Editorial

Citation

Roberts, B. (2011), "Editorial", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijem.2011.06025aaa.002

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Educational Management, Volume 25, Issue 1

The first issue of Volume 25 necessitates reference to this landmark. When I first started IJEM as editor it was in the beginning with my friend and colleague Professor Roy Felgate, who sadly died early in the journal’s production. I wanted to remember him at this time in the journal’s life. The many Managing Editors I have worked with spring to mind also – in the beginning Marjorie Brown, Jean Clarkson, Janet Pannochia, Rachel Murawa, Kate Snowden and now Sharon Parkinson. There have been others, but these names have lasted longer than the others, especially Janet (with whom I attained “leading editor” status twice). A thank you is due to those several Guest Editors who have brought together significant material for a thematic approach to certain issues, many of which have attracted much attention by subsequent readers/researchers.

Unusually, the first issue of the year is a “special”, guest edited by Professor Petros Pashiardis and Dr Stefan Brauckmann. The theme is “School leadership and its effects on student achievement”. The detailed Guest Editorial by the Guest Editors outlines in more detail the theme and the authors’ papers. I thank Petros and Stefan and the authors themselves for their contributions. This team has also generously agreed to acknowledge the IJEM achievement in 25 years by dedicating their issue to the 25-year landmark.

It would be incomplete of me not to thank everyone connected with the journal over the past 25 years – the authors, the Associate Editors, Guest Editors, Editorial Board, the Assistant Publishers and the production teams behind the scenes working with the Managing Editors. Thank you all.

Finally, below are generous comments from a small selection of people associated with IJEM who wished to bring forward its achievement in the international community.

Best wishes.

Brian Roberts

(N.B. Some of the generous comments given below should be directed towards the publishers Emerald.)

The International Journal of Educational Management (IJEM) serves the academic and practitioner world of teaching, learning and educational management by reporting empirical research that has the potential to transform educational organisations. The IJEM offers what few other journals in the field offer – a blend of research from academic and practitioner perspectives. This blend enhances IJEM’s broad based appeal as an international journal as it links educational managers across the globe and enhances cultural understanding on critical educational issues. Because the IJEM focuses on the larger picture of educational management, it creates a seamless garment for educational management researchers and practitioners in public and private schools as well as universities and colleges.

The esteem with which the IJEM is held among researchers in prestigious academic research institutions as evidenced by the number of citations attributed to its contents, is a tribute to its editor Dr Brian Roberts, who guided the IJEM’s growth to achieve its present status. I witnessed the IJEM’s growth during Dr Roberts’ tenure as editor. He saw the journal’s expansion to a powerful digital source of educational management information for scholars and practitioners. Moreover the IJEM under Dr Roberts’ guidance, embraces a blind review process using reviewers with impeccable credentials to review submissions. My experience of the review process has been that reviewers seek to advance scholarly contributions by assisting researchers with guidance to improve their submissions. I am proud of my association with the IJEM and its editor, Dr Brian Roberts. As a Professor in higher education, I have read, published, and served as a member of IJEM’s editorial advisory board since the 1990s. I am grateful to Dr Roberts for his efforts to construct a positive environment for the management of new knowledge in the broad field of educational management. As I work with educational and public administrators, I find IJEM’s reporting extremely beneficial as the research studies, best practices, and new developments are relevant across the education continuum (Professor Ray Calabrese).

The IJEM is one of the best sources of credible, valid and scientific information in the field of educational administration, management and leadership. The journal reports on international and comparative developments in articles written by leading academic authorities with a truly worldly audience. It is one of the most widely cited peer-review journals, and leading researchers in our field would welcome their articles being accepted in this journal. The articles are well researched with a variety of mixed methodologies used to analyse original data. The journal is at the forefront of scientific research with a sound balance between empirical findings and theoretical explorations. Clearly this journal represents a fine scientific tradition combined with an impressive international coverage. The contents are of great value for every scholar in educational administration, management and leadership (Professor Petros Pashiardis).

The journal has made very significant progress over the last decade. Under the editorship of Dr Brian Roberts it has become a leading academic journal of outstanding quality. Dr Roberts has attracted premier authors from around the world to give the journal a “leading edge” of current leadership and management thinking in the educational world. He should be congratulated on his outstanding contribution (Professor Brent Davies).