The Decades of AEP Survival: Changes are Afoot

Abstract

You may have already noticed some changes in the editorial structure of Australian Economic Papers. I have the privilege of taking over from Professor Mark Weder as Managing Editor of Australian Economic Papers. I take this opportunity to acknowledge Mark's tremendous contributions over his tenure under extremely difficult circumstances and am pleased to announce that he will continue to be involved, joining Professor Daniel Leonard in the important role of Co-Editor. With the journal in its 53rd year I am excited at the challenge of ensuring that Australian Economic Papers continues to be relevant and viable, publishing high-quality papers from leading Australian and international economists in a broad range of theoretical, empirical and policy topics. I hope that it will also provide a lively forum for scholarly debate. There has been some commentary about the journal appearing to be struggling and needing to compete for copy and contributions to ensure its survival. I acknowledge that the fortunes of the journal have waxed and waned over recent decades; however, Australian Economic Papers continues to publish high quality articles and has maintained its Level B ranking in the Australian Business Deans Council list. In addition, its Impact Factor increased in 2013. Unfortunately papers with no citations continue to be a challenge for Australian Economic Papers, however I am confident that as the journal is reinvigorated the Impact Factor will continue to increase. One of the features of the journal I would like to highlight is its global acceptance as a quality journal with a substantial increase in manuscripts being received from international authors. Traditionally, the journal has published high-quality papers from leading international economists in theoretical, empirical and policy economics. It offers a forum for debate between theorists, econometricians and policy analysts and covers an exceptionally wide range of topics. In recent years, in addition to all the major fields in economics, the journal has published papers in theoretical and empirical industrial organisation, theoretical and empirical labour economics and macro and micro policy analysis. As the new editor of the Journal, I intend to expand areas of Australian Economic Papers' focus to include high quality articles in the fields of Banking and Finance that use applied economics. This will ensure that the journal will sustain through the challenges facing economics journals in the second decade of the 21st Century and beyond. Further to these initiatives, in partnership with our publishers at Wiley I am also implementing a new electronic submission system to ensure that all authors are responded promptly, that their manuscripts are reviewed in a timely manner and that all aspects of the publication process are streamlined. Undoubtedly this will allow us to conduct proper monitoring of the submission and review process, thereby reducing the turnaround time between submission and publication of papers that are accepted. The journal has recently overcome the difficulties associated with key staff of the editorial office facing serious health issues. I am confident that the benefits of these administrative changes will quickly become apparent to everyone associated with Australian Economic Papers. I am excited at the changes we are making at the journal and hope that you will consider submitting your work to Australian Economic Papers again in the future. I am committed to the task of taking the journal successfully into the third decade of the 21st Century. The Editors particularly welcome innovative and thought-provoking contributions that work on and extend the frontiers of the subject.