European Journal of International Relations March issue: From the Editors
| Author | Geoffrey Underhill |
| Published date | 01 March 2018 |
| Date | 01 March 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1354066118758241 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1354066118758241
European Journal of
International Relations
2018, Vol. 24(1) 3 –7
© The Author(s) 2018
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/1354066118758241
journals.sagepub.com/home/ejt
E
JR
I
European Journal of
International Relations March
issue: From the Editors
All great journals evolve and change over time. This is a function of the progress of aca-
demic enquiry and technique, of a changing world around us, yet also of changes in the
Editorship. As of 1 January 2018, a newly appointed Editorial team based at the
University of Amsterdam took up the reins of the European Journal of International
Relations. We, as Editors, consider it a privilege to serve the association memberships of
the Standing Group on International Relations of the European Consortium for Political
Research and of the European International Studies Association, alongside the global
scholarly International Relations (IR) community beyond. We also very much look for-
ward to working with Sage in London, who have been the custodian publishers of this
journal since its inception in 1995. Lastly, the real ‘curator’ of the journal, Managing
Editor Ben Scandrett, will stay on and continue to correct our faults and keep us on
schedule in the service of the readership, authors and reviewers. We were all particularly
pleased to have him aboard the newly registered Amsterdam vessel. Meanwhile, a new
Editorial Committee is steadily being established, with some familiar names as well as
an important element of renewal.
Our first responsibility as new Editors is to pay honour and tribute to the outgoing
editorial team from the University of Sussex, headed by Professor Beate Jahn. They
have taken this journal where no European ‘general IR’ journal has been before. Under
their stewardship, submissions to the journal have grown by over 100 a year, all while
they greatly reduced turnaround time. The impact factor and ranking have taken an even
more impressive jump: by 2016, when we bid for the journal, the ranking was an intimi-
dating 4/86! The journal’s reputation and current impact factor (five year: 2.702) have
all risen, leaving the new arrivals with a daunting record to duplicate or improve upon.
Our next duty is to introduce ourselves to the readership and global IR community of
scholarship. Over time, the IR community based in political science at the University of
Amsterdam (UvA) has become one of the largest and most diverse in Europe, and many
of our colleagues from other departments in our interdisciplinary research home and
sponsor of the journal, the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR),
are also engaged in pursuits related to global politics and society. What we hope to do for
the journal is very much based on this wonderful community of scholars around us,
which eschews dogmatic collective adherence to any particular approach or method. Our
closeness to political science and the other social sciences ensures that we are fully aware
of the roots of things ‘global’ in more national and local processes. As Editors, we eschew
758241EJT0010.1177/1354066118758241European Journal of International RelationsEditorial
editorial2018
Editorial
To continue reading
Request your trial