Editorial

This issue 4/2003 is the last one to be published prior to the announced editorial rotation. With the conclusion of this volume it is time—and my pleasure—to hand over the helm to the new Editor-in-Chief Rainer Silbereisen, University of Jena (Germany). Having served the journal for eight volumes as Founding Editor, I extend to him and his new Editorial Board my warm wishes for a good hand at all times and the best of success!

In this Outgoing Editorial it is more than good style, first of all, to express words of thanks—to the more than 450 authors and coauthors (from not less than 36 different countries, 9 of them beyond the borders of Europe) who have entrusted their works to this periodical, and who have enriched the past 8 volumes with contributions of high scientific substance and international breadth; to the 13 colleagues who, over the years, have given to this journal their profound expertise and competence as Associate Editors; to all fellow scientists and professionals, too numerous to be addressed specifically, who helped to shape this journal, be it in the role of Editorial Consultants (representing their national, regional, and topical organizations of psychology in Europe), be it as peer-reviewers or informal collegiate advisors; and, last but not least, to Hogrefe & Huber Publishers, notably the publisher Jürgen Hogrefe himself, then Robert Dimbleby as Managing Editor, and the journal production staff in Göttingen (Germany), who have taken on the demanding task of promoting international psychology through this periodical, gently nursing it through its “infant years. ” Notwithstanding my deep gratitude to all of them, I have to express special thanks to one person in particular: Ms. Angelika Quade, my long-term secretarial assistant at the University of Hamburg. Her competence, organizational care, and never-tiring attendance to daily editorial operations have been indispensable to me as Editor. I like to thank her most warmly for her contribution and for the excellent cooperation I could enjoy with her over so many years!

Let us take a moment to reflect on how it came about to launch a new, generalistic psychological periodical for Europe at large. Obviously, it was a bit of an adventure to conceive a journal that “should integrate across specializations in the discipline and provide a general platform for communication and cooperation among psychologists throughout Europe and worldwide, devoted to psychology in its full breadth, as a science and a practical profession” (Editorial, Issue 1/ 1996). However, with European developments, both in and beyond psychology, proceeding as they did in the 1980s, it looked within reach, and by the time of the XXVth International Congress of Psychology (1992, Brussels/Belgium) one could sense a general feeling that the European psychological scene would be ready for a pan-European journal. Building on extensive consultations with colleagues and institutions across Europe (notably national European societies of psychology and the European Federation of Professional Psychologists' Associations EFPPA, now EFPA), the editorial profile and structure of the new quarterly European Psychologist could be made concrete at the Second European Congress of Psychology (1995 in Athens, Greece, the home-site of Aristotle!). And one year later, in 1996, the first issue was ready to appear—just in time, as it was, for inaugural presentation at the XXVIth International Congress of Psychology (in Montreal, Canada). I like to put on record in this Outgoing Editorial the encouraging support I sensed from the first Editorial Board composed of Chris Cullen (UK), Gery d'Ydewalle (Belgium), Raymond D. Fowler (USA), Remo Job (Italy), Ingrid Lunt (UK), Arne Öhman (Sweden), and Jan Strelau (Poland). Their contribution to the shaping of the European Psychologist was of greatest value, and it helped against hesitation on my part to take on the challenge of becoming its first Editor-in-Chief. Already serving on the Editorial Board of the American Psychologist (AP), I was very happy that its Editor, Ray Fowler, accepted now to share with us his experience also in the edition of the new European Psychologist (EP), AP's complement-to-be, so to say, on this side of the Atlantic.

Having been set under the compelling goal of a generalistic journal, the European Psychologist had to face (and overcome) some of the consequences of overspecialization so obvious (and at times so diverting) in today's psychology, be it as a science or a profession. I am happy to say that we not only tried, but obviously also did succeed (albeit not all the time) in this targeted profile in the solicitation of reviews and special issues (or sections), in the acceptance of original articles and reports, and in the coverage of news and announcements. I would hope that the journal can develop still further in this direction and play an ever-growing role in mediating, translating, and transferring among otherwise centrifugal lines of development of our discipline. This will assist in unravelling new cross-disciplinary challenges to researchers and new fields of competence for the professional.

From its inception, the journal fully adhered to the editorial principles of independent international peer-review. As a result, about 90% of all published contributions have undergone reviewer-guided revision by their author(s). This proved essential for quality maintenance, especially in an international generalistic psychology journal. The rejection rate, that is, the percentage of submitted papers finally not accepted (or withdrawn), averaged nearly 45% across volumes 1-8 (original articles and reports). This places the European Psychologist in a good bracket, together with the journal's admission (in 2003) to the International Social Science Citation Index.

The European Psychologist was also conceived to further the discipline in transdisciplinary international contexts. This would include, for example, international research agendas and programs that are multidisciplinary in the topics studied and the modus operandi followed and are conducted under international governmental (like UN, EU) or nongovernmental (like the ICSU, the International Council for Science) aegis. The Special Issue on a EU research program on ageing (this volume) is an example. It is time to join ideas and initiatives, for example, to make a psychological input to the deliberation of European research priorities at the Directorate-General XII of the European Union. Still another task would refer to the international sharing of expertise and in knowledge-based action for societal development at large. May the European Psychologist continue to play a supportive role also in this wider context as psychological information platform at a truly European level. Psychology is a key science to contribute to the shaping of a European identity and education—or to put it in the language of wishful thinking: to making “Europe, ” in some sense still a goal of attitudes, become a reality in the future mind and behavior.

I wish the new Editor-in-Chief and the new Editorial Board bon courage, all success, also under the new organ-status with the revised European Federation of Psychologists' Associations (EFPA, taking responsibility now for psychology as a science and profession). And I wish them as much fun in working for the journal as my Editorial Board colleagues and I have—at least at times—enjoyed!