The current volume of the Baltic Journal of Economics is the first one published in cooperation with Taylor & Francis/Routledge. The move from in-house production of the Journal to cooperation with a professional publisher is as natural step in the development of the Journal. In addition to bringing a new cover and a more reader-friendly layout, there are a number of less visible, but nevertheless important changes coming as a part of the new collaboration/cooperation.
We now have access to the Taylor & Francis platform for submission and editorial management that will increase the efficiency of the review process. Furthermore, the Journal is fully Open Access which means that all published articles are available electronically to anyone immediately upon online publication. This will hopefully lead to an increase in the Journal's Impact Factor and hence its attractiveness as an outlet for high quality research.
Even though 2014 has been a year that has seen substantial changes in the Journal, the editorial mission remains the same, to publish original research with relevance to the Baltic States or transition economies in general. Measured in terms of submissions the interest for these topics seems to have increased. During the last three years we have handled more than 200 submissions with an acceptance rate of around 15%. Needless to say, this would not have been possible without the support of our Editorial Board and referees – their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.
The continued financial support from the two main benefactors of the Journal, the Anne Marie and Gustaf Anders Stiftelse för Medieforskning and the Bank of Latvia is also gratefully acknowledged. Thanks to this financial support, we will be able to partially cover the publication fees for a number of authors in the future.