Editorial pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Reflecting on Journal Traditions and Policies on the Way to the Future Norbert J. Pienta* Department of Chemistry, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2556, United States ABSTRACT: The Journal has adjusted its policies and practices to keep pace with the needs and interests of the chemical education community. Traditions persist for years until changes cause them to evolve or to be replaced: some examples of this are cited. For journal publication in the future, new concerns arise as policies and practices meet new developments. In recent times, readers have become more interested in open access to journal content and even potential journal content. The current Journal policy about prior publication and tools for open access are discussed. KEYWORDS: General public
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Education, JCE formerly published versions of the Division’s technical programs at ACS national meetings, a practice obviated by the ability to access these materials on the Internet. Announcements and reports for the Division now appear on the Division’s Web site,5 with occasional versions appearing in the Journal. Especially in recent years, consumers’ desire for speed (or timeliness) and increased access to journals has driven change. Although consumers may want free access to content, the economic reality is still that someone needs to pay to make it available. In academia, many of us receive e-mail invitations (almost daily) to publish in online, “open-access” journals that operate by charging the author a substantial fee. In addition, open review of submissions seems like an appropriate goal. How well that might work has not been demonstrated. For the purposes of merit raises and for promotion and tenure, faculty members depend on the reputation and perceived value of a journal, historical standards that become part of the ongoing discussion of the journal publication enterprise. ACS lists specific information concerning open access for JCE.6,7 JCE currently has a policy on prior publication that appears on its Web site.8 Relevant information is excerpted here: The Journal of Chemical Education considers for publication only original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. When submitting a manuscript, an author should inform the editor of any prior dissemination of the content in print or electronic format. This includes electronic posting of conference presentations, posters, and preprints on institutional repositories and other Web sites. Any content that has been made publicly available, either in print or electronic format, and that contains a significant amount of new information, if made part of a submitted manuscript, may jeopardize the originality of the submission and may preclude consideration for publication. Duplication of already published data eliminates the paper from consideration in most circumstances.
s the Journal continues its countdown to Volume 100, periodic self-evaluation seems both prudent and useful. To what extent can and should Journal history inform or dictate the vision for the future? What publication philosophy should drive JCE in the next few years or next decade? What actions are required now? What opportunities should be pursued? Besides keeping the editorial operations working efficiently, your Editor needs to consider the options while keeping subscribers and readers informed. The American Chemical Society (ACS) celebrates National Chemistry Week (NCW)1 in October, and JCE has often featured related content as part of this annual celebration, an example of Journal history mentioned above. (A search for “National Chemistry Week” using the tools on the JCE Web site2 yields over 300 citations going back to the late 1980s.) This year ACS marks the 30th anniversary of NCW with the theme Chemistry Rocks!, a topic highlighting geochemistry. ACS’s goal is to promote the importance and value of chemistry at the local level; the Journal can provide examples and context in chemical education both in this issue and historically. In the present era, papers on a specific topic are primarily sought for Special Issues, so contributions the Journal regularly receives from authors may not readily map onto a given NCW theme. In a time when authors value prompt publication of their scholarly work, the Journal has embarked on a newer tradition with “As Soon as Publishable” or ASAP publication,3 which allows the Journal to (i) publish a paper following a short production time after the paper is accepted, and (ii) organize content topically in specific issues. Journal practices appear and disappear over time, making it difficult to define what a “tradition” becomes. For example, with the introduction of personal computers in the 1980s and their rapid rise to become a ubiquitous part of our lives, JCE had both “software” and then later “online” components that included media such as videos and usable software made available beyond the print version of the Journal. Those components have since “morphed” into our partner publication, Chemical Education Xchange,4 a continuation of some of the historic features with additional interactivity that reflects current interests in blogging, providing comments, and integrating with social media. Mindful of its role in archiving activities of the ACS Division of Chemical © 2017 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: October 10, 2017 1395
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00718 J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 1395−1396
Journal of Chemical Education
Editorial
The policy8 also states information about materials appearing on Web sites: JCE will consider for publication a paper that has been posted on an electronic site available to the general public, provided that the site is the personal site of the author or that of a funding agency (i.e., government or non-profit foundation) and is not connected to a commercial site that holds copyright to the material. Authors must notify the editors at JCE at the time of submission if the material has been available on the Internet or equivalent electronic media. Authors must agree to remove the paper from the site if it is accepted and, if possible, provide an electronic link from that site to the JCE homepage. At present, materials submitted to the open-access preprint server ChemRxiv9 would be in conflict with current policy, as outlined above. ChemRxiv is a new joint venture of ACS, Royal Society of Chemistry, German Chemical Society, and other notfor-profit organizations, as well as other scientific publishers and preprint services. The intention is for potential authors to post a manuscript before journal submission and review. If published, a link will be created from ChemRxiv to the published paper. The Journal’s current editorial policy is based on concerns about the unique nature of JCE relative to ACS science journals. In most respects, JCE is a venue to publish ideas (rather than interpretation of data); if all these ideas appear on an openaccess server, the need to read the Journal may be greatly diminished. Therefore, the value of JCE might be greatly diminished. Likewise, the unreviewed papers on the ChemRxiv server could be perceived as equivalent to Journal content and might include misinformation. At the present time, your Editor has taken a very conservative stance on this issue, even while acknowledging the general benefits to open access, and to chemical education researchers who do provide data, evidence, and interpretations like their scientific counterparts. We continue to collect information and have sought the advice of our Associate Editors and members of the Journal’s Editorial Advisory Board. This matter is still being discussed and represents one of the new challenges in journal publication. The continuing evolution of the Journal and its roles in serving the chemistry education community includes the creative input of our editors. My role as Editor-in-Chief (EIC) ends on December 31, 2019. Recently, the governing board of the Journal announced a procedure for applying for the position, which includes a video interview of the current editor about serving in this role, and named a search committee. The announcement appears in the Journal10 and on ChemEd X,4 as well as on the Division of Chemical Education Web site.11 The future and continuity of the Journal will benefit from your help in identifying appropriate candidates. Find out more about the position and contact appropriate applicants, encouraging them to seek more information and to apply.
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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) For information about the 2017 ACS celebration of National Chemistry Week, see https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/ outreach/ncw.html (accessed Sep 2017). (2) For access to the Journal, see http://pubs.acs.org/journal/jceda8 (accessed Sep 2017). (3) JCE Articles ASAP. http://pubs.acs.org/toc/jceda8/0/0 (accessed Sep 2017). (4) For access to the Chemical Education Xchange, see https://www. chemedx.org/ (accessed Sep 2017). (5) For access to the website of the ACS Division of Chemical Education, see http://www.divched.org/ (accessed Sep 2017). (6) For information from the ACS Publications division about open access for JCE, see http://pubs.acs.org/page/4authors/openaccess/ index.html#jceda8 (accessed Sep 2017). (7) For information about open access opportunities for JCE authors with the ACS Publications division, see http://acsopenaccess.org/ (accessed Sep 2017). (8) For JCE’s policy on prior publication, see http://pubs.acs.org/ page/jceda8/submission/prior.html (accessed Sep 2017). (9) For access to the ChemRxiv preprint server and its guidelines, see https://chemrxiv.org/ (accessed Sep 2017). (10) For an announcement about the search for a new Editor-in-Chief, see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00638 (accessed Sep 2017). (11) For details about the EIC search and links to related information, see http://www.divched.org/announcements/JCE-EICsearch (accessed Sep 2017).
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Norbert J. Pienta: 0000-0002-1197-6151 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS. 1396
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00718 J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94, 1395−1396
