Reading the title of this editorial, many might think that Contemporary Military Challenges have not been published for so many years, and that before there was another publication, entitled Bulletin of the Slovenian Armed Forces. In a way, this is, of course, true. Nevertheless, this year indeed marks 20 years since the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces began to publish its own publication, at the time called the Bulletin of the Slovenian Armed Forces. Its purpose was to inform the internal and external public about the novelties in the fields of security, defence and the military or better armed forces.
Normally, in NATO and EU member states, professional and scientific defence-related works are published by ministries of defence, or research institutes within the ministries, which issue publications on defence-strategy related topics. General Staffs, however, publish their own publications, which are typically intended for military professionals. Educational organizational units usually issue publications intended for the publication of graduation thesis of students at various levels of military education, while military museums or related units are responsible for the development of topics relating to military history. Following this concept, the publication Vojstvo (Armed Forces) was published between 1996 and 2000 by the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Slovenia.
The General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces first published the Bulletin of the Slovenian Armed Forces in 1999. The date written in the first issue is September 1999; however, according to the co-workers who contributed to this success, the first issue was in fact printed in November 1999.
In addition to the Contemporary Military Challenges, two other periodicals are being published in the Slovenian Armed Forces, namely, Vojaškošolski zbornik (Military Schools Bulletin), issued by the Military Schools Centre, and Vojaška zgodovina (Military History) issued by the Military Museum, which also forms a part of the Military School Centre.
The gap, which occurred after Vojstvo was no longer published, was gradually filled by the Bulletin of the Slovenian Armed Forces, later the Modern Military Challenges, which publishes scientific and professional articles by Slovenian and foreign authors. The name of the publication was changed upon the advice of Editorial Board members on the grounds that the name “bulletin” did not reflect the contents or the subject field of the publication. In the dictionary of standard Slovene, the Slovene equivalent for “bulletin” is defined as a short official message to the public, a note, an informative periodical or newsletter.
Consequently, the editorial board undertook the demanding task of finding a new name for the publication and found the name Contemporary Military Challenges.
Much work and effort have been invested in the production of a military publication. The majority of those who contributed to this effort were engaged primarily on their own initiative, in private time. Writing articles according to international standards requires order, effort and discipline. Many gave up before they even started to write and, the authors who did write articles for this military publication, in most cases, departed from the average further down their careers.
The authors were numerous. Sixty people have been members of the editorial board between the beginning of the publication and the end of 2018. Since 2008, when peer review was introduced, 279 authors have contributed their articles, many of them repeatedly. The one especially standing out is a Slovenian Armed Forces Major who has written 10 articles. The list of all referees includes 103 names. The referee who has contributed the largest number of reviews is a Brigadier General with 54 reviews. There are also 18 referees who have contributed more than ten reviews.
The long years of effort have been fruitful and resulted in a fact that, in 2010, the Slovenian Armed Forces publication was indexed in the PAIS International database within Proquest. Consequently, it was included in the list of the journals of the Slovenian Research Agency. For the publication of articles in the Contemporary Military Challenges, the authors are therefore granted 30 academic points.
Year No of articles Scientific articles Professional articles Editorial
2017 24 21 (87.5%) 3 (12.5%) 5
2016 25 18 (72%) 7 (28%) 5
2015 21 10 (48%) 11 (52%) 4
2014 25 16 (64%) 9 (36%) 4
2013 24 12 (50%) 12 (50%) 10
2012 26 11 (44%) 14 (56%) 4
2011 31 17 (54%) 14 (45%) 4
2010 45 17 (37%) 28 (62%) 4
2009 42 18 (43%) 24 (57%) 7
There is no need to worry about the quality of the contents in the future, since the editorial board and the editorial council provide a wide range of authors from various fields, institutions and countries.
On the 20th anniversary of the publication, appreciation goes to every single person who has contributed to the fact that, even when everything did not run smoothly, the publication kept going and was regularly published. There have been and still are individuals who have contributed more, better and with more motivation, but everyone deserves credit for the success of the publication.
In this last issue of the jubilee year, the authors devoted themselves to very topical subjects.
(NE)OBSTOJ SLOVENSkE VOJAŠkE IDENTITETE