The world of academic journal publishing is huge. Tens of thousands of academic journals are published by massive companies, while other companies literally make billions of pounds or dollars of revenue in analysing and publicising data, useful, e.g. for ranking journals or assessing markets (Cahill Reference Cahill2024; Macdonald Reference Macdonald2025). And all that activity is totally dependent on an almost unseen core. Just like the spike on a spinning top, the peer reviewers – a most unpaid and unseen group – are essential for academic journal publishing. Academic journals are wholly dependent on this most important and thinnest element in the process of publishing scholarly research and analysis.
Peer or academic reviewers are experts in the fields in which an academic journal publishes. They are also largely invisible. Most journals practice the process of ‘double-blind peer review’. When an article is submitted to a journal, decisions are made first to accept it for review or ‘desk-reject’ it, that is, reject it before it is sent out for review. In this journal (ELRR), articles that are approved to go forward in the review process are then put in the hands of an Associate Editor – another wonderful scholar – who will choose reviewers and collate and interpret reviews, following the article right along the review process.
In a ‘double-blind peer review’, the reviewers do not know the authors, and the authors never know the reviewers (although some may try to guess). Double-blind peer review is essential for rigorous review of scholarly or policy research. Reviewers are not swayed by an author’s name, or institution, or reputation, and so must assess articles on their own merit. It almost always works. Certainly, there are few, if any, alternatives. Without peer review, academic journals would not be academic, and claims to scholarship would be just that – claims. Thus, despite the doubters and cynics (Lindebaum and Jordan Reference Lindebaum and Jordan2023; Lindebaum, Reference Lindebaum2024; MacDonald Reference Macdonald2025), peer review is essential, even in this brave new world of massive publishing organisations.
On the other hand, peer review is invisible, unpaid, and unappreciated by publishers or promotion committees. No one was ever appointed to an academic job, or gained tenure, or was promoted because of their peer review excellence. Were that it could be so!! Rather, peer review is done by reviewers in a spirit of altruism and collegiality. The peer reviewers of academic journal articles almost always do a thorough, thoughtful, and marvellous job, but not for personal gain. They may learn of new research in their field or discover a new approach, but almost always, peer review is wise, sincere, unsung, and unappreciated.
In this issue, we have sought to lift the curtain just a little on the invisibility of peer reviewers. Following this Editorial is, we think, a list of most of the peer reviewers for this journal from late 2023 to late 2025. (We only list each reviewer once, although some may have done two or three or more reviews.) This list of just over 300 collegial scholars and policy analysts is a testimony to idealism and a commitment to academic rigour.Footnote 1 Almost all are magnificent in their scholarship, generosity, and collegiality.
On behalf of The ELRR, its readers, and producers, we offer great appreciation to these outstanding colleagues who have freely (in all senses of the word) shared their expertise and their valuable time. Thank you reviewers – you have been grand!!
And in this fine issue?
Once again, the journal comprises both an outstanding Themed Collection and several original research articles on broader aspects around the journal’s eponymous themes, economics, and labour relations.
The Editorial Board of the ELRR came to a decision seven or eight years ago that it would not have ‘Special Issues’, but rather encourage and enable Themed Collections . This notion of Themed Collections was designed to be solid or significant part of an issue, but never the whole issue. In part, the idea of the Themed Collection has some similarities with Special Issues, insofar as they are led by Guest Editors who call for papers on a particular theme or topic or method, and oversee the collation, selection, reviews, and processing of articles. A Themed Collection may comprise 4–10 articles in any one issue of ELRR, as well as an introductory article or editorial by the Guest Editor(s), as well as individual articles. Moreover, while Guest Editors play a central role in the structure and processes of building a Themed Collection, the journal’s own processes of double-blind peer review are followed assiduously with the journal’s EIC overseeing the process and having the final say on the review, revise, and acceptance processes.
In 2025, we have had three Themed Collections covering all four issues. We began the year with 36(1) Indigeneity and work (Guest Editors – Leroy-Dyer, Jones, and Ruwhiu). That was followed by two issues containing the bulk of the Themed Collection Gender and Work – Emerging Issues, guest edited by Anne Junor and Yuvisthi Naidoo in 36(2) and 36(3).
In this issue 36(4)), we have six articles of the Themed Collection Green transition or social transformation? Socio-economic costs and challenges of energy transition for working people (Green Transition/Transformation) led by Piotr Zuk. As Guest Editor, Zuk also offers an introduction to the topic as well as to the six articles within the Theme. Zuk’s Guest Editorial introductory article follows this Editorial, after which are the six articles of the Themed Collection, Green Transition/Transformation which Zuk discusses in the context of the complexities of a ‘just transition’.
