Abstract
With this issue, we will resign our editorship of Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (JEBD). When we first accepted this role 6 years ago, we had much anticipation and enthusiasm for carrying on the high standards that were first established by Michael Epstein and Doug Cullinan with their first issue of JEBD in January of 1993. They had the foresight and vision to establish this multidisciplinary journal to address the many issues in research and practice that confront us as we attempt to improve the quality of lives for children and youth with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD), their families, and practitioners who serve them. We entered this role with some apprehension concerning the enormity of the task at hand as editors, and we leave the role with feelings of satisfaction, along with the nagging concern that many complex challenges still confront us in the field of EBD.
Our satisfaction comes from the fact that we have reviewed more than 450 manuscripts in the past 6 years, worked with our Editorial Board to complete reviews and recommendations regarding these articles, published what we feel are some exemplary works in the field, and met all our timelines with our publishers—the Hammill Institute and Sage. We appreciate the comments we have received from contributing authors, our Editorial Board members, and those in the field who have commended us on our work as editors. We also thank all of you who have contributed your work for review and publication in our journal. Quality articles make a quality journal.
Our Editorial Board has been second to none. They are an active, reliable, and highly dedicated group of professionals who have always been available to review and comment on the work in our journal. Our Board members work as an act of professional service and receive no compensation for the hours they put in reviewing and making productive comments for authors. We constantly received comments from authors that the comments have been extremely helpful in improving and clarifying content in the articles.
To the staff at the Hammill Institute, we hold you in highest regard. Don Hammill greeted us as new editors in 2006, Judy Voress and Peggy Kipping have guided us through the role of editor and served as our support staff/leaders at the Hammill Institute, and our editorial guru Lisa Tippett has bailed us out more times than we can remember in problem solving any issue with the online publication process. In addition, the staff at Sage has worked to ensure we have a realistic production schedule and produced articles formatted for the ease of our readership. It is the support of these staff that makes being an editor truly enjoyable. We thank you for your constant support of our work as editors.
We are very pleased that Drs. Tom and Elizabeth Farmer have chosen to take the reigns at JEBD and will serve as coeditors of JEBD. Tom Farmer is currently in the College of Education at Penn State University, having received his advanced degree in special education at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. An article by Tom is included in this issue in order for readers to become familiar with some of his research interest. Betsy Farmer, who is currently in the Department of Health and Human Development at Penn State University, received her advanced degree from Duke in sociology. Her research interest includes the effectiveness of group and residential care for youth with EBD. They are well-respected researchers and have been productive members of our Editorial Board. We have every bit of faith and confidence that they will continue to improve on the success of the journal.
Finally, we will not venture too far astray in the field. Doug will continue his role as professor of special education at the University of Washington and Krista will be professor emeritus at the University of South Florida. We will exchange the time devoted to JEBD to continue our work to increase the quality of life for children with emotional and behavior disorders and their families. Our work will benefit from the experiences we have had as editors of JEBD, and we thank everyone for the opportunity.