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Editor's Note

Looking Back, Sprinting Forward

Looking Back, Sprinting Forward by  Nicole M. Freund

My journey with the Global Journal began in 2015 as it was changing its publishing home from the University of North Carolina to Wichita State University. My first job was finding a way to track submissions and peer reviews. I thought that would be an easy job: submissions come in, peer review requests go out, reviews come in . . . Yeah, turns out it is not that straightforward. The amount of time it takes to shepherd an article from the moment it comes to us to the moment it is posted in an issue was eye-opening and continues to be an area that the editorial team strives to improve. When everything is done manually without the benefit of automated systems, time becomes our biggest resource and our biggest burden. It is like calculating ANOVAs by hand: sure you learn a lot, and yes you have a lot of control, but yikes it’s time consuming. And for a while, that was all I could think about: the nitty gritty of logistics. It was not until I started being more integrally involved in publishing decisions that I began to fully understand  and appreciate the unique niche the Global Journal held. The different kinds of content, the focus on the practice of community psychology, the emphasis on pragmatic solutions, the value placed on voices that might not otherwise get the opportunity to be heard, all of these led me to understand how very special this publication is and how unbelievably lucky I was to be a part of it.

 

The first issue of the Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice was published on January 16, 2010, and while this issue missed that date by a couple weeks, we are absolutely thrilled to share this 10th anniversary issue with our readers. It encapsulates everything the Journal is: original articles, tools, videos, and some extra bonus material (a roundup of popular content and historical perspectives about where the Journal started and how far it has come). Readers will also notice some updating to website itself with refreshed pictures, wider aspect, the ability to share articles from each page, and a fun 10th Anniversary graphic. Over the course of the year we will be sharing on social media the reflections of those who are connected to the Journal, and we invite additional reflections about what the GJCPP has meant to readers and others over the last 10 years as well as what they would like to see in the next decade.

 

As I reflect on my five years with the Journal, the last eight months as editor, I am immensely grateful for the opportunities to see the work of so many, to have had the privilege of working with guest editors whose passion and intellectual approaches are inspiring, and to learn more about the world and communities we inhabit. The Global Journal is special for many reasons, but also because it is a community itself that is giving and wise. Wherever the next decade takes this publication, those who have been a part of it (editors, contributors, funders, helpers, reviewers, and others) will have the indelible mark of participating in something special and important in the world. Thanks for being on that journey with us.

 

Be Well,
Nicole

 


Author(s)

Nicole M. Freund Nicole M. Freund

Nicole Freund, MA, MBA, PhD
Editor, Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice
Research Scientist, Center for Applied Research and Evaluation
Community Engagement Institute
Wichita State University
editor@gjcpp.org

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