A mid-life report card

The National Health Service (NHS) in England offers a health check for adults reaching the age of 40. Billed as a free mid-life MOT for the body, it checks the function of important systems, can detect potential problems and assess the risk of developing various diseases. As the Journal of Geography in Higher Education reaches its fortieth year of operation, it is timely to undertake a health check and to plan for a rewarding future. Walter Pitkin, a philosopher at Columbia University, popularized the phrase Life Begins at Forty with the eponymous self-help book (Pitkin, 1932), written at a time when life expectancy was rapidly increasing in the US and there was an emerging sense that reaching this landmark age was the start of a new phase rather than the culmination of an existence. In the popular culture, 40 remains a watershed, a metaphorical mid-way point, a time to reflect on achievements so far and to ponder on challenges ahead. During this year, the journal will dip into its past to consider contemporary and future challenges for teaching and learning of geography in higher education and the evolving institutional structures in which engagement takes place.

The NHS guidance suggests a few practical suggestions for maintaining health as one grows older. Applying this to the journal, it has to be admitted that during the last 10 years weight has been gained. A fourth issue was added to each volume and the page quota in each issue increased. Nevertheless, we have maintained a healthy and balanced diet, representing all the facets of geography with occasional themed feasts provided by the JGHE Symposia. Early career researchers have found voice in the journal, encouraged, or perhaps cajoled, by the evolution of professional qualifications in teaching in higher education. A key component of a healthy lifestyle is, of course to remain physically active. On that score, the journal has benefited from large quantities of fieldwork. As a signature pedagogy, fieldwork was featured prominently in the pages of this journal during its first 40 years of existence and will no doubt continue to foster debate, discussion, reflection and a modest amount of celebration for the foreseeable future. Issue 39(4) Journal of Geography in Higher Education featured a collection of papers on the practices and challenges of running international field courses, convened by Michael Glass, University of Pittsburgh (Glass, 2015). Despite the well-rehearsed arguments that fieldwork facilitates methods’ training, emphasizes research design in “real-world settings”, seamlessly enables active learning scenarios, develops transferable skills of group work, leadership, negotiation and time management, deepens experience with place, challenges cultural awareness and perceptions of environmental issues, the place of fieldwork in the curriculum is constantly under challenge. The scepticism of budget holders can be balanced by the possibility of overseas fieldwork helping the institution to meet mobility targets. The concerns that leaving campus is frivolous and unnecessary can be unpicked by the evidence of the power of fieldwork as a recruitment tool. The accusation of the fieldtrip being superfluous is counteracted by its ability to integrate the curriculum, help students make connections, while simultaneously delivering many bullet points on the employability and professional skills agenda. The headaches of safety and liability issues are dissipated by the invigoration that being in the field brings to staff and students alike.

The symposium on international fieldwork visits many different countries but, like many papers in the journal, the authors are based primarily within the Anglo-American axis. Over the past decade, the journal has made concerted efforts to encourage internationalization and diversify the range of national and institutional settings in which learning and teaching issues for geography in Higher Education are discussed. A short mid-life report card can demonstrate that this ambition remains a work in progress. The data are derived from the online manuscript management system and refers to the period since 1 January 2010. Country of origin refers to the institutional base of the corresponding author and does not take into account situations where authors from multiple countries are collaborating. As the volume of electronic submissions increased, there has been a steady increase in the number of “new” countries submitting to the journal (new in this context referring to the period of the online submission system). There is a roughly parallel trend in the number of countries with accepted papers, which has now reached 26 (Figure 1). This trend is lagged because of the time from initial submission to eventual acceptance but also indicates that some of the submitting countries are not yet represented in print. The UK and the USA dominate the number of papers accepted since 2010, followed by Australia, Canada and New Zealand (Figure 2). This Anglo-American-Australasian axis supplied 75% of the submissions and accounted for 85% of the accepted papers. This perhaps reflects the strong standing of the discipline in these countries and the established tradition of pedagogic research which this journal has sought to spotlight. Nevertheless, work is needed to further encourage similar research activity from other countries.

Figure 1. Cumulative number of different countries (defined by institutional base of corresponding author) represented by submissions and accepted papers from 1 January 2010 to 1 December 2015.

Figure 2. Distribution of accepted papers since 1 January 2010 by country/region. (Note that country is defined by the institutional base of the corresponding author and does not consider papers with authors from multiple countries).

