Trends, Progresses, and Handover

It was in October 2018 that I have been assigned the role of Editor-in-Chief of the journal Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors. The journal was launched in 2011 with Hogrefe as the Publisher and in cooperation with both the European Association for Aviation Psychology (EAAP) and the Australian Aviation Psychology Association (AAvPA). The first Editor-in-Chief was Don Harris from 2011 to 2014 followed by Ioana Koglbauer from 2014 to 2018.

Issue 2, 2021 was the last one which I managed, and it is time to say thank you. Thank you to my wonderful team of Associate Editors: Robert Bor, Mickaël Causse, André Droog, Ioana Koglbauer, Monica Martinussen, Michaela Schwarz, and Matthew Thomas who are or were all board members of either EAAP or AAvPA and made sure that we had a good cooperation with both associations and their members. Special thanks to Ioana Koglbauer, who handed over such a well-managed journal. She started the introduction of the Editorial Manager together with the team from Hogrefe Publishing. The Editorial Manager helped to streamline the peer review process involving authors, reviewers, and publisher in a common process. The process can still be somewhat improved; however, it took a big leap under the careful supervision of Ioana Koglbauer. Special thanks also go to André Droog, who has always been an important and very valuable advisor to me regarding the thematic orientation of the journal, the scientific quality, and the selection of contributions. Furthermore, he has contributed significantly to the quality of the printed issues through his tireless and thorough review of so many contributions.

The number of submitted papers continues to increase; in 2021 we attracted a new record number of high-quality submissions. The contributions come from academia as well as from aviation practice. A new category of contributions is review articles, which have enjoyed increasing popularity since last year. We continued to include book reviews and conference reports. I would like to thank the authors for submitting so many high-quality papers and thus for making the selection process very competitive. I would like to express my special thanks to the reviewers. One of my goals was to make the journal accessible to young scholars and practitioners who contribute important research findings and practical experience but who have little publication experience. This goal can only be achieved with the active help of the reviewers, who were willing to provide critical but constructive comments to the contributions. From the editor’s point of view, it is a pleasure to see how articles gradually improve during the review process and that they are finally printed and frequently cited. Many thanks to all the reviewers who make this process and the journal in general possible.

It is of course the publisher, Hogrefe Publishing, who makes the journal possible. It has been and continues to be a pleasure to work with the team at Hogrefe, Robert Dimbleby, Regina Pinks-Freybott, and Juliane Munson. It is the patient, thorough, solution-oriented, and supportive manner of this team at all times which has been such a great pleasure over the past 3 years and which helped to overcome some of the difficulties arising during the global pandemic. Thank you!

I am happy to announce that with this issue, Julia Behrend will take over in the role of Editor-in-Chief supported by Matthew Thomas as an Editor. Both have operational as well as academic experience in Aviation Psychology and Human Factors. Julia Behrend is affiliated with the Department of Cognitive Studies at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL, Research University in Paris, France and is Head of Safety Innovation & Human Cooperation at Air France. Matthew Thomas is an Associate Professor at Appleton Institute at Central Queensland University in Adelaide, Australia, and Director of Westwood Thomas Associates. He has been member of the team of associates editors of Aviation Psychology and Applied Human Factors since the journal started more than 10 years ago. I am confident that the new team of editors will be successful in leading the journal and continue developing it.