As part of our strategic review for IGS, we have recently updated our regional assistant editor (RAE) board and international editorial board (IEB). We would like to extend our sincere thanks to current regional assistant editors coming to the end of their period of appointment for their contributions and support: Jim Cosgrave, Rachel Volberg and Doug Walker. The international editorial board is also being refreshed, with some long-standing members also being replaced: Max Abbott, Jeffrey Derevensky, David Hodgins, David Miers and Nigel Turner. These individuals have all served the IEB for many years and have made an enormous contribution to IGS, and our appreciation is extended to them.
There are several reasons for making the decision to update the RAE and IEB boards. We appointed additional RAEs for the three-year term of office in response to the growing number of submissions to be managed. We have elected to reduce the burden of work on a group who have already contributed so much to the journal, but, importantly, also considered the need to recognize the contribution of emerging and established researchers in the gambling field who have not previously been involved with IGS. This move provides an opportunity for researchers to gain experience, skills and a capacity to strengthen their CVs, as well as for established, senior researchers to contribute to the field through editorial service. We hope that our new and existing RAE and IEB board members will share their expertise and assist the editors in our continued goal to increase the quality and value of IGS’s contribution to the field of gambling research.
We were very pleased by the large number of solid applications we received for the RAE positions and thank all those who applied. It was a difficult decision to make, but we aimed to create a well-rounded RAE board including mid-career and senior researchers from across international jurisdictions. It is increasingly important that our RAEs represent a range of disciplines with broad expertise, due to the increase in submissions from various research fields. Details of the updated boards are available on the IGS website.
We would also like to extend our thanks to all those who have provided manuscript peer reviews for IGS. This is a crucial contribution to IGS, and is a highly important but often unrecognized task. We are happy to provide documentation for regular reviewers outlining their contribution if this would be useful in demonstrating your track record and contribution to the field.
The aims of IGS remain to be a leading voice in the gambling research field and publish high-quality, innovative research from the many disciplines that contribute to this area. We aim to advance excellence in the field through empirical as well as conceptual and applied research that make novel and substantial progressions to the knowledge and understanding of gambling. As an international journal, it is important that all papers be discussed in a global context. As a multidisciplinary journal, we are not bound to a single set of reporting standards; however, we aim to ensure that researchers across multiple disciplines can comprehend published articles and, thus, translate findings beyond a single speciality.
In addition to publishing high-quality and highly innovative research, IGS can be an outlet for debate and discussion of relevant and topical issues. IGS aims to facilitate an informed, respectful, constructive and evidence-based collaborative discourse across the broad gambling field. Transparency is always important for the legitimacy of the field. Editors and regional assistant editors have published conflict of interest statements. Peer reviewers are ask to disclose any potential conflicts of interest and authors are required to include statements regarding funding for research, involvement of funding bodies, and constraints on publication, as well as any potential conflicts of interest, including financial and non-financial relationships. Our blind peer-review system involving peer reviewers, regional assistant editors, and editors and is designed to reduce any individual bias, identify issues that may compromise research quality and publish only those papers that make a substantial, new contribution to the field. Members of the RAE board can only view those manuscripts they are assigned to, and any RAEs or editors who submit manuscripts as authors are blinded from the editorial process.
All manuscripts considered for publication must meet minimal ethics requirements. We understand that standards for ethical conduct of research differ between disciplines, jurisdictions and institutions. All authors of empirical papers are required to provide details of formal approval from an official human research ethics committee. If this is not possible, researchers are required to document the ethical considerations and processes applied in the research. All empirical papers must include a statement outlining these ethical processes. It is essential that published research be conducted by appropriate ethical standards, which can be facilitated through existing ethical standards in the research community.
We are very pleased to have received personal feedback from many contributors to IGS regarding the increased perception and standing of IGS in the field. We are very privileged to be able to continue serving as editors of IGS and thank all readers, authors, and those involved in the editorial and peer-review process for your ongoing support.