Editor's Comments I t is with much excitement -and a small amount of trepidation -that I approach the task of serving as editor of JCB. Both feelings stem from the same source: under the stellar leadership of my gifted and dedicated predecessor, Dean Keith Simonton, JCB has become the premier outlet for the best work in the enormously diverse field of creativity. Each issue is chock full of the finest work the field has to offer. The journal is stimulating to read, and it will be even more exhilarating to help shape its future issues. My great hope -and this is where the trepidation comes in -is that I will be able to help the journal continue its progress and consistently leap the high bar that Dean has set.
Creativity is one of those interesting fields that mirrors the very topic it studies. Just as creativity is complex and multifaceted, so too are the approaches to its study. There are case study, historiometric, laboratory, statistical, meta-analytic, and philosophical approaches. There are studies concerned with social, developmental, personality, motivational, emotional, cognitive and neurophysiological factors. There are emphases on extraordinary creativity, as might be shown by noted artists, composers, scientists or inventors, and on more normative aspects of creativity inherent in how ordinary people solve the problems of everyday life, form, modify, combine and manipulate their concepts, use language in creative ways, and innovate for its own sake. There are basic research approaches directed at increasing our theoretical understanding of the phenomena, and more applied approaches examining the manifestation and enhancement of creativity in business, educational, scientific, social policy and decision-making settings in the real world. This is not an exhaustive list, but does help to point out the richness of the field.
My intent is to have JCB continue to serve as a mirror of creativity and of the field itself. All approaches are welcome. Outside of relevance to the topic of creativity, the sole criterion for publication in the journal is and should be the quality of the work. The journal is in the enviable position of receiving more submissions than it can publish, and so it is possible to choose only the very best.
I look forward to working with the energetic staff at the Creative Education Foundation, the members of a diverse and illustrious editorial board, and all the future authors to help keep JCB at the forefront of serious investigation into creativity.