The activities of the International Network of Learning and Teaching in Geography (INLT) have done a great deal to encourage cross-border interaction between those interested in pedagogic research and reflection, leading to a series of symposia which have been published in this journal during the last 15 years. The latest INLT writing workshop event took place in Surrey, UK in August 2014 following the RGS-IBG Conference and papers initiated during that weekend are at various stages in the journey from review to production. In order to increase the currency of the papers, a decision has been made to publish papers from the latest INLT collection as and when they are ready, rather than waiting for final decisions on all papers. Like many other journals have noted, it is possible to now repackage the papers as a virtual special issue with an appropriate synopsis from the guest editors when the process is completed. However, we will still continue to collate some symposia together in the print issue. A symposium on Teaching Energy Geographies features in this issue and looking ahead, there will be a collection on Graduate Attributes plus many others in the pipeline. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teams that have worked hard to develop symposium ideas and then persevered to encourage authors to submit and subsequently revise papers. In many cases, ideas for a symposium begin with a session at an international geography conference but often develop and grow as other submissions are attracted. The editors would be pleased to discuss ideas for future symposia with interested parties and to offer advice on the process.

Since 2001, the journal has organized a biennial prize for promoting excellence in teaching and learning. The award acknowledges scholars who have contributed to this important research area. Nominations are not confined to the pages of this journal and indeed several past winners have been published elsewhere in both the discipline of geography and in educational research. Following a call for nominations, the following four papers were considered by members of the Editorial Advisory Panel, a group of eminent international scholars. The panel are asked to comment on appropriate research methodologies, originality and overall contribution to research in teaching and learning geography in higher education. For the period between 1 January 2012 and December 31 2013 the following four papers were shortlisted:

•	Alderman, D.H., Kingsbury, P. and Dwyer, O. 2013. Examining the Montgomery Bus Boycott: Toward an empathetic pedagogy of the civil rights movement. Professional Geographer 65(1):171–186.
•	Anderson, J. 2013. Evaluating student-generated film as a learning took for qualitative methods: Geographical drifts and the city. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 37(1): 136–146.
•	Fouberg, E.H. 2013. The world is no longer flat to me: Student perceptions of threshold concepts in world regional geography. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 37(1):65–75.
•	Healey, R. 2012. The power of debate: Reflections on the potential of debates for engaging students in critical thinking about controversial geographical topics. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 36(2): 239–257.

After lengthy deliberation, the JGHE Award for Promoting Excellence in Teaching and Learning has been awarded to Erin Fouberg for the paper “The world is no longer flat to me: student perceptions of threshold concepts in world regional geography”. Our distinguished Editorial Advisory Board found the paper outstanding for its emphasis on learning, not just teaching. The paper presents the literature on threshold concepts clearly and represents student thinking and learning processes well. As one panel member commented, “it offered something different from what many other papers typically offer. When others often present strategies to use in the classroom, this paper invites us to reflect on how students learn, and in that sense, is much more fundamental.” In keeping with tradition, the winner has been invited to respond and Erin Fouberg’s reflective piece follows in this issue (Fouberg, 2016). On behalf of the Editorial Board, I congratulate all the nominees. I also give hearty thanks to Sarah Bednarz who oversees the whole process on behalf of the Editorial Board

As spring follows winter so the conclusion and announcement of the prize winner signals the call for nominations for the next award period. Nominated papers must have been published between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2015. Papers published online during this timeframe ahead of hard copy publication (e.g. in early view systems) will also be accepted.

•	Papers must have been peer-reviewed prior to publication.
•	Papers from any appropriate journal can be nominated, subject to the peer review requirement listed above.
•	The subject matter should focus on geography or closely allied subjects.
•	Papers should focus on teaching and learning contexts in higher education.
•	Both papers reporting the results of original research and papers reviewing a body of existing material to gain new insight or suggesting improved practice or policy are encouraged.
•	Self-nomination is not permitted.

As noted earlier, the journal has been especially keen to promote internationalization in recent years and has actively sought to encourage submissions and peer reviewers from outside the Anglo-American-Australasian axis. We, therefore, welcome nominations from outside the traditional core. Papers which were originally published in languages other than English can be nominated, but a translation of the paper will be required. The adjudicating panels will be guided by similar considerations to the criteria on which submissions to the Journal of Geography in Higher Education are assessed. The nominated paper should, therefore, demonstrate the following:

•	Relevance to enhancing student learning with evidence from appropriate student evaluation (“the student voice”).
•	Relevance to innovation and enhancing teaching excellence in geography in higher education.
•	Relevance to an international audience of geography educators.
•	Ability to convey ideas clearly without abundant jargon.
•	Sensitivity to equal opportunities.

Nominations should be submitted to Professor Sarah Bednarz, Department of Geography, Texas A&M University. Email: [email protected]. The deadline for nominations is 30 June 2016.

