Introduction from New Editors-in-Chief

With great enthusiasm and a deep sense of responsibility, we introduce ourselves as the new Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of Planning Education and Research (JPER). We are honored and humbled to assume the roles and eager to contribute to the continued excellence of our beloved journal.

First, we would like to express gratitude for the invaluable contribution of the previous editorial team, led by Dr. Shannon Van Zandt at Texas A&M University. Their dedication and hard work have advanced JPER as a leading academic journal for planning scholarship and education.

Building on the legacy of the Texas A&M team and the other editorial teams before, we would like to share our priorities with you, introduce our team, and ask for your continued support for the journal.

Our Priorities

1. Re-positioning JPER as the Central Forum to Advance Planning

We live in a turbulent time, which demands reflection and thoughtful scholarship that can inform critical public decision-making. Our very field of planning faces new, extraordinary challenges, on the one hand, from growing critics of historical systems of knowledge affected by colonialism, racists, and misogynist attitudes, and on the other hand, from the rapid development of new technologies, which raise questions ranging from technology adoption to intellectual property and ethics. These challenges need to be met with a more purposeful and critical examination of historical planning scholarship and practices while advancing transformative knowledge through innovative research and rigorous debates on complex issues. In the long evolution of scientific exploration, academic journals are expected to reflect major contemporary issues while building new knowledge to advance societies. So is our aspiration for JPER.

As the leading academic planning journal, JPER needs to be the central platform to advance the reformation and rebuilding of research and education frameworks for the planning discipline. It must be at the front and center to facilitate intellectual discourses that drive research evolution, leading to sustained and growing impacts of planning in the real world.

To achieve this priority, we will adopt the following strategies to encourage new voices and perspectives on planning scholarship. The initial step is assembling a team of engaged and active scholars as Associate Editors, a compositionally diverse group (please see “Our Team” below). We will also encourage publications in different formats, such as Special Issues, Commentary, and Letters, to attract critical and thought-provoking research. Most importantly, we will do all of these things while continuing to meet the highest standards of scholarship and academic integrity.

• 2. Enhancing Public Communication

Open Access journals and a shifting university library acquisition model have put subscription-based journals like JPER at an increasing disadvantage as both a home to publishing top-flight research and attracting readers and citations. Some barriers exist beyond our ability to address, like the journal’s paywall. However, certain initiatives can help us to increase readership and impact.

We will adopt two public communication strategies to broaden the reach of JPER articles. First, we aim to introduce a short-form email newsletter that will drive up readership and, consequently, the impact of JPER. We will ask authors to compose 500+/− word jargon-free summaries of their research, what we call Quick Take Summaries. We will then share those via email when journal articles are posted to the JPER website. A re-imagined abstract for the twenty-first century, these Quick Take Summaries will be recognizable and welcomed by the general public in a way that our scholarly articles are not. Public interest in the research published in JPER will then attract scholarly interest and increase readership and citations. Second, we will also streamline social media posts on JPER publications, working with authors, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), and Sage (follow one of our social media accounts on X [formerly Twitter] feed @JPER7). Through coordinated promotion, we will drive readership and broader interest to the journal, fostering a vibrant and influential scholarly community.

Our Team

We, as Editors-in-Chief, are fully responsible for the daily management of JPER, with the support of Dr. Karen Lowrie, Managing Editor. In addition, we have assembled a team of Associate Editors who will contribute to the journal’s inclusivity and efficiency.

The team will ensure the inclusivity of JPER. The Associate Editors represent the fields that cover all sixteen research tracks of the ACSP conference. Their diverse backgrounds, strengths, and expertise will help not only to maintain the quality of JPER as a top planning journal but also strengthen and reposition JPER as the central forum to advance the planning discipline. As submissions to JPER have increased dramatically in recent years, the deep and diverse set of Associate Editors will deliver timely adjudication in the streamlined peer-review process.

Associate Editors:

• Christopher Coutts, Florida State University

• Maxwell Hartt, Queens University

• Michael P. Johnson, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Diana Mitsova, Florida Atlantic University

• Zhong-Ren Peng, University of Florida

• Antonio Raciti, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Jesse Saginor, University of Maryland

• Elizabeth L Sweet, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Thomas Vicino, Northeastern University

• Xinyue Ye, Texas A&M University

• Zhixi Cecilia Zhuang, Toronto Metropolitan University

Our Request

Your scholarly contributions are essential to the success of JPER. We urge you to submit your latest manuscripts to JPER, whether they are groundbreaking research, innovative methodologies, or insightful reviews. We also invite you to lend your expertise as reviewers. Most academic journals have experienced increasing difficulty finding reviewers, delaying the review process. We are exploring ways to incentivize reviews and acknowledge reviewers’ contributions. We also request your support in spreading the word about JPER publications and activities within your professional networks. Your advocacy is instrumental in reaching a wider audience and attracting high-quality submissions.

The quality and impact of JPER are contingent on the caliber of its articles as well as its engagement with planning academics and the broader community. JPER will not only represent the current state of planning scholarship but also propel the pursuit of knowledge at the forefront of intellectual exploration. Your contribution and commitment are vital to the success of JPER, and we look forward to working with you to build a stronger and more impactful academic community.