Abstract
Since the announcement of my appointment as the Editor of the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics (JEBS) for volume years 2020–2022, I have shared many conversations with colleagues and the question that I most often received was, “What is your vision for JEBS?” This question provided me an important moment to reflect about the history and future of JEBS and its role in society. It is clear that over several decades, JEBS consistently published scholarship that advanced methodology for generations of educational and behavioral researchers. The goal of our editorial team is to continue this tradition where JEBS is the leading journal for innovative statistical applications in the educational and the behavioral sciences. For example, behavioral researchers are increasingly formulating new questions to advance science with process data and data collected from wearables, handheld devices, or social media. A component of our vision is that, as new opportunities and innovations arise, JEBS will serve as the outlet where researchers can learn about the state-of-the-art techniques for novel data structures.
As a journal co-sponsored by the American Educational Research Association and the American Statistical Association, JEBS is a premier outlet for scholarship on the boundaries of statistics and educational and behavioral research. The long-standing purpose and scope of JEBS is to provide a forum for innovative statistical research that is motivated by problems found in educational and behavioral research. It is my privilege and honor to continue the 44-year tradition of intellectual excellence by serving as JEBS editor.
Editorial transitions provide opportunities for change. One organizational change for volume years 2020 to 2022 is the expansion of the number of Associate Editors from three to six. Specifically, JEBS will significantly benefit from the broad expertise and service of Associate Editors Rianne Janssen (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Minjeong Jeon (University of California, Los Angeles), Tracy Sweet (University of Maryland, College Park), Elizabeth Tipton (Northwestern University), Chun Wang (University of Washington), and Gongjun Xu (University of Michigan).
In addition to the many new opportunities for methodological developments, we will continue to publish papers that contribute to statistical and methodological research. For instance, JEBS has been home to a diverse collection of topics, which, to name a few, include models for multivariate categorical data, item response theory, mixture models, social networks, Bayesian statistics, large-scale testing, practical issues in score reporting (e.g., subscores and equating), experimental design, and causal inference. Please review the contents of several past volumes to learn about additional topics that are appropriate for submission to the JEBS, as well as the aims and scope of JEBS for a description of the various types of manuscripts we plan to publish (e.g., methods, tutorials, book reviews, and software reviews). We encourage submissions of high-impact papers that advance educational and behavioral research methodology that may fall outside previously published topics.
In closing, JEBS is a symbol of the excellence in our field, and its status as a learning journal is a testament to the service and contributions of past editors, editorial board members, reviewers, and scholars. We thank you in advance for sharing your expertise in the review of manuscripts as we strive together in our search of truth.