Following the Themed Collection are five excellent general articles and a lively book review of a very apt, recent publication. The first article by Lind, Hennum Nilsson, Strauss Raats, Quinlan, Brulin, Lee, and Håkansta investigates the nature and impacts of the burgeoning forms of algorithmic management. Drawing on the Pressure, Disorganisation, and Regulatory failure (PDR) model, the authors of (Un)healthy algorithms? Trade union, employer, and government action for safety and health in algorithmically managed work explore the ways in which trade unions, employers, and government actors assess safety risks of algorithmic management, and show how industrial relations practicess, policies, and processes could influence the safety and health of workers who are managed through the use of digital technologies.
The next article is Measuring the gender wage gap in Türkiye using administrative panel data for the period 2013–2022. In it, Öztürk highlights the importance of reflecting and reevaluating forms of monitoring and measuring complex phenomena such as gender pay gaps. Despite access to an important and comprehensive database, the author also explores the limitations of some traditional criteria such as age, marital status, and education, as well as the growing informal economy, all of which are seen to limit effective policy-making to reduce the gender wage gap.
In the next article, and also drawing on a significant database, Tarda explores the ways in which corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) directly boosts corporate profitability, albeit mediated by company size. In The role of company size in mediating corporate social responsibility disclosure and profitability, the author shows that CSRD, as both a moral and legal imperative, should be implemented throughout a company’s operations and marketing activities in Palestine and beyond.
In ‘Bad jobs’ in South Korea: A wellbeing-based approach, the authors are the first to apply this approach in their region, which has primarily been used in Europe, to define bad jobs in Asia. Lee and Green not only demonstrate the international applicability of the research approach but also the importance of national context in understanding the patterns of ‘bad jobs’ and the implications for labour market policy in South Korea.
In a forensic analysis of the impact of the Australian electorate’s decisive rejection of Liberal-National Party (LNP) ‘return to office’ mandates in the 2025 election, Williamson, May, Blackman, Weeratunga, and Buick showed how deeply, hybrid working is now embedded as a legitimate right worthy of political protection. In their CONTESTED TERRAIN article, Hybrid working and the Australian social contract: Key factors in the 2025 federal election outcome, the authors give a close-grained and incisive demonstration of the depth of employee (and voter) perception, a lesson the authors argue that ‘should be evident not only for political parties, governments and public sectors, but also for employers who are considering violating the evolving social contract by enforcing ‘return to office mandates’.
Finally, in this issue, Pendleton offers an enticing book review of the recently published book Retiring in a New Age: Life After Paid Work, by Russell D. Lansbury and Marian Baird, which the authors had begun with a much respected scholar, Ron Callus, who died in 2023. For Pendleton, in his review, the more notable findings were firstly, the evident gender and social class differences in post-retirement experiences, and secondly, the indeterminacy of retirement itself. Pendleton notes that Lansbury and Baird highlight the ‘heterogeneity of transitions from work to retirement, such that it is not always obvious when “retirement” actually takes place’.
Overall, then, another provocative and lively issue, and a testimony to the breadth and excellence of research across the panoply of research areas covered by this journal. And it was all dependent on the authors – and the Associate Editors and copy-editors – AND the grand peer reviewers!
