Editorial: The team behind the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management

RESEARCH journals have a major responsibility in the generation and transfer of knowledge. Inclusion of a paper in such a journal is the culmination of efforts by a large number of people including the researchers, authors, editors, and reviewers. In many cases, these efforts take several man-months spread over two or three years, maybe more. When the paper is finally published it becomes the author's communication with researchers and practitioners who apply his research results and refer to his findings in their own studies. In this context the archival journals establish the strategic direction of research and influence the scholarly activity in their fields. The long-term impact of their contents and the leadership role they play in the identification of critical issues represent a big challenge for these journals. Their success is measured by the degree to which they respond to that challenge.