Editorial pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
“What Were You Thinking?” Norbert J. Pienta* Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2556, United States ABSTRACT: The Journal of Chemical Education is in the process of strategic planning, reflecting on the end of the five-year term of the current editor and moving forward. Issues concerning the future of the Journal and publication in a digital world should be of concern to the entire chemical education community, not just those who administer it on their behalf. KEYWORDS: General Public
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learning in public electronic venues? In what ways does one add worth and how does one ensure that the chemical education community values the Journal’s contributions? What are the most important items to publish in the archival sense of the print and digital versions versus creating and using venues that the Division of Chemical Education and JCE support1 in order to expand user participation and communication from the context of social media perspectives? How does one balance the needs and desires of the Journal’s various constituencies? Chemical education research contributions have increased in recent years as that community has grown and as groups such as the National Academy of Science promote evidence-based practices.2 Readers who value the applications and practice of chemical education continue to expect high-quality contributions. Global communications make JCE a natural venue for a broader and more “worldly” perspective, but to what extent does a more diverse Journal alienate readers who only have time to keep up with a narrower perspective? With considerable concern about science education in the United States, extensive efforts are being invested in the Next Generation Science Standards.3 The Journal should certainly document those advancements, but in what ways should JCE be leading the community or seeking reform? In what ways should the Journal serve K−12 teachers of chemistry and those who prepare them for their tasks? The Journal of Chemical Education has been considered by some a resource for its readers more than a means of publication for authors. Of course, we do not have anything to publish in the Journal without the creative and resourceful contributions from our authors. We currently endeavor to maintain the balance by which both groups value our role in the chemical education community; this editor seeks to continue that balance and the means to sustain it in the future. Aware that authors are interested in a faster time to publication, something past editors heard about too, we are implementing an initiative that aims to greatly reduce the time from submission to publication. But the meaning of a quick turnaround in the digital world of the current editor means weeks not months; in five more years, the Journal needs to plan for the next set of acceptable criteria (i.e., days instead of weeks?). To prepare for the future, we extend our strategic planning initiative to you in order to include the perspectives of
t seems like just yesterday. In the late summer of 2009, fundamental changes launched a new era for the Journal of Chemical Education. At the fall national meeting, the Division of Chemical Education, Inc. of the American Chemical Society (ACS), represented by the Division’s Board of Publication, signed a co-publication agreement with the ACS to produce and disseminate the Journal. In a few short weeks, a new editorin-chief officially assumed his position on September 1st, and a series of events initiated the new partnership. Just about a week later, your editor uttered a phrase when he entered a meeting room at the ACS offices in Columbus, OH. Accompanied by two senior staff members who each had plenty of experience during the “Madison dynasty”, your editor walked into a room of 40+ ACS Journals staff, collectively representing centuries of publishing experience. In a few short days, a great deal was decided, and moreover, a process was implemented to keep that pace going through December, when JCE’s version of ACS Paragon Plus went live and the first co-published issue appeared. A senior vice president at ACS Journals said “January 1No problem” and your editor thought to himself again of his predicament at the time, “What were you thinking?” Aside from uttering those words to teenaged offspring at various times, that phrase came up early in the editor’s personal Journal history in early 2006 when his application packet earned him an interview, the first of so many he hardly can recall them all. One of my sons earned an internship at Google last summer after nine phone interviews. So let’s continue assuming plenty of interviews are a sign of the meticulousness and excellence of esteemed institutions. The editorship seemed to warrant more than nine, or at least that’s what they told me. The title phrase was uttered a few more times during the selection, transition, and first five-year term. That is one of the points to be made here: my first term comes to an end in just a few weeks. But whereas “What were you thinking?” represented the uncertainty of a new situation, it has more philosophical implications now. The editor, his staff, the Editorial Advisory Board, the Board of Publication, and several colleagues from the ACS Journals Division recently spent several days considering future directions as part of a strategic planning meeting for JCE. The topics ranged from a global view, both literally and figuratively, to very applied procedural practices. Can the Journal add sufficient value in publishing papers to keep authors from simply self-publishing electronically and readers from finding important and useful information about teaching and © 2014 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: August 12, 2014 1089
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed500541f | J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 1089−1090
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Editorial
authors, reviewers, and readers. We always welcome your comments, and at a later time we will announce surveys in which we seek to sample the opinions of JCE authors and readers. If you see me in the next several months, it’s okay to ask, “What were you thinking?” especially concerning the past, present, and future of the Journal. However, if you come to me with the declaration, “This is NOT acceptable”, you may be reminded that this phrase is old news.4
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. Norbert J. Pienta is Professor and Director of General Chemistry at the University of Georgia, where he teaches and conducts research and scholarship about the teaching and learning of chemistry, devising methods, instruments, and analytics to characterize student learning and increase student success. He currently also serves as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Chemical Education.
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REFERENCES
(1) Chemical Education XChange landing page. http://www.jce. divched.org/ (accessed July 2014). (2) National Academy of Science landing page for report on Discipline-Based Education Research. http://sites.nationalacademies. org/DBASSE/BOSE/DBASSE_072106 (accessed July 2014). (3) Next Generation Science Standards landing page. http://www. nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards (accessed July 2014). (4) Pienta, N. J. This Is NOT Acceptable. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91 (6), 771−772.
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