Editor Spotlight

Panayiota Kendeou, PhD, is a professor and a Guy Bond Chair in Reading in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development.

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

I am a professor and a Guy Bond Chair in Reading in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota, where I also direct the Reading + Learning Lab. In my lab, we investigate the cognitive processes that support reading comprehension across the lifespan using multiple methods and an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach. We conduct basic research to inform further development of theoretical models that explain how students acquire and revise knowledge during reading. We also use those models to evaluate the efficacy of educational technologies designed to transform reading instruction and assessment.

Prior to this appointment, I served as the associate editor for the Journal of Educational Psychology (2013–2019). Currently, I also serve on the editorial boards of Educational Psychologist, Educational Psychology Review, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Learning & Instruction, Scientific Studies of Reading, and Reading Research Quarterly.

Briefly, what are your main priorities?

My main priority is to maintain and enhance our commitment to research excellence by

• publishing the very best research in educational psychology
• striving for the highest methodological standards and sophistication in analytical approaches
• increasing research transparency

My inaugural editorial will directly address these issues.

The field of educational psychology is very diverse and becoming increasingly integrative, methodologically and disciplinarily. For this reason, it is important to be open-minded and forward-thinking and not limit the focus to specific topic areas.

Consistent with the scope of the journal, I seek original, primary psychological research and important meta-analyses pertinent to education.

Why is this journal important for the field?

Throughout its history, the high-quality empirical research published in the Journal of Educational Psychology has advanced theory and practice in the field of educational psychology and in education more broadly.

The publication standards we set in the journal not only have a direct impact on what we publish but also influence how we conduct and report our research and how we train the next generation of scholars to conduct and report research. The publication standards, and consequently the journal’s impact, have steadily increased under the leadership of previous editors.

The goal is to maintain and enhance this upward trajectory while also increasing transparency.

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