- Email: [email protected]
Behavior Therapy Moves Into the Future
Behavior Therapy 37 (2006) 1 – 2
www.elsevier.com/locate/bt
Behavior Therapy Moves Into the Future Richard G. Heimberg, Temple University
G REETINGS AND WELCOME TO the first issue of Volume 37 of Behavior Therapy, the first issue to be published under my editorship. I am honored to serve as the 10th editor, following in the footsteps of a group of luminaries, many of whom I call mentor, others I fondly call friend. Cyril Franks, Alan Kazdin, David Barlow, Edward Blanchard, Edward Craighead, Lizette Peterson, Frank Andrasik, Gayle Beck, and David Haaga have helped to shape this journal and make it into one that is highly valued by empirical clinicians of many different stripes. I only hope that I can keep Behavior Therapy on the same positive course. Former editor Frank Andrasik, in his opening editorial (Andrasik, 1996), noted that when the first issue arrives in the hands of the readers, the editorial team has already been at work for over a year. This is simply the nature of editorial transitions. I want to express my gratitude to previous editor David Haaga, who provided me with much needed advice and counsel as I took the reins. It is also with pleasure that I can say that David left me with enough manuscripts to fill this first issue and much of the next one, and there are few greater kindnesses that one editor can do for the next. Thanks, David. As editor, I am the person with “the buck stops here” sign sitting on my desk. It is the job of editor to assure that the quality of the product is first-rate. By that, I mean that the best possible papers come to the journal, that they find their way through the review process in a timely manner and with a minimum of problems, that a reasonable number of them are accepted for publication, that the time interval from acceptance to publication is minimal, and that authors do not view the review process as overly burdensome (hopefully less so than if they had chosen to submit their work elsewhere). How does the editor accomplish these goals? First and 0005-7894/06/001–002$1.00/0 © 2006 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
foremost, the editor selects top-notch associate editorial team members, who, along with me, process manuscripts and make the editorial decisions about manuscripts submitted to the journal. I am pleased to introduce to you my team of associate editors, and I suspect their names are not unfamiliar to you. First is Thomas Ollendick of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Past President of our Association and a former journal editor himself, Tom is known the world over for his ground-breaking work in the study and treatment of children and youth with anxiety disorders and more generally as an outstanding child clinician. Second is Mark Sobell of Nova Southeastern University, widely known and respected for his work in the study of the nature and treatment of alcohol problems, and who also brings substantial editorial experience to the table. Third is Allison Harvey of the University of California at Berkeley, who brings great energy, wisdom, and experience in a number of different areas, including traumatic stress, insomnia, depression, comorbidity, and transdiagnostic issues in assessment and treatment. Space does not permit me the opportunity to introduce the individual members of the editorial board, but, of course, they too are an outstanding group whose input and vision are not only important to the processing of specific manuscripts but also to the direction that Behavior Therapy will take over the next few years. They were invited to serve on the editorial board or continue on from the board established by David Haaga because they share a number of important characteristics: (a) they believe that it is an honor to serve, (b) they have a demonstrated track record of timely completion of reviews for this journal or others, whether as a member of the editorial board or as an ad hoc reviewer, (c) they are expert in research design and ethical issues in the conduct of research as well as their own specific area of research, and (d) they provide detailed reviews that are constructively
2
heimberg
useful to both the action editors and the authors of the manuscripts. It is not sufficient to send a manuscript to someone who is expert in the particular area unless that person also meets these specifications. This was brought home to me a number of years ago when as associate editor of another journal, I received a review of a manuscript from a prominent person in the area of research. The review in its entirety read “Stupid study!” It took about 6 months to get this review. During my editorship, the editorial team will take a specific approach to working with authors. It is typical instruction to associate editors and consulting editors to take a positive tone and include commentary that authors find useful in improving the manuscript or informing their future research efforts. This is all to the good and will certainly be our policy. However, this is not enough to get the best research published. An environment must be created in any journal in which authors believe they have a shot at getting their work published if they produce high-quality work and that they will not have to make excessive revisions to already good pieces of work. My experience with Behavior Therapy is that too many good papers are rejected. These are the very good but imperfect papers, which, when rejected by Behavior Therapy, lead the author to go elsewhere and to reconsider Behavior Therapy as a submission target the next time around. These papers are often groundbreaking and focus on newer areas of research or in areas related to diversity, and they are papers that the editor of Behavior Therapy should want to publish. It is important to cultivate an atmosphere of working together with these authors to get the best from them and to realize that not all manuscripts must be perfect in order to make an important contribution to the field. It is also important that authors be as happy as possible about the review process at the end of the day. Although many papers will still fall below the bar, that is the goal we have set for ourselves and one that we will work every day to attain. Several kinds of papers will be published in Behavior Therapy, and it is my hope that you will send your best papers to us. Of course, our mainstay is and will continue to be empirical reports on any aspect of the cognitive and behavioral therapies, related forms of assessment, or theoretically consistent explorations of the many different types of psychopathology and human problems which cognitive and behavioral therapists confront on a daily basis. Methodological and theoretical papers as well as evaluative reviews of the literature will also be published. Controlled case studies, singlesubject designs, and clinical replication series are welcome, as are letters to the editor concerning
