Editor’s Note

This message signals the completion of volume 10 issue 1 of the Journal of Veterans Studies (JVS), a unique and robust issue that contains all submission types: program profiles, voices, book and new media reviews, interviews, original research, and less-formal articles.¹ Looking at this issue holistically, I gratefully acknowledge the efforts each section editor provided to cultivate the issue. And with my heart overflowing with gratitude to the journal staff and all the contributing editors and selfless peer reviewers who helped bring this issue into fruition, I humbly announce my departure as the journal’s inaugural Editor in Chief (EIC) and excitedly introduce its new EIC, Dr. Khadija Boyd.

For 103 months I have had the privilege of being EIC of JVS; I have cherished the opportunity to support dozens of authors at various stages in their careers and help show English-speaking readers across the globe that Veterans Studies is a diverse and active emerging discipline. A former mentor,² Michael R. Moore, once told me something akin to being a good editor was simply being good to people. Moore modeled his editorial vision of people first through enviable editorial policies.³ Admittedly, my editorial vision for JVS was indirectly about relationship building and more specifically about discipline building.⁴ By founding and overseeing JVS, my goal was to help legitimize Veterans Studies as an academic discipline. Of course, people and relationships were crucial components of this goal—JVS would never have survived, let alone come to fruition if it weren’t for its generous staff, supportive editorial board members, contributing authors, selfless peer reviewers, interested readers, and publishers. I am eternally grateful to everyone who has supported the journal in small and big ways over the years.

Thank you.

In my first years leading journal operations, supported by my loyal and generous colleague Dr. Corrine Hinton as Associate Editor⁵ and members of the inaugural editorial board, my goal was sustainability. Uncertain if the journal would receive enough submissions to warrant a full issue, I hoped the journal would live to see another day, year, volume, and issue. Over time and with consistent submissions and growing readership, my goal for the journal shifted to trying to keep up with the emerging field. To do so I opted to keep submissions open 365 days of the year, which meant we had to read/review submissions as often and prepare and publish articles “on demand” or as they were ready. This model, popular in the medical and health sciences, creates issues by publishing articles one at a time instead of all at once, possible with born digital/electronic publication. Though JVS has used this approach for several years as evidenced by our issue archive, the efficacy and sustainability of this approach is debatable. In recent years, JVS has received more submissions in 1 month than we can send out for peer review, indicating that my goal of keeping up with the field of Veterans Studies is no longer realistic and that JVS deserves a new EIC with innovative, realistic goals.

Fortunately, the Veterans Studies Association’s (VSA)⁶ first EIC search was successful⁷ in hiring Dr. Khadija Boyd as the next EIC of JVS! Dr. Boyd has been with JVS since 2021, beginning as an Associate Editor and moving into a more senior role of Editor the following year. Dr. Boyd has been an invaluable colleague to me and to the journal’s sustainability. I have relied on her as second in command to manage production during trying times. VSA’s hiring of Dr. Boyd indicates that JVS will not only remain sustainable but will also grow and thrive due to her demand for excellence; under her leadership the integrity and level of scholarship accepted and published will likely increase and underexplored subjects will get the attention they deserve. I am excited by the improvements Dr. Boyd will make as EIC that I will graciously support as editorial board member for as long as she will have me.