My Journey as Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Black Psychology

I remember exactly when I wanted to be the editor of the Journal of Black Psychology. In 1990, I was in my first year of doctoral studies in counseling psychology at Ball State University. My advisor, Dr Sharon Bowman, introduced me to the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) and I attended their first international meeting in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This meeting was pivotal in my awakening as an emerging Black psychologist and reinforced the focus of my scholarship on the psychological identity of Black people. I devoured the articles in JBP as well as faithfully read Psych Discourse, the ABPsi newsletter. Both fed my appetite of knowing more about the psyche of Black people. I do not recall meeting Dr Kathy Burlew, who was two years into her editorship. However, I do recall associating her with the journal and the magnificent work that she was doing in publishing the articles in JBP. I aspired to be that person. Despite that aspiration, there were other hurdles that I needed to get over: (a) completing my doctorate, (b) determining my career trajectory, and (c) just living post-doctoral degree. By 1993, I had accomplished completing the doctorate and started working (b) as a psychologist at the University of Notre Dame and (c) living in South Bend, Indiana.

Becoming the Editor of JBP

My trajectory toward becoming an editor was increased when I shifted my career toward academia by becoming an assistant professor at Penn State University. I have always loved research, especially quantitative research. I love the process and procedures, which when followed frees up the focus to be on the cultural contexts that are so necessary to conduct and interpret results. This world has always been easy for me, and I have embraced it through my research and involvement in the editorial process by reviewing for various journals. Ironically, I never reviewed for JBP. When reviewing for various journals, I have always received feedback for providing excellent reviews—being thorough at every aspect of the manuscript. However, I still had some hurdles to clear before setting my site on the editorship: (a) becoming tenured and (b) contributing to research through my work on the Cross Racial Identity Scale (Vandiver et al., 2000). Between the two, the process was a 10–15-year journey. I was totally immersed in the work and had forgotten about my early aspiration.

Two conversations returned my focus on becoming editor of JBP. One conversation was with Dr Kevin Cokley. Dr Cokley was serving as editor when we talked in 2015. He asked me whether I would consider serving as the editor of the journal. He has had a long tenure with the journal, first as a reviewer, then on the editorial board, and then as an associate editor. He was ready to step down as editor given his lengthy involvement with JBP. I was hesitant to consider this question as my immersion in research and balancing life had resulted in my stepping away from ABPsi as well as minimal involvement in any psychological association. I had not been truly involved for about a decade. Would I be accepted or considered for this position given my absence? The other conversation was with Dr William E. Cross, Jr, the developer of the original nigrescence model (Cross, 1971) and its revision (Cross, 1991) and expansion (Cross & Vandiver, 2001). As a mentor and collaborator, he queried my absence on the national scene beyond working on the CRIS. Dr Cross’s opinion has always mattered, and his query led me to do some soul searching. At that point, I realized the need to move forward: To fulfill my long-term aspiration while also raising my national service profile. Thus, in fall 2015, I applied for the editorship of JBP and was interviewed. I was offered the position and assumed the role in October 2016. It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, but the role of being an editor is challenging.

Being Editor

Being editor is like the Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859). “It has been the best of times; it has been the worst of times.” Well, not really the worse of times. There have been challenging times. I start with describing the challenging times and end on the best of times.

There are three areas that have been challenging as an editor. One is the startup as an editor. Two is the mechanism to obtain manuscripts, and three is obtaining reviewers to complete their evaluations of manuscripts. The startup of being an editor can be difficult and is related to the second point. There are a lot of moving parts that reviewers or even associate editors may not know. There is at least a six- month window between planning the publication of an issue and the actual publication of a hard copy issue. Thus, there must be an ample pool of accepted manuscripts in the queue to make this process work. Unlike the journals of The Counseling Psychologist or Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology (CDEMP), the JBP is a culturally specific journal with a specific audience. As a result, the volume of submissions has not or cannot be as high as the larger and mainstream psychology journals. Thus, a lot of work is needed to bring attention to the journal and to invite authors to submit to the journal. A lot of work is required to ensure a viable pool of submissions and accepted manuscripts. This cycle is never ending and can be exhausting. With the ease of technology, online submission and online first publications, this process is even more intense and never ending. I will not miss this aspect of being an editor.

Another aspect that I will not miss is obtaining reviewers to evaluate a manuscript. This process has always been challenging no matter the journal outlet. Reviewers are busy scholars or practitioners, and this work is a service to the profession. They do not get paid. I have always been appreciative of those who take this role seriously and follow through, even when they are late with the reviews. Previously, I may have to invite about six to ten reviewers to have a minimum of three reviewers. Challenging, but acceptable.

However, COVID-19 changed everything. The pandemic disrupted an already fragile system. During and since COVID-19, obtaining reviewers has been extremely difficult and getting completed reviews within a 30-day window has been even more difficult. I know that this issue is not just a problem with JBP, but for all journals. I suspect it may be more challenging for the smaller journals, which are competing against the larger journals for the same reviewers. I hope this situation will get better, but I am not sure what it will take to shift the editorial process to be easier for the authors and the reviewers. The pandemic was challenging for me health wise, where I have not fully recovered. And I suspect this state may be the same for numerous other scholars, who are engaged in research while managing the others areas of their professional and personal life.

