EIC Notes on AJPOR

EIC Notes on AJPOR

This issue of AJPOR introduces a new editorial team and some changes planned for AJPOR. But before introducing the changes, I must heartily thank Professor Takashi Inoguchi, the first AJPOR editor in chief who skillfully guided the development of AJPOR. Professor Inoguchi has provided AJPOR a strong foundation to build further successes. I also need to thank the editors, especially Professors Sung Kyum Cho and Jantima Kheokao for managing AJPOR and its website and to Sarah Prusoff LoCascio for managing its detailed daily activities. Of course, the authors and reviewers deserve praise for the interesting and important articles published in AJPOR.

This past February, a small workshop was held in Daejeon South Korea to discuss the future of AJPOR. From the workshop emerged a number of suggestions for AJPOR. While the vision for AJPOR will not change, the methods to attain its goals are changing. We recognize that the strong foundation provided by the first six years allows AJPOR to grow in multiple ways. However, it will require that editorial board, editors, reviewers, and authors make the changes happen.

We will have three goals for the next few years. Our first goal is to increase the number of articles authored by researchers from a wider variety of countries. AJPOR has published many articles written by researchers from China, South Korea, and Thailand. We know that high quality, informative public opinion research is being conducted throughout Asia, so we would like to include it in AJPOR. Public opinion research is important for many reasons in Asia but there are not any multi-national pan-Asian public opinion journals. AJPOR expects to fill that gap in the next few years.

Related to the first goal, AJPOR needs to publish more articles. I hope AJPOR can publish at least 20 articles, and ideally closer to 40 articles, each year. It is my impression that there are increasing levels of interest in public opinion research in Asia, and AJPOR is committed to making this research more easily accessible to scholars in many countries.

The third goal is to increase the diversity of public opinion research methods. Typically, public opinion research has been based on surveys and quantitative data analysis. Yet, many other methodologies can contribute to our understanding of public opinion. In particular, more studies using qualitative methods should be published. Focus groups and interviews are fine but perhaps ethnographies could help understand more about public opinion, especially as public opinion is created and changed in local areas. More quantitative public opinion research methods such as big data research, field studies, and survey experiments can be included in AJPOR.

In the next few issues, I will describe the goals more fully and how I hope we can achieve them.

The new structure of the AJPOR editorial team should help achieve these goals. Let me describe it. The editor in chief will be supported by an editorial board. The board will have three primary duties: 1) provide guidance on AJPOR policies to the editor in chief; 2) actively promote AJPOR in multiple countries; and 3) recruit articles for AJPOR. The five co-editors are responsible for recruiting reviewers and deciding if articles should be published in AJPOR. The managing editor will continue to be responsible for the day-to-day operations of AJPOR. AJPOR is fortunate to have committed and highly qualified people in all these positions.

I welcome input from AJPOR readers and hope to speak with many of you at the ANPOR conference. Please send me any comments or suggestions for AJPOR.

Biographical Note

John Kennedy directed the Indiana University Center for Survey Research for 24 years. He also directed the University of Hartford Institute of Social Research for two years and was employed at the US Census Bureau for four years. He earned a PhD in sociology from the Pennsylvania State University. Has been involved in the development of a number of professional journals and was the founding editor of Survey Practice, an e-journal published by the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He has also been actively involved in professional research ethics including chairing Indiana University Social Behavioral IRB for 12 years and he served on two committees that revised the American Sociological Associations Code of Ethics. He teaches a graduate course in Survey Design. He can be reached at Smith Research Center 123, 2805 E 10th St, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47408 or by e-mail at kennedyj@indiana.edu.