The BJPIR editorial team would like to draw all PSA News readers’ attention to the first issue of BJPIR in 2014, available here. In the view of the QUB editorial team, this is one of the most impressive issues in terms of the breadth and depth of the scholarship on display.
The team are keen to attract submissions from PSA members and as one of the PSA’s premier house journals they hope that you will consider BJPIR as an outlet for your very best scholarship. BJPIR will be active at this year’s PSA conference with a BJPIR sponsored panel on ‘Post-Crash Economic Governance’ and a drinks reception as a thank you to all of those who have reviewed for the journal over the years, and/or authored articles for the journal.
The team would also to take this opportunity to reflect on the identity of the journal and how it has continued to evolve under QUB editorship. The journal started fifteen years ago in 1999, as the inspiration of Dave Marsh to be ‘an outlet for the best of British political science and of political science on Britain’. Since that time, and while the British element has remained a core part of journal identity, the journal has evolved and broadened somewhat. In particular, the team have tried to extend the international focus, reach and appeal of the journal, partly by expanding and encouraging the international relations side of the journal, last year running an IR virtual issue. BJPIR even featured in the International Relations JCR subject category of the Thomson Reuters citation index, as well as the Politics subject category, with various rankings at 19, 34 and 41 in International Relations.
BJPIR also carry pieces that are genuinely theoretically and methodologically innovative in areas such as political theory, political economy, comparative politics and public policy, with the aim of showcasing the best scholarship in these areas irrespective of geographical location or focus. BJPIR has over the years displayed particular strengths in areas such as electoral, party and parliamentary politics, foreign policy, the British state and constitutional issues, the theme of differentiated and multi-level polities, political economy (particularly post crash political economy), celebrity and cultural politics, ‘identity, security and migration’, and we have tried to cultivate and contribute to debates on qualitative methodologies. This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give readers a flavour of the broad based nature of a journal that is topical, contemporary and policy relevant, as well as having the highest scholarly standards.
The Queen’s editorship will come to an end in 2015, and so the issue of the future direction of BJPIR should be of interest to all PSA members. The call for proposals for a new editorial team will soon be issued, so if you have a view on BJPIR and its future, one way to bring that to fruition would be to apply to edit the journal. The Queen’s team wishes to emphasise that editing BJPIR has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience, and we would encourage anyone seeking to contribute to our field to apply for a position on the next team.
