Dear Readers,
It is a great honor for me to be chosen as editor of the Financial Analysts Journal. From its genesis in 1945, the FAJ has established a proud and strong tradition as one of the leading investment practitioner journals in the world. Not many journals can boast that they have published 14 articles by Benjamin Graham, 19 articles by Fischer Black, 13 articles by Bill Sharpe, and 11 articles by Peter Bernstein. If one considers the many other authors and articles represented in the journal's 57-year history, the accumulated wisdom in the FAJ is staggering.
The FAJ is, at its core, a journal for you, the community of investment practitioners. AIMR and I are unswerving in our commitment that the FAJ will continue to play a key role in our industry as a link between innovative researchers and thinkers and the broad practitioner community. The FAJ's purpose is spelled out in its mission and standards:
FAJ Mission and Editorial Standards
The goal of the Financial Analysts Journal is to advance the knowledge and understanding of the practice of investment management through the publication of high-quality, practitioner-relevant research. The Financial Analysts Journal should serve as
- a bridge between academic research and practice by publishing academically rigorous articles that have direct relevance to practitioners,
- a forum for presenting practitioner research, and
- a forum for the perspectives of leading practitioners, academics, and regulators about our industry.
Striving to meet these high expectations, the FAJ operates according to written quality, relevance, and readability standards. As an example, articles submitted to the FAJ are subject to an anonymous peer review process that provides an independent assessment of quality and relevance. Additionally, we work with authors to produce readable articles written in a style that is appropriate for a practitioner (rather than an academic) audience. We will, of course, continue to seek papers of the highest academic standards; we will be particularly alert to such opportunities when they are targeted to the practitioner community. I urge you to visit the FAJ Website for details about our editorial standards.
Without departing from the double-blind process, in which authors of articles do not know who their referees are and referees are not told the identities of the authors, we intend to increase the transparency of the review process. We will inform authors how their papers were judged by the referees and how the final decisions on their papers were reached.
Naturally, it takes several issues for a journal to fully reflect the goals and priorities of any new editor. In this case, the situation is complicated by the fact that I and various co-authors had several articles that were submitted before the start of my tenure as editor. I will play no role whatsoever in the final editorial process for these papers; I will leave those decisions to the capable people at AIMR. I will not be submitting any new articles to the FAJ, but I may contribute some short perspectives pieces, which will be subject to independent review without my involvement in any way. In addition, I will not vote on the Graham and Dodd awards for 2002 or 2003.
All of us working on the FAJ recognize that the reputation of the journal depends, in part, on its commitment to high standards of ethics and professional conduct. To help us maintain these standards in the selection and publication of articles, all authors, advisors, and reviewers, as well as the editor and editorial staff, will continue to abide by the FAJ's conflict-of-interest policies and ethical standards. These policies and standards are available on the FAJ Website.
I am delighted to introduce to you a new group of people who will help the FAJ maintain its standards—the FAJ Advisory Council. They are listed on this issue's masthead and on FAJ's Website. The Advisory Council consists of luminaries who have made a substantial contribution to our industry; their key role is to advise the editor and AIMR on the proper direction of the FAJ. The masthead also lists our hard-working Editorial Board, which serves as our main source of reviewers. Some Advisory Council and Editorial Board members have previously served on the board; some names are new. All are leaders in their fields, and I thank both groups for their willingness to serve.
In addition to their other duties, we are encouraging Advisory Council and Editorial Board members to submit perspectives pieces based on their decades of experience in the field, to submit cutting-edge, relevant research articles, and to help us identify outstanding practitioner-oriented papers and innovative ideas for future publication.
I am looking forward to serving you.