Prof. Dr. Con Stough Appointed Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Intelligence
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our new Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Con Stough, who, in June 2024, assumed editorial leadership over Journal of Intelligence (J. Intell., ISSN: 2079-3200).
Homepage: https://www.swinburne.edu.au/research/our-research/access-our-research/find-a-researcher-or-supervisor/researcher-profile/?id=cstough
Affiliation: Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences Swinburne University, Advanced Technologies Building, P.O. Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
Interests: psychology; brain science and health; emotional intelligence; theories of intelligence; inspection time; psychopharmacology of cognition and emotion; natural medicines, the brain and cognition; drugs and driving; illicit drugs, MDMA (ecstasy), cannabis, amphetamines; ageing and cognition
Prof. Dr. Con Stough has worked as a professor of cognitive neuroscience and psychology at Swinburne University since 1995, specializing in understanding human intelligence and cognition. He has previously served as an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Intelligence.
Prof. Dr. Stough has been on the inaugural advisory panel for the International Society for Intelligence Research and is currently on the Editorial Boards of several journals. He was an invited member of the Psychology Panel of the World Economic Forum and has been an invited member of several government committees. He has also reviewed grants for dozens of national and international granting bodies and has attracted more than AUD 50M in research grants over the last 20 years. He has also been asked to review scientific papers for more than 50 different scientific journals. He has been a member of several scientific bodies, including the Society for Neurosciences, the Advancement for Psychological Sciences, and the American Psychological Association, amongst others. Prof. Dr. Stough is also the CEO of Aristotle Emotional Intelligence, a unique University-initiated start-up working with schools to measure and develop emotional intelligence.
The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Con Stough, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and open access publishing:
1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Editor-in-Chief?
I've spent my whole life being interested in human intelligence and have served on the Editorial Boards of Intelligence and the Journal of Intelligence in the past. I've also actively published on a wide range of topics in the intelligence field, for example on the measurement of intelligence, the biology of intelligence, how to pharmacologically modulate cognitive performance, and how to measure and develop emotional intelligence. I was also influenced by and met many great intelligence researchers and now would like to, in turn, support good research on the construct of intelligence. I also think that the Journal of Intelligence is a progressive journal in terms of the construct of intelligence and I would like to continue and expand on the great work of the previous Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board Members. How we measure and improve intelligence is a key issue in our world, so research in this area, whether it's about more traditional aspects of intelligence (e.g., IQ tests or cognitive processes) or about other aspects of intelligence (e.g., emotional intelligence), is vital, as we try to improve the world in which we live.
2. What is your vision for the journal?
I want all aspects of intelligence research to be prominent in the Journal of Intelligence. Whether that's to do with the psychometrics of intelligence, the biological aspects of intelligence, new ways to measure and understand the construct of intelligence, or other aspects of the construct, I would love to see papers that talk about the validity of intelligence and how we can better measure and improve our intelligence. As an open access journal, papers in the journal should be easily available to other researchers and the wider community increasing the impact of our publications and hopefully attracting attention from people who can translate the research into positive outcomes in our world. How do we maximize the development of intelligence in children, encourage evidence-based interventions to improve our cognitive ability or our emotional intelligence, or how do we reduce cognitive ageing as we get older are questions that I've always been keen to pursue. Whilst those questions fascinate me, I'm also very keen to promote good research in many other areas of intelligence, including theory and psychometrics. From a practical perspective, I am keen to reduce review and publication times to ensure that new research is published quickly.
3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
That's a tricky question, because advances in a field can happen quickly and attract new research and focus. I'm interested to see how online technology and even artificial intelligence will impact the field, and in particular how we measure human intelligence. I'm also keen to promote the work on the neuroscience of individual differences in intelligence, which will provide a great platform to improve intelligence. I'm also interested in how we can promote intelligence research in our society and different theoretical perspectives. The future is not up to the journal per se but to the great researchers working now and in the future who will answer new questions about the validity of current intelligence tests, find new ways to measure intelligence, advance our understanding of cognitive enhancement, address issues of validity, and help translate current knowledge to societal outcomes.
4. What do you think of the development of open access in the publishing field?
Open access publishing (assuming there are rigorous peer-review processes) allows a much wider community of researchers, practitioners, teachers, and members of our community to access key knowledge and to better translate the important research that is being published into better government and societal policies and outcomes. Therefore, it is an important evolution of the scientific journal world.
We wish our new Editor-in-Chief success and prosperity in both his research and the development of the journal. Further details regarding the Editorial Board can be found at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/jintelligence/editors.