Editor Spotlight

David V. Budescu (PhD, UNC Chapel Hill, 1980) is the inaugural Anne Anastasi Professor of Psychometrics and Quantitative Psychology at Fordham University.

He is the Associate Editor of Decision Analysis and Psychological Methods, and is on the editorial boards of American Psychologist (2016–2018); Applied Psychological Measurement; Journal of Behavioral Decision Making; Journal of Mathematical Psychology; Multivariate Behavioral Research (2013–2017); Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (1992–2002) and Psychological Methods.

Tell us a bit about your background: What is your area of research? What is your most recent journal-editing experience?

I am a quantitative psychologist working in the area of judgment and decision making (JDM).

Much of my work focuses on judgment, individual and group decision making under uncertainty and with incomplete, imprecise, and vague information.

I also work on intuitive and statistical information aggregation and on developing statistical methods for the behavioral and social sciences.

I serve on numerous editorial boards of JDM and methodological journals, and served as Associate Editor of Psychological Methods and Decision Analysis.

Briefly, what are your main priorities? For example, how will you grow readership, what type of scholarship would you like to see in the journal, and what kind of content are you hoping to attract?

The journal focuses on JDM research that is theory (in particular, formal modeling) driven, motivates and inspires rigorous empirical work, and relies on sophisticated, state of the art statistical analyses. The journal seeks to communicate research results in a way that is accessible to all readers and emphasizes both theoretical implications and possible applications.

As with any other relatively new journal, one immediate goal is to be included in many more databases and abstracting services to increase visibility and attract more and more diverse publications.

In addition to mainstream JDM researchers, I hope to attract submissions from related communities in psychology, especially cognitive and social psychologists. I hope to make the journal a relevant outlet to a wider community of researchers including decision analysis and behavioral and experimental game theorists who study interactive and collective decisions.

I will look for ways to reach them, make them aware of the journal's goals, and encourage submissions — possibly by publishing special issues on problems of common interest.

Why is this journal important for the field? What is its relevance to society/public health? What are the hot issues in your area right now?

JDM research has flourished over the last decades and has penetrated many communities such as marketing and consumer behavior. This has moved somewhat the focus of the field and has pushed it towards more applied questions and issues.

In my view, Decision provides a natural home for more basic, theoretical and, if appropriate, formal research on the fundamental aspects of human judgment and decision behavior.

Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Are you making any changes?

I do not envision any major changes to the editorial process and priorities. About two thirds of the members of the new editorial board were also on the previous board.

As I mentioned, I would like to make the journal more visible and attractive to non-psychologists, and one way to do this might be to publish special issues that focus on problems of common interest.

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