What Does JPER Look for?

You just completed an amazing research project. The methods are solid, the results are ground-breaking, and the contribution to planning scholarship is profound. Now, you have to decide where to publish the paper. The easy answer is the Journal of Planning Education and Research (JPER), but journal “fit” is complex and not every manuscript will find a home here. To help guide your submission plans, we offer this editorial to better elucidate our own vision for JPER and suggest the kinds of articles we seek to publish. Naturally, as the planning discipline is constantly evolving, so is our vision. We see this editorial as the beginning of an ongoing dialogue with you and the planning community about JPER priorities.

The JPER website provides a pithy aim: “a forum for planning educators and scholars (from both academia and practice) to present results from teaching and research that advance the profession and improve planning practice” (Journal of Planning Education and Research [JPER] n.d.). We both have enormous pride in our discipline and firmly believe in the central role planning plays in shaping cities and regions. Our goal for JPER is to support scholarly publications that can showcase and expand the important role of planning in a rapidly changing world. In this vein, JPER aims to: (1) advance knowledge through planning research and (2) foster a thriving and growing discipline through planning education and theory development. The world is constantly in flux, and we want JPER to be the place where educators and scholars can find relevant answers to how the field of planning is evolving to sustain and expand our discipline’s impacts.

JPER only publishes articles related to planning. But, what is planning? We adopt the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning’s (ACSP n.d.) definition: “Planning is a systematic, creative way to influence the future of neighborhoods, cities, rural and metropolitan areas, and even the country and the world.” Within this official definition, we underscore the “future” and the “systematic, creative way” and encourage future-oriented, multidisciplinary, and innovative articles. This emphasis reflects our recognition of the importance of flexibility and even some ambiguity in defining JPER’s scope, allowing room for reshaping and, more importantly, pushing the boundaries of our discipline.

To avoid the risk of restricting the scope of JPER, we do not want to provide here an exhaustive list of topic areas. Still, we particularly seek manuscripts on emerging trends and encourage submissions related to technology, social change, politics, and other frontiers. At the same time, we will continue to strengthen the journal’s core areas, including but not limited to the key tracks ACSP uses to organize its annual conference (transportation, housing, environmental planning, economic development, land use, etc.). JPER strives to lead by publishing research that significantly advances our field, rather than making minor, incremental contributions.

We would also like to encourage articles on planning theory and planning education. JPER’s title suggests its central role in publishing planning education articles, and historically, it used to be a prime outlet for theory articles (Klosterman 2011). Nevertheless, Fang and Ewing (2020) detected a concerning decline in the number of theory and education articles in JPER, the Journal of the American Planning Association, and the Journal of Planning Literature. We want to call for renewed attention to these areas. In North America, most planning academic programs face recruitment challenges, which is puzzling given planning’s relevance to pressing challenges, such as climate change, social justice, and disruptive technologies. Many planning academics and practitioners have been pondering: What is the value of planning? How can we better prepare planners to navigate and address these evolving challenges? We seek to publish papers that reshape the procedural, substantive, normative, and pedagogical theories of planning through rigorous scholarship. With a better understanding of what, why, and how planning operates, we can ask better questions of what planning ought to be.

We are deeply humbled by the weighty responsibilities of leading JPER and see our roles as managing an open, collegial, and stimulating discussion forum. We warmly welcome ongoing dialogue and debate around the outlined priorities, which reflect the current trajectory of JPER and our aspiration for our discipline. We will continue communicating with the academic communities to position JPER as the central platform for advancing planning research and education.