Editorial

As we enter the new year and start the fourth year of Decision Analytics journal, it is time to reflect briefly on the past 3 years and provide some perspective on the future of our journal. The explosion of the Internet and the rapid growth of big data present incredible challenges and enormous business opportunities. More data is captured and stored by companies today compared to early 2014 when we published our first article in Decision Analytics. Digital universe is doubling every 2 years, and experts predict there will be 25 billion devices generating data about everything imaginable by 2020. Business organizations need to find new ways to make smarter, faster, and better decisions. To remain competitive, organizations must make decision analytics an integral part of their operational and strategic activities. Decision Analytics journal was launched in 2014 to promote the applications of computer technology, operational research, and statistics to decision-making and problem solving in organizations. We continue to seek high-quality articles focusing on predictive and prescriptive analytics written by/for academics, policy makers, and practitioners to take organizations to a higher degree of intelligence and competitive advantage. We publish original papers, review papers, technical reports, case studies, management reports, book reviews, notes, and commentaries. We also occasionally publish Special Issues devoted to important topics in decision analytics.

The field of analytics has been revolutionized since we launched the Decision Analytics journal. Data has become bigger, the cloud has become more accessible, and visualization has come to rule. We invite articles focusing on emerging trends in decision analytics including self-service analytics, artificial intelligence, text mining, neuro-linguistic programming, machine learning, sentiment analytics, Internet of things, distributed processing, real-time and predictive analytics, predictive hypothesis testing, actionable analytics, monetization of data, agile analytics, stream analytics, mobile app analytics, pervasive analytics, and blockchain among others.

Over the past 3 years, I have had the privilege of working with some of most prolific scholars in decision analytics on our editorial board. It is time to refresh and expand our board with new members. I invite you to join the editorial board of Decision Analytics journal and help us spread the word about our terrific and timely journal. I am seeking energetic, qualified, and high-profile researchers to join our editorial board team as associate editors. Responsibilities include the following:

• Provide scientific credibility for the journal.

• Submit some of his/her own work to attract new and established authors and article submissions.

• Administer peer review.

• Advocate the journal at meetings and conferences.

• Advise me on policy matters.

Finally, I would like to comment on the Open Access model adopted for Decision Analytics to address the need for researchers to maximize the dissemination and impact of their research. For researchers, Open Access brings visibility, usage, and impact/citations for their work. Other advantages of Open Access include increased opportunity for collaboration, faster and easier access to information for anyone, better return on investment for researchers and research sponsors, and faster publishing.

Looking back, some acknowledgements are in order. The visibility of our journal within the scientific community has grown over the past 3 years. Our journal is dependent on the hard work of our associate editors, referees and, more importantly, those who contribute manuscripts. I thank you for your efforts during the last 3 years and continued support of the journal.