Impact assessment publishing – observations and reflections after 7 years of being editor of impact assessment and project appraisal

This is my last issue – a special issue on ‘environmental/ impact assessment simplification’; subsequently introduced by Fischer et al. (2023) – as editor of Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal (IAPA) after seven years, 39 issues (of which 11 issues with a special focus) and 351 published items (including research and professional practice papers, letters, book reviews and editorials). Prior to my time at IAPA, I was editor of the Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), also for seven years, which means I have continuously edited – what used to be – two of the three main impact assessment (IA) journals (the third being Environmental Impact Assessment Review – EIAR) for a total of 14 years. In this, my last editorial, I will make some personal observations and provide for some reflections on IA publishing and editing, looking at past and present developments, in particular with regards to where IAPA is currently standing.