Editorial.

Hunter, Boyd ; Lahn, Julie

In our first issue as the editors of Australian Journal of Social Issues (AJSI), we would like to introduce ourselves and set out a basic vision for the journal as it moves towards its second half a century of publication. We are both researchers at the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS), The Australian National University (ANU). While we largely specialise in Aboriginal Economic Policy research at the ANU, we have extensive experience and engagement across many of the core social science disciplines, including: anthropology, criminology, demography, geography, history, sociology, and of course economics and policy analysis. Boyd is also currently Managing Editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Economics, but will limit his role in that journal in 2014 so that he can devote more time to ensuring the ongoing success of the AJSI. Collectively, this experience places us in an excellent position to meet the challenges of organising an interdisciplinary journal.

The AJSI is a quarterly refereed journal published by the Australian Social Policy Association (ASPA). The newly elected President of ASPA is Professor Adam Graycar who is also the Director of the RSSS. The support of the President of ASPA will be vital to ensuring the ongoing success of the AJSI into the future as will the secretariat support for the Association (provided very capably by Tracy Deasey). Our priority as editors is to ensure that the AJSI continues to secure quality research that is both 'readable and read' (apologies to Oscar Wilde). To facilitate this we have begun a process of enhancement to the journal and its organisation. Readers may already have noticed a more user friendly website for ASPA and the AJSI and updated webpages on the scope of the journal and its style guidelines. We are also introducing a new Forum section to the journal aimed at shorter contributions that review and analyse current policy debates, theory and practice. As with all AJSI content, these will be peer reviewed but we will be focused on ensuring a quick turnaround to increase our responsiveness to current issues. We have begun a process of renewing the Editorial Board which will continue over the coming months. One strategic direction we are pursuing concerns optimising our journal impact factor by ensuring timely electronic dissemination and indexation of research in both conventional citations tracking systems and internet-based systems like Google Scholar.

Since its first issue in 1961, the AJSI has published peer-reviewed scholarship on crucial social policy issues that affect the welfare of Australian citizens. The journal has a long-standing commitment to questions of social justice, broadly defined. We seek to uphold these traditions and facilitate inter-disciplinary discussions that identify well-constructed arguments and evidence-based policy. As we approach the 50th volume of the journal we have an opportunity to reflect on history of the journal and future directions that may ensure that effective policy debate is informed by social justice considerations. Readers can expect a special thematic issue with articles from some of Australia's leading social scientists that reflects on the cumulative literature published in the AJSI and identifies constructive options for realising the goals of the journal for the next 50 years.