Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Records Management Journal, Volume 20, Issue 1

It is a huge privilege to be writing the editorial for this issue of Records Management Journal, since it is something of a landmark. This is the first issue of the journal’s twentieth anniversary – something to be proud of and to celebrate. As the publisher Emerald has encouraged and is supporting the Editorial Advisory Board to mark RMJ’s 20th anniversary with some special features and activities.

In terms of content we have decided to publish three specially focused issues in 2010. This, the first, will be a “retrospective”; the second will be a “state of the nation” in different parts of the world, and the final issue of Volume 20 will focus on the future, looking at the challenges and solutions facing records management in the decades ahead. The intention is to make the entire 20th anniversary volume holistic by looking back, pausing at the present and looking to the horizon. We hope that both leading figures in the field and new names will contribute to the 20th anniversary issues.

To mark this anniversary we are planning a reception and wide publicity of RMJ through a range of channels worldwide during 2010. Other important news relates to the Editorial Board and the production of the journal. During 2009 three valued members of the Board stepped down after more than 15 years’service, collectively. Rick Barry, David Ryan and Marjo Rita Valtonen have contributed an enormous amount to the journal, not only in their Editorial Board capacity, but also as contributors. My sincere thanks to them all. I will personally miss their insight and support. The good news is that we have some exciting and equally capable new members: Steve Bailey, Senior Records Management Adviser at the UK’s JISC infoNet; Elizabeth Lomas, currently undertaking Doctoral Research at Northumbria University and leading the Continued Communication Research Group; and Larry Medina, Senior Records Administrator at the Lawrence Livermore Research Laboratory. I am thrilled that all three accepted our invitation to join the Board, which we are looking to further expand during 2010.

In terms of production, RMJ has moved to an online submission system, the Manuscript Central system, and this is the first issue to be fully produced using the system. It allows authors to submit their contribution online and track its progress through the peer review and editorial process. As Editor I am certainly finding it a more sophisticated way of managing submissions and reviews and am grateful for all the support Andrea Watson-Lee has provided in implementing it for RMJ and providing advice to me and other Board members. Full details for prospective contributors can be found on the Author Guidelines page at www.emeraldinsight.com/rmj.htm

In this first anniversary issue – the retrospective, Catherine Hare and I have written a critical review of the historical development of RMJand its contribution to the development of records management. Our research revealed some interesting surprises about the journal; striking a balance between the journal’s history and its achievements and presenting an objective assessment proved to be very challenging. It is difficult when you have been intimately involved with something to see it as others do, so it was heartening to read in one of the peer reviewer’s comments that RMJ,as an independently edited UK journal, has supported the creation of a body of disciplinary-specific theoretical knowledge, has helped records management to be taken more seriously by academic and professional peers, and that, through the journal, we have “woken up” the UK community to the trans-disciplinary underpinning of records management. One of the challenges for the future is how to engage members of other disciplines to contribute to the journal and the development of records management.

The remaining content of this issue is a selection of previously published articles and one new article which capture key topics and/or turning points for the profession that have been significant for the development of records management. The Editorial Board chose which RMJ articles to reprint,and it was challenging. Our aim was to cover the historical period, the geographic spread and the range of themes – practical and theoretical– that have emerged over the past two decades in the pages of the journal. We believe the eight selected articles, some of which are not readily available,set the foundation for the remaining issues in 2010. The new article is, I predict, one that will become essential reading for all future records and archives management students and practitioners. Rather than choose to reprint Frank Upward’s article on the records continuum, which would have been an obvious and worthy choice, Kate Cumming, an active member of the Editorial Board, offered to write a critical reflection of the evolution, impact and influence of what is arguably the most significant contemporary theoretical development in our discipline, and one which has not been free of controversy. Kate’s article is something of a tour de force and demonstrates,for those who were not aware, that continuum thinking, whilst a contemporary development, has a gestation period of some half a decade. I hope you enjoy her article as much as I did.

We have an excellent range of resource reviews provided by familiar contributors and new ones, which is always good. My thanks to them all for their considered assessment of some very important and welcome additions to our resources.

I have reserved my final comment about content for the opening piece in the anniversary issue. Rather prosaically, given the review of Mayer-Schönberger’s book in this issue, the wonders of the web and Google, along with Anne Morddel’s actions of maintaining her own website, meant it was relatively easy to track down RMJ’s first editor. An example of a virtue of remembering,rather than forgetting, in the digital age. Anne very kindly agreed to write a short piece for us, which fills some of the gaps in terms of the origin of RMJand initial intentions for it. Thank you, Anne.

I doubt I will be Editor of RMJ when it reaches its next significant anniversary and so I will enjoy my good fortune of being Editor for its 20th anniversary. I do hope existing readers enjoy its content and that our marketing efforts bring new readers from as wide a range as possible.

Julie McLeod