Letter From the Editor

• Date: 01 April 2018
• Published date: 01 April 2018
• Author: James B. Edwards
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/jcaf.22332

7

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI 10.1002/jcaf.22332

Letter From the Editor

Dear JCAF Reader,

I wish to thank all those

who contributed to the suc-

cess of the Journal of Corpo-

rate Accounting and Finance

(JCAF) during 2017. JCAF is a

concerted product of authors,

reviewers, staff, publisher, and

readers. Each of these is an

essential resource of JCAF.

Together, this group can con-

tinue the evolving progress that

has taken place during the past

year. JCAF may be the most

diversified and balanced jour-

nal among journals of account-

ing and finance in the world.

The mix of scholarly, clinical,

commissioned, commentary,

and columns provides a mix

of content more apt to provide

some information of interest

and usefulness to a variety of

readers.

During 2018 everyone is

encouraged to make an effort

to be a part of the success of

JCAF by participating in the

ensuring developments of

JCAF. We need to increase

the readership, expand and

penetrate the “best practices”

of accounting and finance

throughout the world. We need

for authors to “step out of

the box” and explore an entire

“new frontier” of accounting

and finance.

One of the most “thankless”

roles is that of reviewers; yet

they are critical to the quality

of the final product. Indepen-

dent peer review requires that

reviewers and authors remain

invisible to each other through-

out the review process. This

role is essential for the effective

and efficient publication of

“value-added” information. Per-

haps, each of us should invest

some time to this effort for the

“common benefit” of every-

one. Regardless of how this is

perceived, JCAF needs volun-

teers to assist with this essential

process. When we do accept a

review assignment we need to

respond effectively and timely.

Procrastination on the part of

reviewers is unacceptable.

Everyone needs to promote

JCAF because an educated

people promote economic

stability for all. The one con-

stant in today’s global business

environment is change. For

an individual to remain com-

petitive that person, too, must

change. Whether that change is

successful depends on how well

one adapts to change and har-

ness it to one’s own advantage.

Lifetime learning has never

been more necessary than it is

today. Involvement in JCAF

can be a valuable part of one’s

lifetime learning whether as

an author, reviewer, or reader.

Your knowledge base will be

in constant need of replenish-

ing; and your professional and

personal skills set will need

updating and enhancement as

well. We all need to keep our

knowledge current and our

professional skills set sharp

and nimble.

CHARACTERISTICS OF

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES

My reading of many manu-

script submissions to JCAF

has made me aware that some

authors do not fully under-

stand the characteristics that

should be present in “schol-

arly” articles.

Normally the following

characteristics are associated

with articles that are classified

as “scholarly.”

• Written by experts in the

subject field.

• Read and respected by

other experts and students

in the subject field.

• Apt to be assigned reading

for students in the subject

field.

• Are cited by other authors

in the subject field.

• Reflect the systematic and

thorough study of a single

topic, often involving