The Journal of Geography in Higher Education is a peer reviewed journal and its production requires the input of many academics willing to read and comment on manuscripts. At one stage, the journal had internal editorial board panels scrutinizing each submission as well as external reviewers. This process has been streamlined to some extent, but typically, papers will receive three reviews including one editorial board member and two external reviewers. It seems to be increasingly difficult to find eager reviewers but the handling editors have performed well to keep the vast majority of submissions on track in the review process. There are some occasional hiccups that delay the review process for which we apologize but it is important to note that the process could not be maintained without the selfless work of external referees. The names of referees during the last two years are listed below.

Referees (2014 and 2015)

James Aber, Emporia State University, USA

Peter Adey, Royal Holloway University of London, UK

Casey Allen, University of Colorado, Denver, USA

Jon Anderson, Cardiff University, UK

Tom Argles, Open University, UK

Colin Arrowsmith, RMIT, Australia

Gisele Arruda, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Cecile Badenhorst, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

Thomas Baerwald, National Science Fund, USA

Annie Bartos, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Pablo Bose, University of Vermont, USA

Forest Bowlick, Texas A&M University, USA

Christopher Boyko, Lancaster University, UK

Alan Boyle, University of Liverpool, USA

Anthony Brazel, Arizona State University

Gregory Breetzke, University of South Africa, South Africa

Nina Brendel, University of Muenster, Germany

Angela Brew, Macquarie University, Australia

Pete Bunting, Aberystwyth University, UK

Monika Buscher, Lancaster University, UK

Herculano Cachinho, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Jennifer Carter, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Simon Catling, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Eugene Ch’ng, University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Brian Chalkley, University of Plymouth, UK

Chang Chew Hung, National Institute of Education, Singapore

Kalyani Chatterjea, National Institute of Education, Singapore

Gordon Clark, Lancaster University, UK

Sharon Cobb, University of North Florida, USA

Neil Conner, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA

Kristen Conway-Gomez, Cal Poly Pomona, USA

Michael Corbett, University of Tasmania, Australia

Mairead de Roiste, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Michael DeMers, University of New Mexico, USA

Ali Demirci, Fatih Üniversitesi, Turkey

David DiBiase, ESRI, USA

Klaus Dodds, Royal Holloway University of London, UK

James Doerner, University of Northern Colorado, USA

Karl Donert, Liverpool Hope University, UK

Ronald Dorn, Arizona State University, USA

Trevor Dummer, IWK Health Care, Canada

Claire Dwyer, University College London, UK

Owen Dwyer, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, USA

Gary Elbow, Texas Tech University, USA

Stuart Elden, Warwick University, UK

Kim England, University of Washington, USA

Martin Evans, University of Chester, UK

Clifton Evers, University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Feeney, Alison Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, USA

Jaume Feliu, University of Girona, Spain

Dirk Felzmann, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany

Damien Field, University of Sydney, Australia

Erin Fouberg, Northern State University, USA

Doug Gamble, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, USA

Bradley Garrett, University of Southampton, UK

Phil Gersmehl, University of Minnesota, USA

Franklin Ginn, University of Edinburgh, UK

Michael Glass, University of Pittsburg, USA

Daniel Goldberg, Texas A&M University, USA

Paul Goldschagg, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Aubrey Golightly, North-West University, South Africa

Ian Green, University of Adelaide, Australia

Amy Griffin, Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia

Godfrey Hampwaye, University of Zambia, Zambia

Anne Hardy, University of Tasmania, Australia

John Harrington, Kansas State University

Tim Harris, Staffordshire University, UK

Timothy Hawthorne, Georgia State University, USA

Iain Hay, Flinders University, Australia

James Hayes-Bohanan, Bridgewater State University, USA

Martin Hess, Manchester University, UK

Greg Hill, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Timm Hoffman, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Verónica Hollman, National University of Central Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jung Eun Hong, University of West Georgia, USA