What I have liked about being editor is supporting various topics for publication. I loved reading the various research topics and the various angles. I have been thrilled to see innovations, the simple to the complex that I can support with editorial feedback. I have also enjoyed giving feedback on all aspects of the manuscript, from theory to hypothesis, to research design, its implementation, the statistical analyses, and results and seeing the thread of concepts from the introduction to their link in the discussion. Again, this process is easy for me, and I have enjoyed doing the reviews, despite the amount of time (4–6 hours) I have put into completing one review.

There are several articles or issues that I have been pleased to support their publications. It was wonderful to support the special issue on the 50^th anniversary of ABPSi (volume 44, issue 8) in 2018. It was also important to recognize the lifetime contributions of Dr Joseph L. White, who passed in November 2017 (2019, volume 45, issue 2). To broaden the Africana scope of JBP, we did a special issue on mental health and wellness in the Caribbean (2019, volume 45, issue 4). There have been three other special issues that I have been proud to support: (a) the psychology of Black activism, guest editors Cokley and Neville (2022, volume 48, issue 3–4); (b) Black youth suicide (2023, volume 49, issue 3); and (c) Black women’s body image (2023, volume 49, issue 6). There is an upcoming issue on COVID-19 and its effect on the Africana communities in 2025.

I was also pleased to publish more gender diverse articles, as LGBTQ has been perceived as a challenge for ABPsi. Wilton et al. (2018) published “Characteristics and Correlates of Lifetime Suicidal Thoughts and Attempts Among Young Black Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM) and Transgender Women.” However, more needs to be done in this area. I was appreciative that Dr Snowden (Snowden & Graff, 2019) brought a policy focus on health issues of African Americans.

I have worked to include more articles across the African diaspora. Simões and Alberto (2019) examined family rituals and routines of urban Southern Angolan families. Dede Yildirim and Roopnarine (2019) focused on maternal and paternal cognitive engagement and children’s literacy skills across 25 African countries. Fattore et al. (2020) reported on the experiences of discrimination and skin color among women in urban Brazil. And Joshi et al. (2021) compared trauma symptoms among non-partner sexual violence victims and nonvictims in one of Haiti’s urban neighborhoods.

I also liked focusing on methodology/statistical articles used in a Black context. Two noteworthy ones that received a lot of attention has been Watkins (2018) on a guide to best practice of exploratory factor analysis and Weller et al.’s (2020) on the use of latent class analysis. JBP continues to support examining the psychometric properties of measures. Many psychology journals no longer accept these manuscripts. However, I believe that these manuscripts are vital to supporting the development and validation of measures appropriate for the Africana people.

I appreciate and thank all of the countless authors and scholars who have published under my watch. I have only been able to highlight a few, but there are so many more. The content of the journal has ranged from women's issues, gun violence, police violence, parenting, health, achievement, and families, among other topics. We need to focus more on men’s issues as well as the LGBTQ. We need to continue to focus on assessment and statistical methodology.

Transitioning as Editor

In 2024, I announced to ABPsi of my intention of stepping down so they could search for a new editor. I know the search is occurring, so that my tenure as editor will be ending. It will be with mixed emotion when I transition from this role. I have loved being the editor of this journal. It has been an aspiration of a lifetime. I have been humbled to be in this role and allowed immense responsibility to shape what is published. I love ABPsi and what it stands for. I am honored to be listed with the other prior editors: William David Smith, W. Curtis Banks, Kathy Burlew, Shawn Utsey, and Kevin Cokley. I have truly appreciated the wonderful mentoring that Dr Burlew has provided me over the past several years.

Scholarship has always mattered to me and Africana scholarship is critical. Since the beginning of time, Africana scholarship served as the foundation for the emergence of other civilizations, with minimal acknowledgment. Creating the Journal of Black Psychology was a critical step that the founders of the Association of Black Psychologists took to preserve the identity of Black psychology and supporting the psychological well-being of Africana people from a space of empowerment, not oppression.

Next Steps for JBP

I have a few recommendations for the next editor who leads JBP. One, I encourage that the heterogeneous voice of Black psychologists and related Black mental health professionals need to be considered for publication. Narrowing the voice to only an African perspective limits knowledge and discovery of what is Black psychology and its power to support the diversity within African people. Two, there needs to continue to be a mix of various publications, quantitative, qualitative, and conceptual. JBP is receiving more qualitative and conceptual manuscripts. However, a thorough picture of Black psychology cannot be told with qualitative and conceptual work. Quantitative research is not the purview of Western psychology. The science was present in the history of African societies. We must be conscious of framing the science and its interpretation properly. Three, we must continue to maintain standards and guidelines for publication in JBP. Every submission cannot be accepted and published. Dr Banks has provided the guidance to continue to publish in the Journal of Black Psychology, using standards that push for critical thinking and deconstructing bias, not only from a racial lens but to push back on the current “alternative fact” lens that have pervaded the current society. Not all beliefs and perceptions are true. In essence, the next editor needs to lean into the history of ABPsi and the journal to move forward, creating a new path for the journal built on the strength of its foundation.

Hotep.