Editorial introduction to Volume 30 Number 1

This issue is an important milestone for the journal; the start of our 30th year of publication. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal has weathered its infancy, childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. Now in its prime, it looks forward with enthusiasm to continued professional maturity and service to its readership and discipline.

The journal's core purpose is scientific communication in the disciplines of Social Psychology, Developmental and Personality Psychology, which have continued to emerge strongly over the 30 year period. Social Behavior and Personality serves and is served by many thousands of authors, reviewers and editors. The journal is proud of the fairness and timeliness of its review process, and is noted for its consideration toward all prospective authors. If accepted and scheduled for publication, manuscripts are published promptly, normally within six months.

In 1973 I wrote in an Editorial Introduction to Volume 1 Number 1, “Inasmuch as key empirical work and useful theoretical formulations know no national boundaries this international journal aims to work against geographic parochialism in behavioral science”. The spread of nations achieved is seen in the authors of last year's volume (eight issues). About 39% of the authors are from North America, 37% from Europe, 9% from Asia, 8% from the Middle East, and 7% from the rest of the world. This is a genuinely international journal. Interestingly English is now not the primary language for the majority of our authors.

In 1973 no one could have imagined the internet as we now know it, and how much this would improve the ease of scholarly communication. This is truly a technology “made in Heaven” for many international scholars. Most of our university library subscribers have now arranged electronic access availability for their students and faculty. Full text internet access is available to current and back issues via the journal's web page www.sbp-journal.com. Articles published are all linked to the world's search engines, as well as to abstracting and indexing networks. Many of the readers of individual articles are referred by the search engines to the web site, where they are able to download particular papers of interest. We are currently in the process of implementing a “Worldwide Intranet” which will link our authors, reviewers and editors worldwide.

Over the 30 years, the journal has published no less than 216 issues. Its success over this time is due to the support of many thousands of people world wide; our authors, our reviewers and our consulting editors. Increasingly with the size and complexity of the editing operation, the quality of people in the management group is vital. It is a real pleasure to acknowledge the excellent work of the current team. These are proof readers, Mrs. Karen Stanley and Mrs. Dorothy Pilkington, printers Stylex Print of Palmerston North, New Zealand, web and IT adviser Ms. Suzi Brown, web developers Rex Limited, Wellington, New Zealand, and computer advisor Chet Chow. The years have seen the valued support of my wife Mary in this enterprise.

The journal is a partner with World Vision, and helps sponsor some of the world's poorest children. The human potential and promise of young children is the theme on the journal's web page.

Over the years I served as editor part time while holding academic positions in different parts of the world, New Zealand, Canada and Fiji. Some time after being granted a Personal Professorship in Human Development at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, I returned in 1989 to my native New Zealand, as a full time Editor of the journal.

In 1973 I wrote “It is envisaged that these pages will see the publication of superior papers on all aspects of Social Psychology, Developmental and Personality Psychology, of relevance to a wide range of disciplines: Educational Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Social Psychology, Psychology of Personality, Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, Sociology, Industrial and Community Psychology, Cultural Anthropology and Management Science”.

We have seen these expectations fulfilled, and we look forward with enthusiasm to continued service from us on the journal team over the next thirty years!