issues raised in manuscripts previously published in Behavior Therapy. In addition, we will publish a number of special issues or sections on topics of import to the field. Some of these will be generated by the editorial team, but we welcome suggestions or proposals at any time from all of our readers. Please forward suggestions to me, and a dialogue about the proposed topic can begin. This is very important, I think, because an involved readership is a happy readership. Several changes have taken effect since I became editor-elect in February of 2005. At that time, we initiated on-line submission and processing of manuscripts, using the Journals Back Office (JBO) software system made available to us by the American Psychological Association. This was a great step forward for Behavior Therapy (and our sister journal Cognitive and Behavioral Practice), which had lagged behind other journals in making adjustments to the forward movement of technology and how it affects our usage of products like published journal articles. In October of 2005, another very significant move was made, as the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies signed a contract with Elsevier. Now Behavior Therapy (as well as Cognitive and Behavioral Practice) will not only have electronic submission and manuscript processing, but papers will also be available on-line at no extra cost to members. This is a critical development for those of us who spend our days working in cyberspace. But most importantly, we retain control over the content of Behavior Therapy, both now and into the future. I look forward with great eagerness to continuing my work as editor of Behavior Therapy and to working with the associate editors and the members of the editorial board in the years to come. I also look forward to continued work with several key figures in the association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies: Mary Jane Eimer, Executive Director; David Teisler, Director of Publications; Stephanie Schwartz, Managing Editor; Judy Favell, Publications Coordinator; and the Publications Committee. These are the behind-the-scenes people who make things happen for the journal and the association. I also welcome your questions, comments, and words of advice about Behavior Therapy at any time (behavior. [email protected]). Let the process begin! Reference Andrasik, F. (1996). Again, from the top. Behavior Therapy, 27, 1−3. R E C E I V E D : December 21, 2005 A C C E P T E D : December 21, 2005 Available online 21 Febuary 2006
www.elsevier.com/locate/bt
Behavior Therapy Moves Into the Future Richard G. Heimberg, Temple University
G REETINGS AND WELCOME TO the first issue of Volume 37 of Behavior Therapy, the first issue to be published under my editorship. I am honored to serve as the 10th editor, following in the footsteps of a group of luminaries, many of whom I call mentor, others I fondly call friend. Cyril Franks, Alan Kazdin, David Barlow, Edward Blanchard, Edward Craighead, Lizette Peterson, Frank Andrasik, Gayle Beck, and David Haaga have helped to shape this journal and make it into one that is highly valued by empirical clinicians of many different stripes. I only hope that I can keep Behavior Therapy on the same positive course. Former editor Frank Andrasik, in his opening editorial (Andrasik, 1996), noted that when the first issue arrives in the hands of the readers, the editorial team has already been at work for over a year. This is simply the nature of editorial transitions. I want to express my gratitude to previous editor David Haaga, who provided me with much needed advice and counsel as I took the reins. It is also with pleasure that I can say that David left me with enough manuscripts to fill this first issue and much of the next one, and there are few greater kindnesses that one editor can do for the next. Thanks, David. As editor, I am the person with “the buck stops here” sign sitting on my desk. It is the job of editor to assure that the quality of the product is first-rate. By that, I mean that the best possible papers come to the journal, that they find their way through the review process in a timely manner and with a minimum of problems, that a reasonable number of them are accepted for publication, that the time interval from acceptance to publication is minimal, and that authors do not view the review process as overly burdensome (hopefully less so than if they had chosen to submit their work elsewhere). How does the editor accomplish these goals? First and 0005-7894/06/001–002$1.00/0 © 2006 Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
foremost, the editor selects top-notch associate editorial team members, who, along with me, process manuscripts and make the editorial decisions about manuscripts submitted to the journal. I am pleased to introduce to you my team of associate editors, and I suspect their names are not unfamiliar to you. First is Thomas Ollendick of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Past President of our Association and a former journal editor himself, Tom is known the world over for his ground-breaking work in the study and treatment of children and youth with anxiety disorders and more generally as an outstanding child clinician. Second is Mark Sobell of Nova Southeastern University, widely known and respected for his work in the study of the nature and treatment of alcohol problems, and who also brings substantial editorial experience to the table. Third is Allison Harvey of the University of California at Berkeley, who brings great energy, wisdom, and experience in a number of different areas, including traumatic