New Editors’ Introduction

AuthorAndrew Goldsmith,Mark Halsey
DOI10.1177/0004865816687506
Published date01 March 2017
Date01 March 2017
Subject MatterEditorial
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2017, Vol. 50(1) 3–4
!The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865816687506
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New Editors’ Introduction
Andrew Goldsmith and Mark Halsey
Flinders University, Australia
We welcome the privilege of taking on the Editorial role of the Australian and
New Zealand Journal of Criminology (hereafter ANZJCRIM). In doing so, we want to
offer our sincere thanks to the previous Editors (Philip Stenning and Anna Stewart) and
their larger editorial team (particularly Fiona Saunders) for their dedication to the jour-
nal over the last four years.
In taking on the Editorship role, we think it is important to briefly state our priorities
for the journal over coming years. The current list of online articles is sufficient to fill the
hard copy of the journal until May 2018. Our vision for the medium- to long-term
direction of the journal—the quality and broad thematic focal points of each issue—will
therefore have to be tempered by the considerable stock of publications accepted to date.
Indeed, whether there is an argument to wind down and cease the production of the hard
copy is, to our minds, an important question. What, exactly, is the significance of the
hard copy in the digital age? If the journal is to continue in hard copy format, then one
idea will be to publish book reviews in soft copy only. This will permit at least some
additional space for refereed articles from year to year. That said, we aim to work
strategically to shape and further enhance the reputation of the journal.
One way is to focus on improving the journal’s international standing and ranking in
the Web of Science Journal Citation Reports. We recognize, of course, the range of views
surrounding journal rankings. But rankings are a reality and they matter—rankings have
consequences for academic and professional staffing as well as the quantum of research
funding (especially, but not only, from NCG sources) awarded to Australian scholars/
universities. In short, the quality of submissions that journals are consistently able to
attract is tied, more than ever, to rankings and associated one-year and five-year impact
factors (hereafter IF).
As at November 2016, ANZJCRIM ranked 41 out of 57 in the Criminology and
Penology category and had a one-year IF of 0.696 (meaning that after 12 months from
publication an article would be cited less than once). By comparison, Punishment and
Society ranked 30 with an IF of 0.833; European Journal of Criminology ranked 21 and
returned an IF of 1.305; Theoretical Criminology ranked 18 with an IF of 1.536; British
Journal of Criminology ranked 14 with an IF of 1.643; and Criminology ranked 2 of 57
with an IF of 4.7778. We are not suggesting that ANZJCRIM could approach the
ranking or IF of Criminology. But we believe there is scope to do better. Our goal,
over the next three to six years, is to have ANZJCRIM sitting within the top 30
Corresponding author:
Mark Halsey, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
Email: mark.halsey@flinders.edu.au

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