Reflections on the first year

In my first editorial a year ago I outlined a vision for Area (Ward, 2010). I did this shortly after taking on the role of editor. A year later, and with more of a feel for the journal, I want to reflect on some of the changes in Area over the last twelve months which are moving us towards realising this vision, and to make a number of pleas about the journal's immediate future. First, Louise Bracken (Durham University) has been replaced by Paul Wood (Loughborough University) as the Physical and Environmental Co-Editor of Area. In her five years in the post Louise did a great job. She brought an immense enthusiasm and energy to the post, and managed to do her bit to ensure that Area delivers on its brief to publish ‘ground breaking geographical research and scholarship across the field of geography.’ We only overlapped by a year, but in that short space of time I realised quite how much Louise had done for the journal (and how much fun she was to work with). All of which leaves Paul with a hard act to follow! However, and despite being only a few months into the job, he has begun to make some changes behind the scenes and I am confident that he will do an excellent job, building on the good work of Louise (and her predecessor, Professor Heather Viles). This is important if Area is going to continue to publish work from both human and physical geographers. Second, we are in the process of assembling an editorial board. I indicated this was an objective in my first editorial (Ward, 2010). This is a new departure for the journal. I don't believe in editorial boards for the sake of them. They, and those that serve on them, need a clear brief. So, this year Jurgen Essletzbichler (University College London) and Mark Whitehead (Aberystwyth University) have joined with me and Paul as members of the fledgling Area editorial board. Jurgen is a Senior Lecturer with research interests in evolutionary economic geography, political economy and the relationship between regional economic growth, volatility, resilience and inequality. He has also edited the latest Virtual Issue around the theme of ‘Inequality, poverty and social exclusion’, which is available online at http://www.rgs.org/AreaVirtual. Mark, the new Reviews Editor (see below), is a Reader with research interests in urban and environmental politics and the political geographies of nature. The next twelve months will see others join with us, in order that we can achieve a sustainable balance between the day to day editorial work and the more strategic objectives of the journal. Third, the on-line presence of Area– together with its sister journals, The Geographical Journal and Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers– has changed. There is now a new web platform at http://www.rgs.org/Area. At present this new interface allows us to profile published papers, and those that are accepted but not yet in print (Early View). There are also highlight and news sections, and I believe there is scope to enhance these sections further in the future, taking advantage of a range of technological facilities, and further enhancing the impact of the work published. Fourth, we are streamlining the Observations and Commentaries sections. While they appear to have started with clearly different remits, a cursory glance back over a number of years reveals a not inconsiderable overlap between the two. From 2011 onwards Area will publish only Commentaries. While the journal is open to all sorts of interventions, we will be encouraging three types in particular: those that respond to the contributions of a previously published paper, those that have something to say about the state of the discipline – in the UK but also in other places in the world – and those that seek to intervene in debates beyond the academy and the place (or absence of) geographers. Fifth, the journal is revisiting the place of book reviews in the journal. We will continue to publish reviews of single books and Area will also now solicit reviews of non-academic publications, such as those produced by local, national and supra-national agencies of various sorts and those aimed at different audiences. Indeed our first one – two reviews cum interventions on MINDSPACE. Influencing behaviour through public policy (Dolan et al. 2010) – will be published later this year. This change is premised on the understanding that academic books do not have the monopoly on the sorts of geographical knowledge that might be of interest to the readers of this journal. The journal will also increasingly solicit longer single contributor reviews of multiple academic books and multi-contributor reviews of single academic books. For example, last year Area published a set of reviews of Avril Maddrell's Complex Locations: Women's Geographical Work in the UK 1850–1970 (Ward et al. 2010) and in this issue we have published a Forum on David Featherstone's (2010) Resistance, Space and Political Identities: The Making of Counter-Global Networks (see Hasty et al. 2011). In amongst all these changes, there is much that remains the same about Area. The journal continues to publish theoretically informed empirical studies of 5000 words. It remains open to publishing work from across the discipline. It is particularly supportive of those with less experience in getting their work published in academic journals. After all, even the great and good had a first paper that they needed to get published! Finally, please indulge me as I sign off my second editorial with a number of pleas. First, remember what is meant by an Area paper. Whatever its theoretical orientation, methodological position or empirical basis, it must be making a contribution to the latest thinking in geography. The journal's aims use words such as ‘cutting edge’ and ‘groundbreaking’. Those words are not used lightly. They reflect the standards that I expect as Editor. Area papers may be shorter than many of those published in other geography journals, but that does not mean we do not expect them to meet the very highest of intellectual standards. We do. Second, a growing number of us seem to need more words to outline our work. There has been a gradual but noticeable growth in the number of papers that are submitted over the 5000 word length. So, my second plea is for all of you submitting papers to the journal to stick to the word limit – period! Third, for early researchers, consider Area as a possible outlet for not only your methods paper but also your substantial and theoretical interventions. I am afraid that in my first year in post I have seen too many hastily submitted PhD methods chapters. The same guidelines apply to methods papers as to other papers: they must ‘develop the intellectual status of Geography’. Which leads me almost seamlessly to congratulate the 2010 Area Prize Winner, David Bassens, for his co-authored paper ‘Searching for the Mecca of finance: Islamic financial services and the world city network’. This is a classic Area paper – innovative and strong across the board, adding value empirically, methodologically and theoretically. I also want to add honourable mentions to the papers by Neil Jennings (with Mike Hulme) (2010) and Francesca Moore (2010). Fourth, for more established researchers, do continue to think of Area as an outlet for your work. You don't have to be at the beginning of your career to publish in the journal, or to value a quick turnaround time and the virtues of Early View! My fifth and final plea is to physical geographers. Area retains its commitment to publish geography of all varieties. If you are a physical geographer please do consider the journal as an outlet for your research. Paul will be leading on this front, but I want just to reiterate my commitment to publishing physical geography in this journal. I will end this editorial by thanking all of you who have reviewed papers for the journal during my first year. Last year I made mention of this (Ward 2010). It is not to exaggerate to note that Area would not function without your labour, so thank you

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• Searching for the Mecca of finance

  Open Access•David Bassens, Ben Derudder et al.•Area•2010

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• Tales from the archive

  Open Access•Francesca Moore, Francesca P L Moore•Area•2010

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• Stories of resistence and connection

  Open Access•William Hasty•Area•2011

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• UK newspaper (mis)representations of the potential for a collapse of the Thermohaline Circulation

  Open Access•Neil Jennings, M Hulme•Area•2010

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• Complex locations

  Open Access•Kelly Ward, Kevin Ward et al.•Area•2010

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