Volume 31, 2024, Number 1
https://doi.org/10.18778/1231-1952.31.1.01
The idea to launch a new interdisciplinary scientific journal dedicated to issues in social and economic space organisation originated at the University of Łódź in the early 1990s. It was a time of significant changes, especially in East-Central Europe – the end of Soviet domination in this part of our continent and profound political and economic transformations in the post-Soviet countries. The processes of integration with West-European countries initiated at that time was conducive to developing international contacts by Polish academic communities. In the field of spatial research, it led, among others, to the organisation of the 7th Congress of the ‘Association of European Schools of Planning’ in Łódź in 1993. It was during this congress that I conceived the idea to undertake the establishment of a new international journal co-published by the University of Łódź and a number of foreign universities that would be interested in this initiative. I presented this proposal to Pieter H. Pellenbarg of the University of Groningen, Vladimir Slavik of Comenius University in Bratislava, and Antony Walker of the University of the West of England in Bristol. They were all interested in this idea and declared support from their universities.
A year later, in 1994, the first issue of the European Spatial Research and Policy journal appeared. In the course of the three decades of its existence, the composition of the editorial committee of the journal, as well as the scientific institutions engaged in its publication, underwent some modifications. Comenius University in Bratislava was replaced for a few years by Charles University in Prague (2000−2007). In 2008, the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning in Bonn joined the co-publishers, replacing the University of the West of England in Bristol. Apart from Tadeusz Marszał, editor-in-chief throughout the 30 years, the editorial team included as co-editors:
The person actively engaged since 2010 in editorial work on ESR&P, who has contributed to the strengthening of its standing on the scientific publications market, is Iwona Pielesiak, supported since 2016 by Katarzyna Leśniewska-Napierała (as sub-editors, both from the University of Łódź).
During the past three decades close cooperation was established not only within the narrow group of the editorial team members, but also among all editorial board members representing numerous European and non-European countries. Every few years we all met in different academic centres to discuss matters connected with the publication of the journal and to define the directions of its further development as well as of editorial policy. Our meetings also provided excellent opportunities for initiating other forms of joint academic activities. The meetings organised by the co-operating universities were held in:
In the years 1994−2023, 30 volumes of ESR&P (each consisting of two issues) appeared. They contained 325 scientific articles, 97 review articles, 24 notes, commentaries and reports, and 290 book reviews. The authors of the articles and review articles represented numerous academic institutions from 44 countries, apart from Poland, mostly from the Netherlands (78), Great Britain (74), Hungary (58), Italy (39), and the Czech Republic (37).
About 1/3 of the 60 issues of ESR&P, prepared by guest-editors, had a thematic character:
The scientific profile of the journal – issues in social and economic space organisation at the local, regional and supranational levels – has remained unchanged since its foundation. The scope of the journal is defined by the concepts of space, environment, society, and economy rather than by the names of scientific disciplines.
Factors important for the editorial effort have been the changing external determinants and changes recently unfolding on the scientific publications market. I am convinced that European Spatial Research and Policy has been successful in meeting these challenges and maintaining high academic standards, as reflected in a growing interest on the part of the readers and an increased number of texts submitted for publication. The high standing of the journal is also reflected in its indexation in many prestigious reference bases, such as Web of Science, Scopus ERIH Plus and DOAJ. In 2022, ESR&P had the impact factor at the level of 0.6.
30 years of the publication of European Spatial Research and Policy is a good occasion to thank all those who have contributed to the success of this initiative and to express hope that the inevitable time-related changes in the composition of the editorial board will ensure not only the maintaining of the achieved high position of the journal, but also successful development of this international publication initiative in the decades to come.
