as editor very seriously in helping authors mold working ideas into a developed product. There is no idea that is too “simple” to listen to, and often out of these discussions comes a perspective that has yet been considered. I speak for my entire team in stating that we love all aspects of our roles. But listening to authors and helping them nourish their ideas is what we most cherish.
Finally, I very much appreciate submissions to our new sections in SPQ (advances in statistics; brief reports; Perspectives). I have received numerous requests to clarify what I am looking for when considering Perspectives submissions:
1. Perspective articles are not designed to be opinion papers, but rather reflect emerging areas that should be considered by scientists, practitioners, and/or policy makers. Thus, the ideas presented in the paper, and the merits of their perspective, should be fully supported by the literature.
2. As opposed to larger empirical studies, where the data drives the story, the converse is found for perspective papers; preliminary data is encouraged to support the author’s perspective but prime consideration is placed on the merits of the perspective itself.
My ultimate goal for perspective papers is to generate new ways of thinking about problems faced by youth, families, schools, and the larger community. I would love to have perspective papers stimulate conversations between trainers and graduate students, between scientists/practitioners and stakeholders, and between policy makers.
Thank you all for your time and support of SPQ, and I look forward to receiving your submission!
Rich Gilman
Editor, School Psychology Quarterly