List of peer reviewers – THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Abbass, Kashif (Nanjing University of Science and Technology)
Abdelwahab, Dalia (German University in Cairo)
Ablaza, Christine (The University of Queensland)
Ahmad, Saima (RMIT University)
Alfoqahaa, Sam (Amman Arab University)
Al-Jerjawi, Khalil (Western Sydney University)
Anderson, Gordon (Victoria University of Wellington)
Andres, Antonio (German University Cairo)
Arranz, Jose (Universidad de Alcala)
Ashworth, Jared (Pepperdine University)
Avery, Scott (University of Technology Sydney)
Baber, Ashley (Loyola University Chicago)
Balnave, Nikola (Macquarie University)
Balnave, Nikola (Macquarie University)
Bamberry, Larissa (Charles Sturt University)
Barbic, Tajana (The Institute of Economics, Zagreb)
Barradas, Ricardo (ISCTE-Instituto Universitario de Lisboa)
Beaudoin, Jean-Michel (Laval University)
Bekhtiar, Karim (Institute for Advanced Studies)
Belzer, Michael (Wayne State University)
Berg, Nathan (University of Otago)
Bhan, Tanushree (Emory University)
Bikova, Mariya Stoyanova (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences)
Blunden, Hazel (UNSW Sydney)
Boris, Eileen (University of California Santa Barbara)
Boxall, Hayley (Australian National University)
Bradbury, Bruce (The University of New South Wales (Sydney))
Brandl, Bernd (Durham University)
Bray, Mark (University of Newcastle)
Bryant, Gareth (University of Sydney)
Burgess, John (Torrens University)
Bushnell, P Timothy (NIOSH DBBS)
Butler, Elaine (University of South Australia)
Calvert, Julia (University of Edinburgh)
Campbell Iain (University of Melbourne)
Cárdenas-Rubio, Jeisson (Warwick Institute for Employment Research)
Carney Tanya (UNSW Canberra) (deceased)
Caron, Joanie (University Quebec Abitibi-Temiscamingue)
Casaca, Sara Falcao (Universidade de Lisboa)
Castro-Silva, Hugo (Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Técnico)
Cesaratto, Sergio (University of Siena)
Chakraborty, Shouvik (PERI University of Massachusetts)
Chan, Jenny (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Chan, Ngai Keung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Chan, Peter C. H. (City University of Hong Kong)
Chen, Xiaoxiao (University of Shanghai for Science and Technology)
Chopra, Deepta (University of Sussex)
Chybalski, Filip (Lodz)
Clibborn, Stephen (The University of Sydney)
Clibborn, Stephen (The University of Sydney)
Constantine, Collin (University of Cambridge)
Conversi, Daniele (Ikerbasque)
Cooms, Samantha (The University of Queensland)
Costantino, Agostina (National University of the South Bahia Blanca)
Cox, Jolene (University of the Sunshine Coast)
Crawford, Ben (LSE)
Croucher, Richard (Middlesex University)
Cuyvers, Ludo (University of Antwerp)
Dalziel, Paul (Wellbeing Economics, NZ)
Dasgupta, Anirban (South Asian University)
Dayioglu, Meltem (TED University)
Devereux, Helen (Solent University)
Dhanaraj, Sowmya (Good Business Lab)
Dillon, Anthony (Australian Catholic University)
Djurkovic, Nikola (Swinburne University of Technology)
Doughney, Jamie (Victoria University)
Elahi, Ehsan (Shandong University of Technology)
Ellem, Bradon (The University of Sydney)
Ermou, Craig (New York University)
Evans, Michelle (The University of Melbourne)
Fabry, Anna (ETH Zurich)
Fakih, Ali (Lebanese American University)
Farhad, Mohammad (The University of Western Australia)
Fell, Andrew (The University of Queensland)
Ferraro, Simona (Tallinn University of Technology)
Fierro, Luca Eduardo (Universita Degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo)
Filipová, Lenka (Vysoka Skola Banska-Technicka Univerzita Ostrava Ekonomicka Fakulta)
Fitzgerald, Louise (UNSW Business School)
Flavel, Joanne (Adelaide University)
Fuenmayor, Amadeo (University of Valencia)
Gahn, Santiago J. (Bari)
García-Serrano, Carlos (Universidad de Alcalá)
Gavin, Mihajla (University of Technology Sydney)
Gerotto, Luca (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)
Ghoneim, Heba (German University in Cairo)
Giesecke, Matthias (RWI - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research)
Gough, Richard (Victoria University)
Graham, Carolyn (Caribbean Maritime University)
Gregson, Sarah (University of New South Wales)
Grenier, Jean-Noël (Laval University)
Gunn, Virginia (Cape Breton University)
Guthrie, Rob (Curtin University)
Guvuriro, Sevias (University of the Free State)
Hailemariam, Abebe (Curtin University)
Harry, Steven (King’s College London)
Hart, Neil (UNSW Canberra)
Hashmi, Rubayyat (University of Southern Queensland)
Hastings, Thomas (Queen’s University Belfast)
