Comment▼ Reporting in the new year 2006 was a good year for ES&T. We processed a record number of manuscripts and cut the time from receipt to acceptance from 32 weeks to less than 20 weeks. Our ISI Impact Factor rose from 3.56 to 4.05, and ES&T was accessed online more than 100,000 times per month—both the magazine content and the research articles attracted record numbers of views and downloads. I’m pleased to announce that two new Associate Editors have joined our ranks this year to broaden the scope of the journal and to process the 20% increase in manuscripts. Joop Hermens of Utrecht University (The Netherlands) will lead our efforts in ecotoxicology and human environmental health, and Pedro Alvarez of Rice University will handle papers in the broad area of environmental engineering, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. Both are internationally known as leaders and experts in their fields. As we begin the new year, I am delighted also to announce that we have hired a sterling Managing Editor for ES&T, Britt Erickson. Britt served for 6 months as Interim Managing Editor after the retirement of Alan Newman. She brings almost 10 years of experience from ES&T, Analytical Chemistry, and the Journal of Proteome Research and a Ph.D. in environmental analytical chemistry from the University of Maryland. As Managing Editor, she recruits our reporters and assigns the news stories, edits the magazine section of the journal, and helps to solicit feature and viewpoint articles. As Editor-in-Chief, I am responsible for the overall content of the journal and for the appointment of Associate Editors and the Assistant Editor. I also handle peer review of the feature articles, oversee the peer-review process of all research articles, and process some myself. I am blessed with a wonderful corps of consummate professionals as editors and staff at ACS, who make this journal run as efficiently as any I’ve seen. In particular, we enjoy a symbiotic relationship with the Journal Productions and Manufacturing Operations in Columbus, Ohio, who post the online journal and prepare the hard copy. ES&T reporters are among the best in their field. I am proud to stand behind the articles they write. They continue to tackle controversial subjects in science, technology, and policy and to write objectively about whatever they find. Our reporters probe the credibility of their sources, and they seek the most important and significant stories. Perusing the content of any issue, one will find controversial topics seriously and credibly covered. The past year was not without its challenges. Several incidents of self-plagiarism by authors occurred during 2006, and unfortunately we needed to sanction some of © 2007 American Chemical Society
the authors. We have revised and strengthened the Ethics, Conflict of Interest, and Prior Publication statements in our Instructions to Authors (see page 25 in this issue and our website), and we ask all authors to read these carefully before submitting an article to ES&T. ES&T and ACS received criticism on PBS’s program “America’s Investigative Reports”, which aired November 10, regarding the termination of reporter Paul Thacker. Thacker maintained that he was fired by ACS because pressure was applied by a member of the ACS Board of Directors. ACS has assured me that this was not the reason Paul was terminated. The ACS Board of Directors regulations specifically prohibit interference with activities of editors of ACS publications: “An editor shall not be subject to, nor obligated to accept, any recommendation or instruction from the Board of Directors, Executive Director, Governing Board for Publishing, . . . or any other officer or employee of the Society regarding the selection of articles for publication or the contents thereof.” In my 4 years as Editor-in-Chief of ES&T, I have never been questioned by anyone at ACS or by the Board as to the content of the journal or my editorials. This is despite the fact that I have written some pretty provocative pieces. I have cried foul against government, industry, or scientists whenever it was called for, and I will continue to do so in the future. We do receive more communications from industry regarding their concerns about perceived bias of our stories these days. When we do, the Managing Editor and I review the situation and respond to the complaint. We try to explain why and how the story was written, but we never change the thrust or content simply because of the pressure. If we subsequently find a factual error, we will issue an apology or retraction. We also welcome and will publish Letters to the Editor that debate substantive scientific issues and our editorial coverage of them. We pledge to continue to provide strong reporting and high-quality research articles in the new year. We need your advice and criticism to make the journal better. Especially, we need your willingness to peer-review its research articles and features. As the number of submissions continues to grow and people are ever more busy, high-quality peer review of the journal becomes our most important function and remains a solemn obligation.
Jerald L. Schnoor Editor
[email protected] JANUARY 1, 2007 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ■ 5