Max Hope, University of Ulster, UK

Chris Houser, Texas A&M University, USA

Alice Hovorka, University of Guelph, Canada

Tom Huber, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, USA

Chuck Huff, St Olaf College, USA

Annie Hughes, Kingston University, UK

Sungsoon Hwang, DePaul University, USA

Joshua Inwood, University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA

Michael Jarvinen, Emmanuel College, USA

Claire Jarvis, University of Leicester, UK

Alan Jenkins, Oxford Brookes University, UK

Martin Jenkins, Coventry University, UK

Wendy Jepson, Texas A&M University, USA

Bob Jickling, Lakehead University, Canada

Jennifer Johns, University of Liverpool, UK

Karen Joyce, Charles Darwin University, Australia

Mizuki Kawabata, University of Tokyo, Japan

James Keese, California Polytechnic State University

Justine Kemp, Griffith University, Australia

Joseph Kerski, ESRI, USA

Julie Kesby, Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia

Minsung Kim, Seoul National University, Korea

Mary Kimsey, James Madison University, USA

Brian King, Pennsylvania State University, USA

Andrew Klein, Texas A&M University, USA

Phil Klein, University of Northern Colorado, USA

Janelle Knox-Hayes, Georgia Tech, USA

Nilüfer Koşker, Kırıkkale University, Turkey

David Lambert, Institute of Education, UK

Lisa Law, James Cook University, Australia

Jeff Lee, Texas Tech University, USA

Kelly Lemmons, Tarleton State University, USA

Robert Lemon, University of Texas at Austin, USA

Joseph Leydon, University of Toronto, Canada

Kenneth Lim, National Institute of Education, Singapore

Melissa Low, National University of Singapore

Antoni Luna, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain

Andres Luque-Ayala, Durham University, UK

Kenneth Lynch, University of Gloucestershire, UK

Sarah Mager, University of Otago, New Zealand

Susan Mains, University of Dundee, UK

Godfrey Marais, University of the Free State, South Africa

Alan Marvell, University of Gloucestershire, UK

Alaric Maude, Flinders University, Australia

Derek McDougall, University of Worcester, UK

Mark McGuinness, Bath Spa University, UK

Joshua McKeown, State University of New York at Oswego, USA

Chris McMorran, National University of Singapore

Tony Mellor, Northumbria University, UK

Christiane Meyer, Leibniz Univesrität Hannover, Germany

Gill Miller, University of Chester, UK

Servel Miller, University of Chester, UK

Amy Mills, University of South Carolina, USA

Peggy Minnis, Pace University, USA

Niamh Moore-Cherry, University College Dublin, Ireland

Thomas Mueller, California University of Pennsylvania, USA

Jo-Beth Mullens, Keene State College, USA

Catherine Muller, University of Birmingham, UK

Alexander Murphy, University of Oregon, USA

Harvey Neo, National University of Singapore

Curt Nielsen, University of Northern Iowa, USA

Melissa Nursey-Bray, University of Adelaide, Australia

Jan Nyssen, Ghent University, Belgium

Jennifer O’Brien, Manchester University, UK

Ann Oberhauser, West Virginia University, USA

Gabriele Obermaier, Universität Bayreuth, Germany

Joseph Palis, North Carolina State University, USA

Marcela Palomino-Schalscha, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Richard Perkins, London School of Economics, UK

Emma Pharo, University of Tasmania, Australia

Jeff Popke, East Carolina University, USA

Waverly Ray, San Diego Community College District, USA

Peter Rees, University of Delaware, USA

Kathy Reilly, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland

Sonja Rewhorn, University of Chester, UK

Chris Ribchester, University of Chester, UK

Murray Rice, University of North Texas, USA

Zoe Robinson, Keele University, UK

Stephen Royle, Queens University of Belfast, UK

Rickie Sanders, Temple University, USA

Angharad Saunders, University of South Wales, UK

John Savery, University of Akron, USA

Marybeth Schlemper, University of Toledo, USA

Rich Schultz, Elmhurst College, USA

Uwe Schulze, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Kerry Shepherd, University of Otago, New Zealand

David Simm, Bath Spa University, UK

Jan Smith, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania

Mike Smith, Kingston University, UK

Janet Speake, Liverpool Hope University, UK

Sanjeev Srivastava, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia

Ian Stimpson, Keele University, UK

Alison Stokes, Plymouth University, UK

Glenn Strachan, University of Gloucestershire, UK

John Strait, Sam Houston State University, USA

Josef Strobl, Universität Salzburg, Austria

Michael Sublett, Illinois State University, USA

Kristin Sziarto, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee

Francisco Tapiador, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

Simon Tate, Newcastle University, UK

Mary Thornbush, University of Birmingham, UK

Jonathan Tomkin, University of Illinois, USA

Ebru Ustundag, Brock University, Canada

Joaquin Villanueva, Gustavus Adolphus College, USA

Brandon Vogt, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, USA

Peter Vujakovic, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

Jacqueline Waite, National Council for Geographic Education, USA

Kelly Wakefield, University of Southampton, UK

Richard Waller, Keele University, UK

Barney Warf, University of Kansas, USA

Katharine Welsh, University of Chester, UK

W. Brian Whalley, University of Sheffield, UK

Keith Wilkinson, University of Winchester, UK

Di Wilmot, Rhodes University, South Africa

Jennie Winter, Plymouth University, UK

Ewan Woodley, University of Exeter, UK

Paul Wright, Southampton Solent University, UK

Dirk Wundram, University of Bonn, Germany

David Higgitt
Faculty of Science and Engineering, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China