On Being the Journal of Record for Interior Design by Margaret ...

P E R S P E C T I V E
On Being the Journal of Record for Interior
Design
Margaret Portillo, Ph.D., University of Florida
For the past 3 years, I have been graciously invited to say a few words on behalf of the Journal at the Fellows
Forum breakfast sponsored for graduate students at the annual Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC)
conference. Each year I have asked the audience how many used the Journal to guide their graduate research.
I was not surprised to see every student in the room raise their hands. But what did surprise me was the
similarly enthusiastic response of the students when asked how many intended to submit a manuscript to
the Journal. Once again, nearly every hand shot up. Times certainly have changed since I went to my first
IDEC conference in 1990 held at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco where I was one of the few,
if not the only, graduate student in attendance and did not realize how receptive the Journal was to new
scholars.
Nearly twenty-five years later, I see clear growth in graduate studies, research, and scholarship in the field
which is particularly heartening in this time of setbacks, cutbacks, and obstacles yet without hesitation I am
pleased to tell the readership that the past 5 years have been a time of vigorous growth for the Journal of
Interior Design as the recognized journal of record in the discipline. Nevertheless, the readership may not be
fully aware of our most recent accomplishments and exciting new directives.
First and foremost, the most significant recent milestone in the life of the Journal was the move on-line, which
came to fruition under the editorship of Jo Ann Asher Thompson, Ph.D., and the Editorial Board chair Nancy
Blossom, M.A., five years ago. This development greatly extended the reach of scholarship, and laid the
groundwork for many of the achievements I will be sharing with you. The resulting streamlined submission and
production processes has created a much improved chain of checks and balances; enhanced timely delivery;
and perhaps most importantly has allowed for systematic tracking and assessment of measurable outcomes.
On June 18, 2008, the first paper was uploaded to ScholarOne, the online submission and peer-review
database employed by Wiley-Blackwell—the publishers of the Journal. As of December 31, 2012, there have
been 158 manuscripts submitted to the web-based system. The average acceptance rate since 2008 is 24% in
the double-blind refereed review process.
Does the readership know that JID has been attracting significantly more manuscripts not only from the
United States, but from all over the world Authors represent academics in the discipline and scholars outside
the field as well as IDEC members and nonmembers. Since 2008, JID has received submissions from 15
countries and has published articles from authors and research studies based in Australia, Belgium, Canada,
Denmark, Germany, South Korea, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Presently JID has in press papers on
the Israeli residential interior from 1960 to 1977 and the development of a prominent school of Interior
Architecture in Copenhagen that will be forthcoming in JID: 38(3).
For many decades the Journal was published biannually, and then entered a transitionary period producing
three issues a year with 2013 marking the third year of a quarterly publication the gold standard for scholarly
journals. The current editorial strategy is to frame one of the four issues published annually with a timely and
© Copyright 2013, Interior Design Educators Council,
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Now and in future JID will continue to seek to attract and publish the most original ideas and findings
worldwide.
significant theme. While the Journal has sporadically published special issues, now there will be a special issue
in each volume and an annual installations listing dissertations, theses, and creative projects. Further, the
Journal will be alternating history-focused special issues with contemporary topics keeping us firmly rooted
in the past, present, and future. This rotation began with the double issue on sustainability (JID: 37.1-2)
followed by Time: People + Products + Processes (JID: 38.1). Currently, manuscripts are being reviewed for
an issue on design collaboration (slated for JID: 39.1), with the most recent call soliciting manuscripts on
crafting a global history of interior design (JID: 40.1) with an anticipated publication date in the first quarter
of 2015.
The Journal of Interior Design in alliance with Interiors: Design, Architecture, Culture is breaking new
ground by uniting to co-sponsor D’ÉTRE 2: Crafting a Global History of Interior Design at the Post-IDEC
Conference Symposium March 9–10, 2014 in New Orleans. The intent is to publish symposium papers
(double-blind reviewed following standard protocol) that will appear in one of the two sponsoring
journals. Therefore we are soliciting topics that explore contributions of past and present individuals and
firms; significant interiors and furnishings; professional definitions and interpretations; conservation and
preservation; the development of educational and professional standards with the goal of contributing to the
momentum of international scholarship in the field.
