EDITORIAL pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Marking Journal Transitions in a Digital World Norbert J. Pienta* Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1294 United States ABSTRACT: The current volume of the Journal has included changes in both its appearance and what content it includes. These transitions have also included some of the people responsible for what is published. Their contributions are acknowledged, as are those of the authors, reviewers, associate editors, and editorial staff members who made Volume 88 possible. KEYWORDS: General Public
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aving the opportunity to discuss the Journal of Chemical Education in a series of presentations this fall has given me time to reflect on matters related to this publication. The last issue of Volume 88 seems like a good time to talk about transitions. Being the Editor of the Journal gets one invited to student-award ceremonies and the education program for local sections of the American Chemical Society. Being the after dinner speaker on a Friday night has its own challenges, but my recent attempts have comprised three major themes: Why we conduct and report scholarship in chemical education; historical perspectives of the roles we have played and ones we should pursue in the future; and what is happening in educational journal publishing as we confront the digital world. The editor transition in fall 2009 was accompanied by our copublishing agreement with the Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (a.k.a., ACS Journals), an opportunity that got us instant access to some modern and well-developed productivity tools and to the resources of very dedicated and knowledgeable people who use them. These tools, while quite useful, require levels of mastery that take time to attain. The adoption of ACS Paragon Plus gives the Journal an environment to streamline processes for author and reviewer submissions, and a workflow that involves a dedicated team of editorial staff and associate editors. We have made great progress in shortening the time from submission to first decision and the time from submission to acceptance (i.e., ASAP status) of a manuscript. We continue to work toward greater efficiency; I will reserve comment about the management of author expectations for a later time. To a reader of the Journal, some differences among the issues of 2011 may be obvious: the look and the content have been undergoing changes. We hope you noticed. We have not coordinated them with the beginning of a new volume because they were either part of a bigger plan (i.e., a new composition system for all ACS journals), or involved editorial changes related to specific timelines or personnel. The “new look” started with the May 2011 issue, and although implemented by ACS Journals for technical reasons, this transition gave the Journal the chance to include abstracts, keywords, an abstract graphic, and other lessobvious yet important improvements. For example, the Journal has adopted a single citation format combining footnotes and references, as well as different layout templates displaying the manuscript type. These changes should help readers more effectively select the content that they choose to read. We hope Copyright r 2011 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
that is true and have already heard comments about a few changes, such as the printed table of contents. Some content is moving or has moved to other venues better suited for that content’s dissemination, such as the Division of Chemical Education Web site.1 Still to come are additional improvements related to the organization of submitted content. We will announce changes to manuscript types and the author guidelines that accompany them as they become available. The functions of the Journal depend on a large group of volunteers and on our hardworking staff. The need to have creative authors is obvious and critical, as there is nothing to publish without them. Our reviewers, typically four per manuscript, are being asked to do more in a shorter time frame. (New reviewer tools in ACS Paragon Plus will include specific evaluative ratings of a manuscript’s originality, utility, scholarship, and pedagogy starting in mid-2012.) Our associate editors shepherd manuscripts through the review process: selecting reviewers, interpreting their comments, and guiding authors through improvements during revisions. The expertise of associate editors in content, methodology, and about the Journal itself enables the review process to operate smoothly. Through a series of task forces, members of the Editorial Advisory Board have undertaken the review of several Journal content areas (i.e., precollege, chemical education research, demonstrations, and laboratory); additional task forces are planned for future efforts. The editorial staff members are indispensible; most of their work is invisible yet it encompasses every phase from submission through publication. I bring attention to these efforts and acknowledge their contributions. Considering the changes in publishing and the complexity and longevity of this Journal, we should not be surprised about seeing change at the Journal. Proverbs abound about change and about the proper perspective one should have about it. However, proverbs fail when trying to put into words appreciation for people with whom one works on a regular basis. Two longstanding feature authors, Angela G. King (Research Advances) and William F. Coleman (Featured Molecules), left those columns after contributions in each issue for many years. The same is true for two other individuals whose presence has been an integral part of the Journal for many years. Thus, we also acknowledge Erica Jacobsen, who has served as Precollege Associate Editor, feature contributor (Especially for High School), column editor (JCE Published: October 12, 2011 1591
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EDITORIAL
Classroom Activities), and precollege outreach facilitator for the Journal; and Laura Slocum, Precollege Assistant Editor and colleague of Erica’s for many years. Their final editorials in their current roles can be found in this issue (Jacobsen DOI: 10.1021/ ed200662n; Slocum DOI: 10.1021/ed200663y); we hope to see some guest contributions from them in the future. On behalf of the entire chemical education community, I thank all who have contributed to this Journal for their hard work, deep dedication, selflessness, and support of the Journal. With these thanks and acknowledgments, we also look forward to the community of effort that will create Volume 89 as an exceptional teaching resource stretching further into the digital age.
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected].
’ REFERENCES (1) Division of Chemical Education Web site. http://www.divched. org/ (accessed Oct 2011).
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