stress, insomnia, depression, comorbidity, and transdiagnostic issues in assessment and treatment. Space does not permit me the opportunity to introduce the individual members of the editorial board, but, of course, they too are an outstanding group whose input and vision are not only important to the processing of specific manuscripts but also to the direction that Behavior Therapy will take over the next few years. They were invited to serve on the editorial board or continue on from the board established by David Haaga because they share a number of important characteristics: (a) they believe that it is an honor to serve, (b) they have a demonstrated track record of timely completion of reviews for this journal or others, whether as a member of the editorial board or as an ad hoc reviewer, (c) they are expert in research design and ethical issues in the conduct of research as well as their own specific area of research, and (d) they provide detailed reviews that are constructively
2
heimberg
useful to both the action editors and the authors of the manuscripts. It is not sufficient to send a manuscript to someone who is expert in the particular area unless that person also meets these specifications. This was brought home to me a number of years ago when as associate editor of another journal, I received a review of a manuscript from a prominent person in the area of research. The review in its entirety read “Stupid study!” It took about 6 months to get this review. During my editorship, the editorial team will take a specific approach to working with authors. It is typical instruction to associate editors and consulting editors to take a positive tone and include commentary that authors find useful in improving the manuscript or informing their future research efforts. This is all to the good and will certainly be our policy. However, this is not enough to get the best research published. An environment must be created in any journal in which authors believe they have a shot at getting their work published if they produce high-quality work and that they will not have to make excessive revisions to already good pieces of work. My experience with Behavior Therapy is that too many good papers are rejected. These are the very good but imperfect papers, which, when rejected by Behavior Therapy, lead the author to go elsewhere and to reconsider Behavior Therapy as a submission target the next time around. These papers are often groundbreaking and focus on newer areas of research or in areas related to diversity, and they are papers that the editor of Behavior Therapy should want to publish. It is important to cultivate an atmosphere of working together with these authors to get the best from them and to realize that not all manuscripts must be perfect in order to make an important contribution to the field. It is also important that authors be as happy as possible about the review process at the end of the day. Although many papers will still fall below the bar, that is the goal we have set for ourselves and one that we will work every day to attain. Several kinds of papers will be published in Behavior Therapy, and it is my hope that you will send your best papers to us. Of course, our mainstay is and will continue to be empirical reports on any aspect of the cognitive and behavioral therapies, related forms of assessment, or theoretically consistent explorations of the many different types of psychopathology and human problems which cognitive and behavioral therapists confront on a daily basis. Methodological and theoretical papers as well as evaluative reviews of the literature will also be published. Controlled case studies, singlesubject designs, and clinical replication series are welcome, as are letters to the editor concerning
issues raised in manuscripts previously published in Behavior Therapy. In addition, we will publish a number of special issues or sections on topics of import to the field. Some of these will be generated by the editorial team, but we welcome suggestions or proposals at any time from all of our readers. Please forward suggestions to me, and a dialogue about the proposed topic can begin. This is very important, I think, because an involved readership is a happy readership. Several changes have taken effect since I became editor-elect in February of 2005. At that time, we initiated on-line submission and processing of manuscripts, using the Journals Back Office (JBO) software system made available to us by the American Psychological Association. This was a great step forward for Behavior Therapy (and our sister journal Cognitive and Behavioral Practice), which had lagged behind other journals in making adjustments to the forward movement of technology and how it affects our usage of products like published journal articles. In October of 2005, another very significant move was made, as the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies signed a contract with Elsevier. Now Behavior Therapy (as well as Cognitive and Behavioral Practice) will not only have electronic submission and manuscript processing, but papers will also be available on-line at no extra cost to members. This is a critical development for those of us who spend our days working in cyberspace. But most importantly, we retain control over the content of Behavior Therapy, both now and into the future. I look forward with great eagerness to continuing my work as editor of Behavior Therapy and to working with the associate editors and the members of the editorial board in the years to come. I also look forward to continued work with several key figures in the association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies: Mary Jane Eimer, Executive Director; David Teisler, Director of Publications; Stephanie Schwartz, Managing Editor; Judy Favell, Publications Coordinator; and the Publications Committee. These are the behind-the-scenes people who make things happen for the journal and the association. I also welcome your questions, comments, and words of advice about Behavior Therapy at any time (behavior. [email protected]). Let the process begin! Reference Andrasik, F. (1996). Again, from the top. Behavior Therapy, 27, 1−3. R E C E I V E D : December 21, 2005 A C C E P T E D : December 21, 2005 Available online 21 Febuary 2006