Editorial

Dear readers,

Welcome to the sixth and final issue of IAPA in 2023. This year the journal has published 29 full research articles, 14 letters, one book review, one professional practice paper and seven editorials. We had one special issue on ‘‘environmental/impact assessment simplification’ and concluded the second half of the special issue on ‘advancing the consideration of ecological connectivity in environmental assessment’. The contributions have come from around 146 authors, and the representation has maintained a global spread including European countries, North and South America, Africa and Asia. Although I take a certain pride to report that IAPA is the only international English language peer reviewed journal, which is fully dedicated to IA, this also raises some concerns for the IA community. As it has been said within the context of personal development that ‘the highest level of maturity is interdependence’, this can be translated within the context of IA-related development too. Hence, as we continue to pave the way for the growth of this journal while maintaining the focus and the global spread, we are conscious that our contribution towards the discipline needs to engage with the wider community and a wider group of journals. In the coming IAIA 2024 Conference in Dublin, I look forward to engaging with our IAIA Community and inviting other IA-related journal editors as well to enhance cross fertilization of ideas.

In this issue, we have five full journal articles and one professional practice paper included, written by a total of 21 authors. It is also interesting to note the widespread of IA types that have been considered in these articles. The first paper focuses specifically on mental health impact assessment and its potential as a tool in influencing policy decision-making for criminal legal system reforms. The second paper from Thailand looks into the public participation process within environmental impact assessment and develops a framework for conducting stakeholder analysis. The third paper is from Sweden and is based on the experiences and reflections of experts and practitioners, exploring how social impact assessment is managed and handled within the context of the planning process in major infrastructure investments in the country. The next paper is set within the context of Brazil and studies the factors that are likely to influence the quality of regulatory impact assessment. The focus of the fifth paper in this issue is on health impact assessment. This article especially explores opportunities that can help in the promotion of the tool, which can be then translated into concrete actions. Finally we have a professional practice paper from Spain, which discusses case studies of environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental assessment and how their boundaries may be unclear in practice. The paper further explores the role that regulation and planning can play in supporting these uncertain boundaries.

Enjoy reading!