Curiosity is welcome here

• Published date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21357
• Author: Thomas G. Reio
• Date: 01 June 2019

EDITORIAL

Curiosity is welcome here

As Editor of Human Resource Development Quarterly (HRDQ) starting January 1, 2019, I wanted to share my thoughts

about the journal and disclose some of the directions that we will take to move the field of human resource develop-

ment (HRD) forward theoretically, empirically, and practically. First, however, I need to acknowledge the strong con-

tributions of Valerie Anderson, Kim Nimon, and Jon Werner, my immediate predecessors as Co-editors. Each

worked tirelessly to promote the journal and bring it to new heights, including increasing the Social Sciences Citation

Index impact factor and publishing more research methods articles. The Editorial Board also contributed immensely

to recruiting research from around the world and continued helping to shape the field.

Second, I would like to introduce our skilled team of Associate Editors (AEs) who are such an integral part of

ensuring the rigor and direction of the journal. Three of the AEs are serving their second term, while three are new.

They are as follows, in alphabetical order:

Second-term AE:

Travor Brown, Memorial University

Sewon Kim, The State University of New York Empire State College

Seung Won Yoon, Texas A & M University Commerce

First-term AE:

Andreas Gegenfurtner, University of Passau

Regina Mulder, Universität Regensburg

Robert Yawson, Quinnipiac University

Third, I will also be seeking to increase the size of the Editorial Board by a dozen members to make an already

excellent Board even more representative of the international nature of HRD. I hope to add individuals from South-

east Asia, Australia, South America, and Africa who can assist the journal in meeting its aims of serving as a conduit

for publishing research that is international in its research scope.

HRDQ is a high-quality journal that serves as a vehicle for highlighting rigorous HRD-related research conducted

around the world. The journal presents curiosity-driven research that has an impact on the field of HRD. Although

the primary emphasis is on empirical articles, theoretical and conceptual articles are welcome. We also strongly

encourage interdisciplinary research that is novel or adds new empirical, theoretical, or practical insights into hereto-

fore unexamined issues. Since Volume 1 in Spring 1990, HRDQ has enjoyed publishing research that draws on a wide

range of disciplines, ranging from economics, sociology, anthropology, and industrial/organizational psychology to

organizational behavior, human resource management, education, and developmental psychology. I hope to see this

interdisciplinary tradition continued in the journal.

In recent years, there has been a decided emphasis of the journal on leading the field of HRD by shaping and

publishing research that exhibits high levels of rigor. In Volume 29, the HRDQ editorial team published a number of

articles designed to provide clear direction on publishing research in the journal that uses quantitative (Kim Nimon),

qualitative (Valerie Anderson), and mixed-method research designs (Reio and Werner). Take care to examine their

work closely because many useful publishing steps are provided to guide prospective authors. I am very interested in

methods papers that present cutting-edge research designs or data collection methods that are linked directly to

HRD with thoughtful discussion of how to conduct rigorous research using the design or method, with examples of

published research where it has been used (if it exists). Importantly, the paper must explicate how the design or

DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21357

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Human Resource Development Quarterly. 2019;30:131–132. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrdq 131