IJEVG and CDQ editors' joint statement on the special international issues.

The idea of an activity of the International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance (IAEVG) in the United States first took root at the IAEVG conference in Berlin in August 2000. In particular, the fact that IAEVG in its 50 years of existence had never sponsored any activity in the United States moved many colleagues to propose a meeting there. With so many U.S. scholars, practitioners, and leaders playing a key role in the development of IAEVG, the proposal soon gained strong momentum.

In 2002, after a long period of reflection and negotiation, Spencer Niles suggested a joint international symposium to be hosted by the IAEVG and the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and held adjacent to the annual 2004 NCDA conference. The IAEVG board and the NCDA board both liked the idea and immediately began discussions about implementing such an activity. More especially, the IAEVG president, Bernhard Jenschke; Mark Savickas, as IAEVG board member; Laura Ward, NCDA president in 2002-2003; and Spencer Niles, NCDA president in 2003-2004, played active roles. The two boards proposed a symposium in San Francisco to examine "International Perspectives on Career Development."

Both associations considered the publication of the proceedings of the symposium to be an important contribution to the field. They explored several options, eventually deciding to publish the proceedings in The Career Development Quarterly and the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance. The respective editorial boards warmly welcomed this plan and quickly approved the idea of simultaneously publishing two companion special issues of the journals. This strategy made it possible to communicate the results of the symposium to the associations' members and, in addition, bring the proceedings to the attention of a large international audience. Furthermore, the joint publication project underscores the mutual efforts of both associations, NCDA and IAEVG, in stimulating international understanding and cooperation.

To coordinate the publications, a guest editorial team was appointed to manage both special issues. The team, consisting of Mark Savickas, Edwin Herr, and Raoul Van Esbroeck, were assigned the difficult task, taking into account the technical limitations of the journals, of finding a way to split the available material into two homogeneous and attractive units. This was by no means an easy task because the format of the symposium was slightly different from that of traditional conferences. There were a few keynote presentations, but the bulk of the symposium consisted of discussion groups that involved a limited number of specialists, academics, and practitioners who engaged in a 6-hour, in-depth discussion of specific topics. Within these groups, a few selected papers were presented to stimulate discussion, yet the real goal remained the discussion itself and its outcome. The Career Development Quarterly presents the general outcome of the activities in the discussion groups, while the International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance publishes a selection of the papers presented in these groups. The keynote presentations are divided between the two journals.

Taken together, the two issues provide a good overview of the results of the discussions, while at the same time providing selected papers that prompted much discussion. The content of the two journals is described at greater length by the guest editorial team in their "Introduction to the Special Issue: Global Perspectives on Educational and Vocational Guidance." In addition, each of the special issues will contain the table of contents of the articles that are appearing in the other journal.

To provide easy access for IAEVG and NCDA members to both special issues, each association has set up a system that allows its respective members to order a copy of the journal that they would not normally receive as part of their membership benefits. Obviously, IAEVG and NCDA were keen on keeping the cost of this extra copy to a minimum. We sincerely hope that many members will make the most of this unique opportunity to read both special issues. We wish you pleasant reading and hope these special issues will contribute to the development of closer international understanding and contacts.

--Raoul Van Esbroeck, Editor

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance

--Mark Pope, Editor

The Career Development Quarterly