Developing best practice: the role of the professional journal

Abstract

Good practice develops step-by-step in many different places; comparison, discussion and evaluation are the ways in which best practice is identified. The web has become the prime channel of information transfer but its success in providing access to enormous amounts of information also poses problems for the municipal professional in that they can be overwhelmed by both information and misinformation. The traditional approach to knowledge transfer has been, primarily, through professional journals. The editorial process, ethical standards and peer review has enabled information to be sifted, selected and tested for the benefit of practitioners everywhere. But this approach is being challenged by the new channels of information exchange and communication. This paper proposes that the engineering community must identify ways in which the new channels can be utilised and combined with the virtues of the peer review process for ‘best practice’ to be identified from the mass of information available.