For the past year, I have been evaluating manuscripts as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Research in Personality. In this time, my associate editors and I have sought to bring a fresh approach to the journal, one that emphasizes scientific rigor, to be sure, but that highlights as well the values of innovation, creativity, and intellectual excitement that characterize our field. Scholars who have submitted to the journal in 2006 may already have tales to tell about the energy and spirit of our editorial team. As we begin our second year, I thought it fitting to share more broadly the vision that has guided these first 12 months and that will continue to fuel our editorial efforts.
As the flagship journal for the Association for Research in Personality, JRP has a unique role to play in bringing the science of personality to a broad and diverse readership. My vision of the Journal is essentially my vision of the field of personality itself—broad, exciting, dynamic, and the hub of the science of psychology, in general. The mission of personality psychology encompasses all of the other areas because we focus on the person—in whom the various developmental, cognitive, social, neuropsychological, and psychopathological processes are manifest and whose behavior the field of psychology sets as its focus. A distinctive aspect of personality psychology is its breadth both in terms of content and methodology. The diversity among scholars who proudly declare themselves personality psychologists is stunning, and surely a sign of the infinite complexity of the person. My hope is that JRP will reflect this breadth by welcoming high quality work in its many forms. An ideal issue would incorporate the very best of what we know as personality psychology—cutting-edge quantitative techniques that are one hallmark of our field alongside the nearly purely qualitative work that characterizes personological approaches, and everything in between.
Given the broad character of the field, it may be difficult to define the “typical” or ideal JRP article. My continuing goal is to define that concept—the JRP paper—so that editors, reviewers, readers, and authors might come to recognize what such a paper is (as they do now with JPSP or Psychological Science). To me, the ideal JRP paper is one that emphasizes the innovative and provocative over the fine-tuning. We will publish papers that are likely to have high impact because they set the stage for new and innovative research programs. Theoretical and methodological articles are also welcomed, insofar as these papers make an innovative contribution. The focus is on intellectual excitement. Personality psychologists know that our field is occupied with important and exciting questions. JRP is a forum for the science that seeks to answer those questions.
My predecessor, Lynne Cooper has left the journal in excellent health, and I express my deepest gratitude to her for forging a number of important innovative procedures (including electronic submission and the streamline review procedure). Because of Lynne’s accomplishments, the character of the journal is dynamic in every respect. We are committed to quick, compassionate, and decisive editorial judgments. To maintain this commitment, authors should expect JRP to have a relatively short editorial attention span. Painstaking micromanagement of manuscripts simply will not be done, in order to keep the discussion that is the science of personality as lively and contemporary as possible. We are committed to maintaining the vitality of the field, both in terms of content and procedures.
Our focus on innovation and intellectual interest presents an opportunity and a challenge to scholars of personality. Far too often psychologists hear (and perhaps intone) the lament that research published in personality and social psychology is too narrow, focused on “fine-tuning,” and simply not very intrinsically interesting. My challenge to scholars in the field is to do the interesting work you feel is missing. It is my goal to have every issue of JRP teeming with articles that pass the sheer interest tests: Articles that are quite simply too interesting not to read. This goal requires that we prioritize not only scientific rigor but innovative contribution. As such, even papers without major flaws that fall short on innovation and broad interest will not be accepted at JRP.
Just as we challenge scholars to courageously take on the big questions of personality psychology using the most innovative and rigorous scientific methods, my associate editors and I promise a compassionate and open sensibility, dedicated to matching fearless scholarship with editorial daring. Many years ago a colleague who shall remain nameless declared, “You are too interesting to be a personality psychologist”. I invite you to join with me in demonstrating, in the pages of this journal, the sheer interest and enthusiasm for the complexity of the person that has led all of us to study the most remarkable unit in the field of psychology, the person.
