Editorial

Citation

Campbell, I. (2011), "Editorial", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/rpj.2011.15617aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Rapid Prototyping Journal, Volume 17, Issue 1

Welcome to the 17th Volume of the Rapid Prototyping Journal (RPJ). As I write this editorial, my daughter is approaching her 17th birthday. In the UK, reaching 17 is not quite seen as a “coming of age” but it is the age at which people can start to learn to drive. My daughter has already made me promise to take her out on a driving lesson immediately after school on her birthday. She is very keen to pass her driving test as soon as possible. She sees that driving will bring her that extra bit of independence and it also means that my wife and I will no longer have to act as taxi drivers! So, for my daughter, reaching 17 might indicate the advent of a little bit of maturity and a desire to act in a more “grown up” manner. Could such terms be applied to the RPJ? Certainly, the journal has reached a point where it has become essentially self-sustaining. We have a growing community of authors and reviewers who are submitting and reviewing more papers each year. The number of papers being published has risen but the queue of papers that have been accepted and not yet published (as least in the paper version of the journal) is also increasing. In one respect, this could be seen as healthy, but it can also lead to papers being published well after their original submission date and denying other researchers the opportunity to access the work in a timely manner. Therefore, it is the intention of the editorial team to make the review process even more rigorous so that only the very best of papers will succeed. This should bring down waiting times and increase the quality of the journal. An apparently easy way of doing this would be to encourage papers from known researchers with a proven track record and follow a “play it safe” approach. However, this would be counter-productive on at least two levels. First, it could lead to the RPJ community becoming somewhat closed, and second, it would deny our readers access to some of the exciting “up and coming” research that is emerging in our field. To go back to the analogy with my daughter, learning to drive will bring a new mobility to enable her to go to new places and meet new people. It would be a wasted opportunity to use the car to visit the same old places in the immediate vicinity. Likewise, as the profile of the RPJ improves with age, we are seeking to encourage contributions from leading international researchers, both experienced and emerging, who have not previously published with us. All our readers have a role to play in this also. If you know of any researchers in our field who have not yet submitted their work to the RPJ then, please encourage them to do so.

Ian Campbell