Editorial
Astrid Gynnild
Editor
I am delighted to introduce the first issue of the Grounded Theory Review as an open access journal. This means that from now on, all academic articles provided by the journal are freely accessible online, including the archives. As an interdisciplinary, peer reviewed methodological journal, the Grounded Theory Review serves a broad academic community across continents. We are committed to the worldwide dissemination and advancement of classic grounded theory methodology, and similar to an increasing number of academic journals, we support a free exchange of scholarly knowledge, independent of access to scholarly funding or library facilities.
We are convinced that the switch to open access will benefit not only readers but also the authors, who will see their articles more widely read and cited. That being said, it is important to emphasize that open access only concerns audience’ access to scholarly knowledge. As a peer reviewed journal we adhere to the highest standards of scholarly publishing and will constantly work on quality improvement. As such we will strive for a prompt turnaround on reviews; returning reviews to authors as quickly as is consistent with a thorough evaluation of their work.
As the new editor of the Review, I am grateful to the former editor-in-chief, Judith Holton and the dedication she has shown over the last eight years. Judith has developed the journal to a high scholarly level, not the least through systematic quality improvement of the peer review process.
I also wish to thank Cheri Fernandez, who has served as an assistant editor of the journal since 2010 and who is the guest editor of the themed section of this issue. On assuming my role as editor, I was delighted to learn of her well developed plans for an issue on constructivist grounded theory. I am also grateful to Carol Roderick for her continued and valued contributions as copy editor. Thanks to Scot Hacker, Helen Scott, and Shimrit Berman, who all did great work with the new journal web site.
This issue starts with a general section, which deals with two topics that are of concern to all researchers who plan to use grounded theory. I am happy to publish the first chapter in Barney G. Glaser’s coming book Stop, Write! Writing Grounded Theory, in which dr. Glaser discusses writing blocks and how we can develop our sensitivity for the readiness moment for writing. The second article, written by Lorraine Andrews et al., discusses how grounded theory can be used to analyze secondary data. In the themed section, guest editor Cheri Fernandez has collected four articles that deal with the differences between classic grounded theory and constructivist grounded theory. The collection includes an introduction to constructivism written by Tom Andrews, an exemplar of constructivist grounded theory written by Dori Barnett; a commentary to Barnett’s article by Tom Andrews and Cheri Fernandez; and a reprint of Barney G. Glaser’s article from 2002, Constructivist Grounded Theory? Jenna P. Breckenridge et al. close this section with “Choosing a Methodological Path: Reflections on the Constructivist Turn.”
For the coming issues of the Grounded Theory Review, we are interested in grounded theories and methodological papers as well as papers on teaching and learning grounded theory, and shorter conceptual discussions (see submissions).
