Appreciation

During the fall of 2012, I was given the unexpected honor of leading the Journal of Folklore Research during its golden anniversary year. Soon thereafter, I was also asked to assume the directorship of the Mathers Museum of World Cultures on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. The museum and the journal were both one-half century old. Both deserved a year of celebration, but—as vital ongoing enterprises with an eye on their second half centuries—both also demanded attention and needed collective labor. As JFR's Interim Editor, I must thank the many people who helped ensure that JFR succeeded during its interregnum—one in which I was pulled in many competing directions.

At the end of 2012, Moira Marsh completed a long and fruitful period of service as JFR Editor. Her efforts as editor were remarkable, and the journal's many authors and readers worldwide are permanently indebted to her for her fine stewardship. When I was added to the JFR mix, she graciously and efficiently got me up to speed and included me in the editorial team's work. Her thoughtfulness in handing off the journal made a big difference and I thank her publicly here.

Also crucial to the recent success of the journal was Danille Elise Christensen. Drawing on a deep history of involvement with JFR, Danille served as JFR's Managing Editor through early summer 2013 and was essential to the work of teaching me the journal's history, practices, and traditions. Over several years, she made countless crucial contributions that directly strengthened both the editorial and organizational work of the journal.

Earlier this year Steve Stanzak stepped into the Managing Editor role. Like Danille, he took on this new leadership role with a deeper history of JFR engagement and a wider knowledge of academic journal publishing. I am thankful for Steve's many efforts in support of the journal and appreciate especially the special challenges involved in stepping into the work on volume 50 —a huge and linguistically complex triple issue—when that special anniversary volume was already long underway.

Throughout these transitions, JFR Editorial Assistant Miriam Woods has been a steady and engaged contributor to the journal's work, making a vital difference not only to the journal but also to my ability to attend to the many other duties that were competing for my time and attention.

When this appreciation reaches JFR readers, my friend and colleague Michael Dylan Foster will have already assumed the journal's editorship, thereby relieving me of my interim status. Michael is a remarkable folklorist and colleague and I am certain that the journal will go from strength to strength on his watch. Michael's admirable qualities defy enumeration, but among them is his deep involvement in international folkloristics. Michael is well connected globally within our field, a fact that will help maintain and extend the journal's international reputation and involvements.

On behalf of the Indiana University Press, the Indiana University Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, the JFR community, and myself, I want to thank Moira and Danille for their past ser vice, Steve and Miriam for their ongoing efforts, and Michael for his willingness to serve in a demanding but rewarding editorial role. Thanks for past and continuing support go as well to our staff and faculty colleagues in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, including chair Diane Goldstein. Equally deserving of thanks are the staff and librarians within the IUScholarWorks Program, the Office of Scholarly Publishing, and the Indiana University Press for their support of the journal.

Among the contributions to this issue is an innovative investigation of the journal itself by Cody Behles. His research task was to investigate the place of the Journal of Folklore Research within the broader scholarly literature using empirical evidence and bibliometric techniques. Using citation data in the Arts and Humanities Index and the Social Science Index (both in the ISI Web of Science), Behles has highlighted trends in scholarly communication among JFR authors and observed patterns in how the wider scholarly community uses the journal. I commend his article to you as it points to both JFR's...