By underscoring our commitment to inform practice, JID abstracts of published essays and articles are being
featured in each issue of the ASID ICON. During the past 3 years, abstracts (along with a link to a gratis issue
of JID) have been shared with the ASID readership on net zero housing strategies informed by the Architects
Small Housing Service Bureau to Building Information Modeling simulations to scholarly inquiry on the
homeless shelter family experience. JID Perspectives continue to challenge orthodoxy; for example, consider
the essay on ‘‘Valuing the Intuitive: Reintroducing Design into Interior Design Education’’ (JID: 36.3).
Now and in the future JID will continue to seek to attract and publish cutting-edge research and scholarship
worldwide. At a time when seems to be realizing the importance of design from heightening security to
infusing technology in learning environments to empathetic healthcare environs, the mandate to disseminate
scholarship vis àvistheJournal of Interior Design could not be stronger. And JID’s commitment to rigorous
research of all varieties-mixed methods, qualitative, and quantitative-remains undiminished as we continue
to strive for expanded global reach and relevance. I would like to conclude with an excerpt from the Journal
of the Royal College of General Practitioners, which also applies equally to the role of the Journal of Interior
Design in the field.
I suggest that the literature of a discipline is in fact the heart of a discipline. Just as the heart is proof
of life, so is the literature proof that the discipline lives. Without a literature, a discipline is dead.
As the heart pumps blood to every part of the body, so the literature drives ideas and knowledge
to every part of the profession. As the body lives and grows, so does a discipline: it thrives on new
stimuli, it responds and adapts to them, and so becomes more appropriate to the discipline. (Gray,
1989, p. 232)
I maintain the Journal of Interior Design is in fact the heart of the discipline. It is the journal of record. As
the field continues to grow and evolve, so too must the Journal not only keep pace with change, but without
hesitation must remain at the forefront of interior design.
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Reference
Gray, D. P. (1989). The emergence of the discipline of general practice, its literature, and the contribution of the college journal. Journal of
the Royal College of General Practitioners, 39, 228–233.
Margaret Portillo, Ph.D. is the Chair and Professor in the Department of Interior Design at the
University of Florida. Since 2009 she has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Interior Design.
Author of Color Planning for Interiors: An Integrative Approach to Color (Wiley: 2009) and co-author of
Design Thinking for Interiors (Wiley: 2011), her research centers on design thinking and applied creativity.
This scholarship has resulted in award-winning conference presentations, articles, chapters, and industry
publications. Margaret lead the Research Council (i.e., FIDER; CIDA) from 1999–2004 and is completing
her second term on the CIDA Standards committee. She chaired the Journal of Interior Design Publications
Board and as a guest editor oversaw a special JID issue on narrative inquiry. In 2011, Margaret was
named to a UF Research Foundation Professorship. She also received a State of Florida doctoral mentorship
award from the McKnight Foundation. Most recently she has been instrumental in developing foundation
coursework and student outcomes assessment for the newly launched UF Innovation Academy (IA). The
IA program, with twenty-five participating majors, has received national attention as offering a truly
comprehensive experience centering on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.
NOTE FROM WILEY BLACKWELL:
The Journal of Interior Design has been accepted into and will be included this year in the Arts & Humanities
Citation Index and Current Contents: Arts & Humanities for Thompson Reuters. Coverage will start with
the 2012 volume. This is an impressive achievement for the Journal of Interior Design and a reaffirmation
that the journal is publishing top quality research within the field. The evaluation process at Thomson Reuters
is very involved, and they only accept about 20% of journals that apply, so acceptance by them is considered
a mark of high quality. The journal will be searchable on the Web of Science research platform owned by
Thompson Reuters and citation data is now available for the Journal of Interior Design.
Katie Gaines
Senior Editor
Social Sciences and Humanities
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