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Welcome to the February 2022 PMWJ

 

What Should We Publish?

WELCOME

By David Pells

Managing Editor

Addison, Texas, USA


Welcome to the February 2022 edition of the PM World Journal (PMWJ), the 114th monthly edition. This month’s PMWJ contains 25 new works by 24 different authors representing 14 different countries. This is another good edition, with some excellent content and variety, and a mix of regular and new contributors.  I’m happy to introduce another new series this month on Project Management in Southern Africa, a result of our new cooperation with PM South Africa, to publish more works of interest to readers in that country and to provide opportunities for authors there to share their unique experience, knowledge and perspective with the rest of the world.  We will be introducing more new article series this year, but this has also led me to consider the whole topic of what we can or should be publishing.  So…

What Should We Publish in the PMWJ?

The PMWJ is a practitioner-oriented publication; that is, it is intended to include useful information related to planning and managing projects and programs more successfully.  It is also intended to provide opportunities for practicing project management professionals, leaders and experts to share their experience and knowledge – knowledge sharing in program and project management, knowledge transfer if you will.

That said, its original design was based on academic journals.  I’ve always loved academic journal, although I’ve been unable to subscribe to important ones. There is so much to learn in them, so much to advance our knowledge and understanding of modern PM.  I am in awe of the editors and publishers of the leading PM journals that have truly and steadily advanced the theory and practice of project management for so many years. Some of those editors have become Honorary Academic Advisors for this journal, even while recognizing that the PMWJ contents are not peer-reviewed and our journal is not really in their league.

But we adapted the straightforward approach of most leading journals, simple listing of contents, summaries of articles, recognition of authors, and access to full articles and papers.  No marketing hype, no PR BS. What you see is what you get. Keeping it simple!  It is, after all, free to access, read and download.  We do actually publish some good research papers by professors, graduate students and others in our Featured Papers category (we insist on conference-quality papers there, fully referenced unless extraordinarily original).  But they are not (very often) peer-reviewed nor selected based on academic criteria, but rather by me based on perceived relevance, usefulness or interest to the broader PM community.

Perhaps the most important reason for publishing the PMWJ, and its predecessor PM World Today, was a trend that began about 15 years ago.  There became fewer and fewer publications where average PM practitioners and professionals could submit articles and papers for publication.  The Project Management Institute (PMI) and other professional societies began to publish polished, professionally produced and more commercial magazines, with content authored by more professional writers. (Since launching their projectmanagement.com website, PMI offers more opportunities to publish and share knowledge now, but there was at least a 10-year period when everyday opportunities to get published seemed to dry up.)

Submitting papers to conferences also became more challenging, as authors had to jump through time-consuming hoops of qualifications, criteria, formatting and copyright issues.  It seemed to me that even the professional associations were catering more to academic and professional authors, or those with commercial interests in promoting themselves.  I thought I saw the need for a vehicle for anyone to share knowledge in PM, more easily, faster and with fewer hassles.  So that was and is what the PMWJ is for.

The question then became, what should we publish and how do we attract content, while paying attention to quality and relevance…

More…

To read entire welcome article, click here

How to cite this article: Pells, D.L. (2022). What Should We Publish? And Welcome to the February 2022 PMWJ; PM World Journal, Vol. XI, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/pmwj114-Feb2022-Pells-welcome-to-this-edition.pdf


About the Author


David L. Pells

Managing Editor, PMWJ
Managing Director, PMWL

 

 David L. Pells, PMI Fellow, HonFAPM, ISIPM, PMA, SOVNET is Managing Editor and publisher of the PM World Journal (www.pmworldjournal.com) and Managing Director of the PM World Library www.pmworldlibrary.net . David is an internationally recognized leader in the field of professional project management with more than 40 years of experience on a variety of programs and projects, including engineering, construction, energy, defense, transit, technology and nuclear security, and project sizes ranging from thousands to billions of dollars. He occasionally acts as project management advisor for U.S. national laboratories and international programs, and currently serves as an independent advisor for a major U.S. national security program.

David Pells has been an active professional leader in the United States since the 1980s, as founder and president of several PMI chapters, founder of PMI’s first SIG (Project Earth), and member of the PMI board of directors twice.  He was founder and chair of the Global Project Management Forum (1995-2000), an annual meeting of leaders of PM associations from around the world. David was awarded PMI’s Person of the Year award in 1998 and Fellow Award, PMI’s highest honor, in 1999. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM) in the UK; the Instituto Italiano di Project Management (ISIMP – Italy); Project Management Associates (PMA – India); and the Russian Project Management Association (SOVNET).  In 2010 he was made an honorary member of the Project Management Association of Nepal.

Former managing editor of PM World Today, he is the creator, editor and publisher of the PM World Journal (ISSN: 2330-4880).  David has a BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington and an MBA from Idaho State University in the USA.  He has published widely and spoken at conferences and events worldwide.  David lives near Dallas, Texas and can be contacted at editor@pmworldjournal.com

To see other works by David Pells, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/david-l-pells/