Editorial
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X20957129 |
| Author | Liz Gould,Carol Quadrelli,Bronwyn Rossingh |
| Published date | 01 September 2020 |
| Date | 01 September 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1035719X20957129
Evaluation Journal of Australasia
2020, Vol. 20(3) 125 –128
© The Author(s) 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1035719X20957129
journals.sagepub.com/home/evj
Editorial
Carol Quadrelli, Bronwyn Rossingh
and Liz Gould
Welcome to our third issue for the year. Our breaking news is that we have reached yet
another significant milestone. The transition to SAGE in 2018 increased readership
and international presence, thereby elevating the journal’s recognition, prestige and
influence that has resulted in its ranking in two SCImago categories – ‘Development’
and ‘Sociology and Political Science’.
This latest ranking provides yet another added incentive for authors to choose the
Evaluation Journal of Australasia (EJA) to publish their work. The EJA provides a
strong conduit for evaluators to share and benchmark good evaluation practices, con-
tributing to a multi-context evidence-based platform.
We also welcome two assistant editors to the EJA team, Dr Jeffery Adams and PhD
candidate Ms Kylie Kingston.
Channelling the 2019 AES International Evaluation Conference subtheme, ‘evalu-
ation can be a gift with the potential to strengthen the lives of individuals and com-
munities’ (AES 2019 International Evaluation Conference, 2019), this issue focuses
on providing insights at macro and micro levels that evaluators can integrate into their
practice and expand their evaluation toolkit.
The first gift, ‘Evaluation in the age of evidence-based policymaking: Promises,
pitfalls and paths forward’, is an updated version of Professor Gary VanLandingham’s
AES 2019 International Conference keynote address. This article provides a macro
perspective on evaluation-based policy-making (EBP) and draws on the author’s
extensive experience in policy analysis and programme evaluation and a plethora of
publications on EBP, cost–benefit analysis, programme evaluation and policy analy-
sis, and government transparency.
VanLandingham provides a comprehensive overview of the rise of EBP and exam-
ines four primary factors integral to this rise and further identifies, and engages with,
the ‘critical challenges’ facing EBP. The author provides salient points on the barriers
in accessing the ‘evidence pipeline’ and absences (such as context specificity and les-
sons learnt). Ruminating on future pathways, VanLandingham proposes an action plan
for those in the evaluation field that would ‘plug the leaks in the evidence pipeline’ and
advocates a set of strategies to optimise the potential of EBP. VanLandingham’s macro
perspective ‘gift-wraps’ the three practice papers that nestle within this issue and tran-
sitions the reader to micro-level perspectives.
957129EVJ0010.1177/1035719X20957129Evaluation Journal of AustralasiaQuadrelli et al.
editorial2020
To continue reading
Request your trial