I am excited to report that our transition from four issues to six issues per year has been a success. Not only were we able to get articles into print faster, we increased the page count and the number of articles, while maintaining HPD’s reputation for very high-quality scholarship in the areas of housing and community development. Volume 26 (2016) contains 45 articles compared with the previous year (Volume 25) which had 34. This is possible through the submission of high-quality papers, as well as the prompt, thorough, and voluntary services of our reviewers (see list of reviewers at the end of this issue). Our reviewers averaged under 30 days for both first reviews and revisions. Along with this, and significantly decreasing the average elapsed time from submission to final decision, currently under 60 days, we are able to more efficiently publish high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship.
I am also pleased to report that HPD’s journal impact factor has increased for the fourth straight year. Since 2011, the impact factor has increased steadily from 0.48 to 1.54 in 2015. According to SCImago Journal & Country Rank, HPD is 10th among 127 journals in the Urban Studies category (see http://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php?category=3322).
The previous special issue on location affordability (Vol. 26, Issues 4-5) was quite successful. John Renne (Florida Atlantic University) and Lisa Sturtevant (previously with the National Housing Conference, now Lisa Sturtevant & Associates) served as guest editors. The special issue included 15 excellent articles on the topic. The success of the issue is also the reason for this issue being limited to only three articles due to page count constraints. Included are excellent articles by Tammy Leonard (Housing Upkeep and Public Good Provision in Residential Neighborhoods); William M. Rohe, Michael D. Webb, and Kirstin P. Frescoln (Work Requirements in Public Housing: Impacts on Tenant Employment and Evictions); and Dowell Myers (Peak Millennials: Three Reinforcing Cycles That Amplify the Rise and Fall of Urban Concentration by Millennials).
Finally, Volume 27 (2017) will include a special issue on international perspectives of the financial crisis and how housing policy abroad has been impacted. Desiree Fields (University of Sheffield) and Stuart Hodkinson (University of Leeds) are guest editors of this special issue. This is the first issue of HPD to focus on international policy and we are very much looking forward to its publication.
Editor
[email protected]