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Editorial Philosophy
Walter Isard defined regional science as the study of
those social, economic, political, and behavioral phenomena
that have a spatial dimension. Regional science was viewed
not as an interdisciplinary activity, but rather as a
new, unified discipline. With the recent passing of the
40th anniversary of the "birth" of regional science, many
regional scientists, upon reflection, question whether
Isard's lofty goal of a new discipline has been achieved.
There are no academic departments of regional science
and those that view themselves as regional scientists
find themselves very much at home in departments of economics,
sociology, political science and geography. Today, the
majority of regional scientists would concur with the
position of Miernyk who argues that regional science is
more focused on relevant issues and public policy from
a multidisciplinary perspective. The leading journals
in regional science tend to be dominated with empirical
analysis addressing real world phenomena. Because of the
tendency for regional scientists to be focused on trying
to better understand current issues from a regional or
local perspective they find themselves in great demand
by local, state and national policy-makers. While some
have expressed concern that some of the parent disciplines
are becoming increasingly irrelevant, regional scientists
tend to remain firmly planted in the real world and draw
on the various disciplinary perspectives to better understand
those social, economic, political, and behavioral phenomena
that have a spatial dimension.
The profile of the membership and the meetings of the
Mid-continent Regional Science Association (the parent
organization of JRAP) tend to reflect the applied, focused
nature of regional science. The mid 1990s decision to change the title of the Association's professional journal
from Regional Science Perspectives to The Journal
of Regional Analysis and Policy underscores the need
to retain the relevance of the Journal to real
world issues and policies to affect change at the regional
and/or local level. As editors of JRAP we will strive
to retain the tradition of seeking out and publishing
quality basic and applied research with a focus on the
advancement of the multidisciplinary perspective of regional
science.
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