Editorial

The Review and the Field of Higher Education

Philip G. Altbach

I

This journal has a unique role in higher education. It is one of the major journals reporting research and scholarship on post-secondary education. It is also the only journal that has the significant responsibility of reflecting on the field of higher education studies. It has the potential to influence higher education policy and practice by linking the research community with policymakers and senior administrators in America's colleges and universities. The challenge for The Review in the coming period is to link its multiple missions effectively and to provide a forum for dialogue and communication, thus enhancing the impact of research on policy.

The Association for the Study of Higher Education, which sponsors this journal, is a unique organization with a special role in the complex web of American higher education. It speaks for the higher education research community and for those involved in the academic training of professionals in the field. Its core members are in these two overlapping communities, which constitute two of the central constituencies in the higher education community. Researchers work not only in universities but also in policy departments of universities and in state and federal government agencies. The higher education professoriate trains a significant proportion of mid-level management in colleges and universities; and graduates of higher education programs can increasingly be found in top leadership positions in academic [End Page 1] institutions, as well as in governmental agencies that deal with higher education.

The field of higher education has achieved a significant level of professional standing and intellectual rigor. Those holding advanced degrees in the field are accepted at all levels of the administrative hierarchy in academic institutions. Graduate-level training in higher education is increasingly seen as useful preparation for administrative careers in academe. Just as impressive, policy organizations and agencies in government and the private sector see training in the field as highly relevant. This achievement is especially noteworthy when one considers that, although the field of higher education studies can trace its history back to the early 20th century, it has grown significantly only since the 1960s. Indeed, the history of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and of this journal reflects the development of the field.

II

There is an interesting bifurcation in the field. While training in higher education is seen as relevant preparation for professional work in administration, policy, and research, much of the potential influence of the higher education research community has yet to be realized. While we have no hard data, it seems unlikely that much direct use is made by policymakers in academic institutions or in government of much of the research produced by scholars of higher education. There are, of course, exceptions to this generalization; but overall, the impact of research on policy seems to be limited. This comment probably sums the case for most other fields from health care to international commerce. The "disconnect" between policy and research may be especially strong where the topic being researched has become politicized. This situation is certainly the case for higher education, where debates about tuition costs, affirmative action, and other policy issues are played out on the pages of daily newspapers and in the halls of government.

The pages of this journal may yield some insights regarding both the strengths and the weaknesses of higher education research. While the quality of most of the research reported over the years in The Review is high, much of the research consists of limited case studies on topics that presidents or policymakers facing more pressing issues often consider to be of peripheral relevance. At the same time, even though many of the articles published in this journal do speak to important issues in higher education, they do not receive much attention beyond the community of higher education scholars. Here, the canons of traditional scholarship to which a research journal like The Review subscribes may limit the direct impact of [End Page 2] research. Other publications, such as Change, reach a wider audience, in part because of how articles are written. The dilemmas of communicating research are not easily solved.

This journal is a well established and highly respected voice in higher education. Yet it can reach out to a wider audience without compromising its core mission or carefully developed traditions. Part of the answer is for our contributors to focus more specifically on the pressing issues facing American colleges and universities. The case for this vision is persuasively argued in Patrick Terenzini's ASHE presidential address published in this issue. This journal, as part of its editorial mission, will seek to publish articles that relate to the critical issues facing higher education at the turn of the 21st century. We can also present our research findings in a style that can reach a wider audience. This does not mean compromising high standards of scholarship or intellectual rigor. A consciousness of addressing an audience beyond the small research community can be part of any article. The articles in The Review can, and often do, have an impact beyond their original publication here. The research reported here first, if relevant to the concerns of policy and practice in higher education, often becomes the basis for debate and elaboration elsewhere. The Review's recently achieved inclusion in the Social Science Citation Index will enhance the impact of the research published here.

At the same time that The Review reaches beyond the higher education research community, it must also focus inward. This journal is the only publication that accepts as an important responsibility the task of reflecting on the field of higher education itself. It is a forum for discussing the nature of this field, of new perspectives on the training of professionals in higher education, and of debate about research in higher education.

III

The Review celebrates its 20th anniversary in a position of considerable strength. Its circulation is at an all-time high, and it was recently selected for inclusion in the prestigious Social Science Citation Index by the Institute for Scientific Information. For the first time in its history, it will be published by a university press--The Johns Hopkins University Press--which will handle the mechanical aspects of publishing the journal. This division of labor permits the editorial office to focus entirely on editorial processes and development under the larger mandate of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, which retains ownership and full editorial control.

The advantages of working with The Johns Hopkins University Press are significant. There is considerable synergy between The Review and the outstanding list of books in the field of higher education that Hopkins publishes. [End Page 3] The publisher will, for the first time in the history of The Review, engage in an aggressive promotion campaign that should significantly increase its circulation. Hopkins's Project MUSE, funded by the Mellon Foundation, is a pioneer in the delivery of journals through new electronic media; and The Review will join the 40 other scholarly journals in this project, the most significant effort in the United States to incorporate new technologies for journal delivery.

The Review is considered to be one of the leading journals in the field of higher education, in part because of outstanding editorial leadership. I am indebted to my predecessor, Joan S. Stark, for contributing significantly to the excellence of the journal in her five years as editor. By all measures, The Review is doing well. It has a healthy submission rate and a selectivity measure that places it in the top ranks of scholarly journals in education and the social sciences. With a very loyal readership, The Review is also in the enviable position of serving an active and thriving professional association, ASHE.

While The Review's circulation to individuals is excellent, it has a relatively modest subscriber base among libraries and only a small circulation outside of the United States. Our new publisher will make special efforts to improve our circulation in these categories. We must also rely on our readers to ask their university and college libraries to subscribe to The Review if they do not already do so.

IV

The Review of Higher Education will seek to reflect many of the concerns discussed in this editorial in its selection of articles. As an editorial board, we will try to relate more directly to current policy debates in higher education. We will seek to publish articles that reflect quality research and which are presented in a readable and concise style. We will look for articles which are at the "cutting edge" of thinking about higher education--even if they may not be policy related. We will continue to reflect topics considered important by the research community in higher education, and we will make a special effort to be open to the many methodologies, research traditions, and ideological perspectives active in the higher education community. While we seek to publish the work of respected researchers and scholars, we have a special responsibility to younger members of our profession.

We are committed to publishing the best possible journal and to serving our authors and readers alike while, at the same time, seeking to expand the impact of our work. These goals will not be easy to fulfill given the limited space of any quarterly and the many competing interests in our field, but the challenge is an exhilarating one.

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