Academic Freedom For Arkansans (Call for Articles)

I lived in Arkansas for 9.5 years. Even though I have recently relocated to Michigan, I still have fond memories of ArPA. Several years ago, we had the idea of launching an OER journal for Arkansas faculty and students. Life, however, got in the way.

It was in the midst of COVID-19 and busy schedules, editors moving, and the workload that came along with increasingly online pandemic teaching got in the way. Last year I planned to jump start the journal again. Once again, life happened. After a personal loss, some health issues, and a change of jobs, I once again fell behind. But a fantastic article written by a group of University of Central Arkansas Researchers has inspired me to restart it for real this time.

Even though I am not in Arkansas physically, I still have a lot of love for the psychology community there and will always feel part of it. I have made some changes to the journal. From now on, the authors will retain the copyright to their work. If, for some reason, an author or authors wish to remove their article and publish it with a different venue, we will do so. Second, I have a plan for introducing the long awaited first print edition. All previous articles and any published through August of this year will be volume 1. Each successive year, a new volume will be published in print in June. The retention of copyright requires some explanation. It is my philosophy that research should be for the public good. As long as authors feel our venue helps them reach the public, then they are free to publish with us. If another venue seems more appropriate at a future date, I want the dissemination of important research to take precedence over intellectual property claims.

Finally, I want to put out a call for 2-3 more articles to make the August print edition. Specifically, I am looking for articles relating to the state of academic and clinical freedom for psychologists in Arkansas. Higher education and science are facing increasing hostility in our society. But the answer is not retreat. The answer is boldness. We should research important topics and report important results. I want this to be a place where Arkansas psychologists are not afraid to share what they find. Research for the public good. That is my new motto.

Respectfully,

Eric C. Prichard, Ph.D.

Department of Psych

University of Michigan