Hatipoglu, Burcin (UNSW Canberra)
He, Guanming (Durham University)
Heino, Brett (University of Technology Sydney)
Hermansen, Asmund (Oslo Metropolitan University)
Heywood, John (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
Hlasny, Vladimir (Ewha Womans University)
Horodnic, Ioana Alexandra (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University)
Howe, John (Melbourne Law School)
Hsu, Cheng-Kai (University of California Berkeley)
Humphrys, Elizabeth (University of Technology Sydney)
Iellamo, Alessandro (Family Health International FHI360)
Iqbal, Kazi (Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies)
Iqbal, Nasir (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics)
Ivanovski, Kris (La Trobe University)
Iyer, Soundarya (RV University Bengaluru)
Jackson, Heather (The University of Newcastle)
James, Phil (Middlesex University)
Jaworski, Jacek (WSB Univ Gdansk)
Jefferson, Therese (Curtin University)
Jia, Peng (Dalian Maritime University)
Jones, Evan (University of Sydney)
Jones, Mark (The University of Melbourne)
Junor, Anne (UNSW Canberra)
Kar, Saibal (The Centre for Studies in the Social Sciences Calcutta)
Kaufmann, Bruce (Georgia State University)
Keen, Steve (UCL)
Kelly, Geoff (University of Wollongong)
Kelsey, Jane (University of Auckland)
Kidd, Jacquie (Auckland University of Technology)
Kiiru, Elaine (Boston)
King, Elizabeth (Brookins Business Institute)
King, John E (La Trobe University)
Kinitz, David (Stanford University)
Koengkan, Matheus (Universidade de Coimbra)
Kopp, Daniel (ETH Zurich KOF Swiss Economic Institute)
Kougiannou, Nadia K. (Nottingham Trent University)
Kponou, Monsoi Kenneth Colombiano (University of Abomey-Calavi)
Kriesler, Peter (The University of New South Wales (Sydney))
Kutuk, Yasin (Gebze Teknik Üniversitesi)
Lafferty, George (Western Sydney University)
Lamb, Danielle (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Le Lay, Stephane (Institut De Psychodynamique Du Travail)
Lee, Hangyoung (Macquarie University)
Lemke, Michael (University of Houston)
Leroy-Dyer, Sharlene (The University of Queensland)
Li, Angela (UC Riverside)
Li, Mankui (Southwest University of Political Science and Law)
Li, Yiqiong (University of Queensland)
Liu, Shimeng Jinan University
Liu, Yun (Northwest Normal University)
Lodewijks, John (SP Jain School of Global Management)
Luo, Siqi (Sun Yat-Sen University)
Luthra, Aman (The George Washington University)
Maccarrone, Vincenzo (Scuola Normale Superiore)
Magnani, Elisabetta (Macquarie University)
Mahmood, Rafat (Monash University)
Majeed, Abdul (Huanggang Normal University)
Malo, Miguel A. (University of Salamanca)
Manganda, Admiral (The University of Melbourne)
Manwaring, Rob (Flinders University)
Marshall, Wesley C (Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana)
May, Sharon (Monash University)
McCrystal, Shae (University of Sydney)
McGrath-Champ, Susan (The University of Sydney)
Melmies, Jordan (University of Lille)
Mercan, Murat (Yildiz Technical University)
Miller, Jason (Michigan State University)
Mills, Suzanne (McMaster University)
Minasyan, Anna (University of Groningen)
Mohan, Taneesha (University of Colorado at Boulder)
Mohnen, Paul (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta)
Moktan, Anamika (Visva-Bharati)
Morris, Alan (University of Technology Sydney)
Motegi, Hiroyuki (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research)
Muldoon, Jeffrey (Southeastern Louisiana University)
Mussida, Chiara (Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore - Campus di Piacenza e Cremona)
Muurlink, Olav (Central Queensland University)
Naidoo, Yuvisthi (The University of New South Wales (Sydney))
Nicoara, Stefania Amalia (Vasile Goldis Western University of Arad)
Nwaka, Ike (University of Alberta)
O’Brady, Sean (McMaster University)
O’Brien, Martin (University of Wollongong)
Oesch, Daniel (University of Lausanne)
O’Keefe, Peter (UNSW Canberra)
Olayiwola, Abiodun (Chrisland University)
Oswald-Egg, Maria Esther (ETH Zürich)
Ozturk, Mustafa (Queen Mary University of London)
Pankaj, Ajeet Kumar (Indian Institute of Science Education)
Parida, Jajati Keshari (University of Hyderabad)
Pattanaik, Falguni (Indian Institute of Technology)
Paweenawat, Sasiwimon (Thammasat University)
Pearse, Rebecca (Australian National University)
Perrig, Luca (University of St Gallen)
Perry, Neil (University of Western Sydney)
Piercy, Gemma (University of Waikato)
Pinto, Luisa Helena (University of Porto)
Ponnusamy, Sundar (Deakin University)
Putra, Fadillah (Brawijaya University)
Qiu, Yumin (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics)
