With next year's volume The Clinical Neuropsychologist (TCN) will enter its 25th year in publication. Since the inception of TCN, founded by Byron Rourke and Ken Adams who served as the first two co-editors, there have been only four co-editors. Rus Bauer became the third co-editor in 2001. Based on a distinguished career that had consistently and deftly blended science, training, and practice, even at that point in time and to an even greater extent since, Rus was a natural choice. Now after 10 years of commitment and loyal service to TCN contributors and readers, Rus will be stepping down as co-editor. TCN has evolved significantly in the last 10 years, as evidenced in the following attainments: (1) submissions and reviews transitioned to electronic processes, (2) designated as the official journal of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology in 2004, (3) related to increased submissions, a dramatic increase in the number of pages per volume, which ultimately resulted in the number of issues per year increasing to six in 2007 and eight in 2009, (4) electronic distribution of published and pre-published journal content, and (5) online CE for select articles.
I have been proud to work with Rus during our time as co-editors. When I initially accepted the invitation to serve with Rus, it was already apparent that he was an exemplary scientist, teacher, and clinician. Moreover, Rus was an accomplished professional leader within our specialty, on the order of a rock star! So I entered our collaboration with the expectation of learning from a man whose accomplishments I admired. What was truly fun and unexpected was discovering his rapier wit, keen insights, and impressive problem-solving skills, all of which have served TCN extremely well. Many thanks and best wishes to Rus as he returns to the “recording studio” to work on his next album of hits!
So what is next for TCN? Having an administrative structure of co-editors has served TCN very well for more than 20 years. Yet much has changed in the world of manuscript peer review and journal publishing. Central to change in the world of publishing in the last decade has been the speed at which information is scrutinized and shared. TCN's transition in the latter half of 2002 to electronic submission and then later to electronic pre-publication and distribution has been effective in being responsive to the pressure for expedient action. In fact, the vast majority of professional journals have also made this transition in the last few years. In concert with Rus stepping down from his journal position, our publisher, Psychology Press, has asked that we reconfigure TCN's editorial structure to resemble the apparently dominant version already adopted by many professional journals, precisely in response to the need for a streamlined and nimble action-oriented editorial system. Therefore, as TCN begins its 25th year of publication in 2011, we will be transitioning to a different administrative structure, with an editor-in-chief who collaborates with and relies on a small group of action editors, each of whom has the title Associate Editor. In so doing, TCN will have moved from two action editors to four or possibly five action editors. TCN will continue to rely on special section editors, book review editor, and continuing education (CE) coordinator. The current consulting editor board will be enlarged and will continue to be integrally involved in the process of manuscript reviews in the same fashion as in years past. Specific personnel assignments and related procedural changes will be identified in issue 1 of next year's volume.