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At �鶹����’s April 7 Annual Business Meeting, President José Gámez reported on work accomplished over the past year to reset the organization’s member and scholarly programs following the Board’s decision in February 2025 to halt publication of the Journal of Architectural Education’s Fall 2026 issue.  

�鶹���� hired the consulting firm Maverick Publishing Solutions in June 2025 to conduct an independent review, comparing �鶹����’s editorial policies to established scholarly publishing standards and assessing the processes that led to the issue’s cancellation. Maverick examined JAE and �鶹���� policy documents, and held confidential interviews with �鶹���� leadership and members of the JAE editorial team. The report found that while �鶹���� followed its established policies for decision-making, existing frameworks were not sufficient for raising, assessing, or resolving concerns relating to editorial content, ethical questions, or research integrity issues. 

Following the report, �鶹���� established an independent Special Committee of faculty and administrators who were not serving on the board to review �鶹����’s scholarly programs and to deliver a confidential report with recommendations for changes to policies, processes, roles, and responsibilities. The Special Committee reviewed the Maverick Report and other �鶹���� documents, and they met with a higher education lawyer who had not previously advised the �鶹���� Board. 

After six months of work, the Special Committee delivered a final report to the Board of Directors. Its co-chairs then met with the �鶹���� board on March 29. At the board’s request, the committee is working on an executive summary for the membership, which will be published in the next few weeks.

The �鶹���� board shares the Special Committee’s belief that �鶹���� can be a more inclusive and responsive membership organization whose commitment to shared values, ethical accountability, and transparent governance can support a diverse and rapidly evolving field. This includes welcoming discussion and publication of scholarship on difficult topics. 

Gámez reviewed five actions the �鶹���� committee endorsed as a result of the final report. 

1. Adopt a Code of Conduct that goes beyond the existing Code of Conduct for Events.

2. Adopt more fully and more visibly the standards of practice of the , or COPE. This will align �鶹���� with global norms for handling misconduct, conflicts of interest, and editorial independence.

3. Establish an Ethics and Integrity Committee that operates between the �鶹���� Board of Directors and its journals and other peer-reviewed programs. This standing committee of experienced scholars will oversee ethical reviews grounded in COPE practices, the Code of Conduct, and other Board policies.

4. Create and publish procedures for managing the various forms of conflict that may arise in scholarly publishing. These procedures will mirror those used by other scholarly publishers and academic member associations, as well as COPE guidance.

5. Review and update editorial policies and practices for both journals, as well as for �鶹����’s scholarly meetings. This includes making the role of double-blind peer review, which is a foundation for all �鶹���� scholarly activities, more transparent.