Quiggin, John (The University of Queensland)
Raeside, Robert (Heriot-Watt University)
Rainnie, Al (University of South Australia)
Ramos, Raul (Universitat de Barcelona)
Rath, Badri Narayan (Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Hyderabad)
Rawling, Michael (University of Technology Sydney) *
Rehman, Faiz (Institution of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi)
Richardson, David (The Australia Institute)
Roca, Beltran (Universidad de Cadiz)
Rochon, Louis-Philippe (Laurentian University)
Rodriguez, Antonio (German University in Cairo)
Rodriguez, Ernesto (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid)
Rossel, Cecilia (Universidad Catolica del Uruguay)
Ruppel, Emily (University of California Berkeley)
Rutar, Tibor (University of Maribor)
Ruwhiu, Diane (University of Otago)
Ryan, Matthew (Australia Institute)
Sahu, Tarak Nath (Vidyasagar University)
Sakamoto, Takayuki (Meiji Gakuin University)
Salas-Fumas, Vicente (University of Zaragoza)
Salazar, Silvia (Curtin University)
Salleh, Supiah (Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia)
Satheesh, Silpa (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode)
Sawyer, Malcolm (University of Leeds)
Schaupp, Simon (Technical University of Berlin)
Schmidt, Dušana (Kuwait College of Science and Technology)
Schmitt, Laila (LMU Munich)
Schofield-Georgeson, Eugene (University of Technology Sydney) *
Sedo, Stanley (University of Michigan) *
Seivwright, Ami (Monash University)
Seo, Hyojin (Tilburg University)
Shan, Desai (Memorial University Newfoundland)
Sheridan, Lynnaire (University of Otago)
Shourian, Mahla (University of Oklahoma)
Sieber, Karl (NIOSH Division of Science Integration)*
Smith, Meg (Western Sydney University)
Sokolowski, Jakub (University of Warsaw)
Solera, Augustina (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
Sotirakopoulos, Panagiotis (Curtin University)
Spies-Butcher, Ben (Macquarie University)
Staniland, Nimbus (University of Auckland)
Stevens, Andrew (University of Regina)
Strachan, Glenda (Griffith University)
Sturman, Anna (University of Sydney)
Sutko, Daniel (California State University Fullerton)
Swan, Peter (Penn State)
Taksa, Lucy (Deakin University)
Tandon, Ambika (Cambridge University)
Taylor, Greig (University of Wollongong in Dubai)
Ter Haar, Beryl (University of Groningen)
Thampi, Anjana (OP Jindal Global University)
Thomas, Adrien (LISER)
Thornthwaite, Louise (Macquarie University)
Thornton, Margaret (Australian National University)
Tomazic, Ana Cardenas (Goethe University Frankfurt)
Toner, Phillip (University of Sydney)
Trueba, Mei L. L. (University of Sussex)
Tsai, Sang-Bing (International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI))
Tucker, Eric (York University)
Tuncalp, Deniz (Istanbul Technical University)
Turner, Mark (University of Canberra)
Underhill, Elsa (Deakin University)
Vacchiano, Mattia (University of Geneva)
Valentini, Enzo (University of Macerata)
Valet, Peter (University of Bamberg)
van den Berg, Miriam (The University of Adelaide)
Vandenberghe, Vincent (UCLouvain)
Vassiley, Alexis (Edith Cowan University)
Vestad, Ola (Statistics Norway)
Vignola, Emilia (University of Washington)
Villarroya, Anna (University of Barcelona)
Wacker, Konstantin (University of Groningen)
Wagner-Tsukamoto, Sigmund (University of Leicester)
Walters, David (Cardiff University)
Wang, Feicheng (University of Groningen)
Wang, Geng (University of Glasgow)
Warren, Tracey (University of Nottingham)
Watts, Martin (The University of Newcastle)
Wen, Huwei (Nanchang University)
Whelan Stephen (University of Sydney)
While, Aidan (The University of Sheffield)
Williams, Claire (Flinders University)
Williamson, Sue (UNSW Canberra)
Wilson, John (Northumbria University)
Wilson, Shaun (Macquarie University)
Withers, Matt (Australian National University)
Woodcock, Jamie (University of Essex)
Wright, Chris F (The University of Sydney)
Wu, Yue (Wuhan University of Technology)
Wuellner, Sara (Washington State Labor Institute)
Xia, Bingqing (East China Normal University)
Xu, Yizhou (Old Dominion University)
Yang, Tianle (Zhejiang University)
Yang, Xiaoyi (Jiangsu Ocean University)
Yap, Mandy (Australian National University)
Yaya, Mehmet (Eastern Michigan University)
Yeerken, Alai (Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics)
Yin, Siyuan (Simon Fraser University)
Ying Feng, Fang (Wuhan University)
Yoon, Jung (Flinders University)
Yu, Yang (Oxford University)
Yucel, Yelda (Istanbul Bilgi University)
Zhang, Marina (University of Technology Sydney)
Zhou, Min (Shandong Agricultural University)
Open access
