Welcome to the New Year. I would like to wish each of you a very happy 2018. With this inaugural issue of the year for the Journal of Convention and Event Tourism 19(1) I would like to reflect on the past, present and future with regard to the journal.
Past
I can hardly believe that this journal released its first issue, 1(1), at the beginning of 1998: 20 years ago. The journal was established by Je'Anna Abbott with the help of Kaye Chon, both faculty at the University of Houston. The journal was entitled the Journal of Convention and Exhibition Management (JCET). There were 14 members on the editorial board and I was honored to be one of them. The stated aim of the journal was to “…improve our understanding of convention and exhibition management…” That original ‘aim’ has remained a core tenet of the journal through the present time. Four issues of the journal were published in the first year, albeit with issues 2 and 3 combined. Each issue contained between four and six articles that ranged in focus from empirical research to concept pieces, conference reports and book reviews.
Present
Over the 20 years since its inception, the focus of the journal has remained much the same: to enhance the knowledge of the meetings and events industry. The name of the journal was changed to the Journal of Convention and Event Tourism to reflect the broadened scope and mission of the journal. Along with myself as the Editor-in-Chief there are three Associate Editors, 43 members of the Editorial Board and over 100 ad-hoc reviewers. This significant increase has been driven by a doubling, every few years, of the number of manuscripts received. There are still four issues of the journal published each calendar year with four or five articles in each issue. However, due to the increased submission rate of original articles, JCET does not currently publish conference reports. The level or rigor is being maintained with between one in five and one in four original manuscripts ultimately accepted for publication. During the past number of years, no manuscript has been accepted on its first submission: all have undergone revisions. The current backlog of accepted manuscripts awaiting publication in hard copy is approximately one year. Fortunately, accepted articles are published on-line as soon as they are type-set, usually within one to two months of acceptance. Representatives of JCET continue to interface with numerous conferences including IMEX America, IMEX Frankfurt, Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Management, the Global Expo Summit, the International Conference on Events and others. The goal is to increase the visibility of JCET and to create a pipeline for the best conference papers to be considered for publication.
Future
The future for JCET is bright. With the increased submission rate and reader popularity, the publisher has decided to increase the number of issues from four to five per year and to increase the page count. This should decrease the lag time of published articles. There is also a structural change effective January 1, 2018. While I will remain Editor-in-Chief, current Associate Editor Amanda Cecil from IUPUI will move into the newly created position of Managing Editor. Jason Draper of the University of Houston will move from being on the Editorial Board to the Associate Editor position previously held by Amanda Cecil. David Pearlman of the University of New Orleans and Karin Weber of Hong Kong Polytechnic University will remain as Associate Editors. Readers of JCET are encouraged to volunteer to be ad-hoc reviewers; the first step in being named to the Editorial Board.
I hope you will continue to support JCET and I would like to encourage you and your peers to submit manuscripts for potential publication.