Editorial

As we have noted before, it is not our normal practice to include an editorial in issues of Educational Review. Perhaps we should stop saying that, though, as this is the second editorial in 12 months, each one written to celebrate our Article of the Year, part of the award of the same name, presented to the article published in the journal during the year which offers the most original and significant contribution to our field of knowledge. The award comes with a prize from our publisher, Routledge, and an invitation to give a seminar on the topic of the article. The winner for 2015 is from Margery McMahon and her colleagues on shifts in how teacher education is conceptualized, designed and delivered (McMahon, Forde, and Dickson 2015). The article was praised by the editorial board as offering a highly insightful, empirically based commentary on the current development of teacher education.

We should also note another innovation introduced during the last year. The editorial board recently decided to commission articles from experts on subjects of topical interest and debate. Each commissioned article will always pass through the full peer review process, but given the priority placed on topicality, will be assured fast-tracking through the production process. Our first commissioned article, from Becky Morris and Tom Perry on grammar schools, has now appeared online (Morris and Perry 2017), and given the new government’s commitment to the expansion of grammar schools, has already excited a good deal of interest.

The impact factor for the journal has risen once again, reflecting the emphasis on the broad, international and interdisciplinary nature of the journal. Our most recent volume contained articles from thirteen countries and our most recent impact factor rose to .873, with a Scopus SNIP (Source Normalised Impact per Paper) of 1.15. Given the increased volume of high-quality manuscripts being submitted to the journal, the editorial board has recently agreed to increase the number of issues per volume from four to five.

We are introducing a new feature to our reviews section. “Influential Readers” is an innovative book reviews feature that gives early career researchers and doctoral students an opportunity to review a book that particularly influenced their research. Reviewers will choose works that stand the test of time as well as more recent work. It is an opportunity to hear new voices in educational research whilst simultaneously valuing voices from the past. There will be an Influential Readers feature in each issue.

We are proud to continue as the executive editor and reviews editor of Educational Review and hope that the coming year will be as successful as the last.

Gary Thomas
Executive Editor
Kay Fuller
Reviews Editor