The Journal of ASTM International Turns Three
by Kathy Dernoga
Now that the Journal of ASTM International is in its third year of publication, this is an excellent time to review the status of the journal, improvements and author benefits.
Scope
JAI is a multi-disciplinary journal serving the international scientific and engineering community through the timely publication of the results of original research and critical review articles in the physical and life sciences and engineering technologies.
Editorial Board
ASTM International would like to extend its appreciation to the editor, Dr. Sheldon W. Dean, Jr., Dean Corrosion Technology, Inc., and the seven associate editors:
Materials Performance and Characterization Section:
Associate Editor: Harvey Hack, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Annapolis, Md.
Civil Engineering and Building Materials Section:
Associate Editor: Leslie Struble, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill.
Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Section:
Associate Editor: George E. Totten, G. E. Totten Associates, Seattle, Wash.
Nuclear Science and Technology Section:
Associate Editor: Arthur Moses Thompson Motta, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
Environmental Science and Technology Section:
Associate Editor: John Sherwell, Maryland Power Plant Research Program, Annapolis, Md.
Medical, Health, and Safety Section:
Associate Editor: Donald Marlowe, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Md.
General Technology Section:
Associate Editor: K. Lawrence DeVries, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Each of these editors has been instrumental in developing the scope and content of the journal. They have also established an outstanding editorial board with over 50 highly qualified members. These associate editors and editorial board members work diligently to solicit papers and find the most qualified reviewers. Their oversight and guidance has been critical while starting up this journal.
Getting Started
When JAI was first developed, it was our intention to publish all papers from ASTM symposia in the journal and eliminate the Special Technical Publications from our line of product offerings. However, the members and customers of ASTM made it clear that they still wanted STPs available as an option. In response to their requests we now publish all symposia papers in JAI and then offer an STP with the complete collection of published papers for most symposia.
This scenario provides the best of both options to our authors. Their papers are published in a peer-reviewed, citable journal and the collection of papers is then published in book form. We also promote JAI and we promote each STP separately to its core audience, doubling the promotional impact of the papers.
Growth
The number of papers from symposia and independent submissions has grown considerably in just a few years as indicated in the Table 1.
Another source of new content is papers presented at ASTM International committee-sponsored workshops. Many papers presented at these workshops are technically significant and influence standards development. They are submitted to JAI for publication and benefit from ASTM’s marketing and distribution channels.
Improvements
We are very pleased to announce that ASTM International has been using the AIP Peer X-Press paper tracking system (www.aip.org). This very efficient system has reduced the average publication time for papers to just six months. The average time for a paper to go from initial receipt to approval is 117.1 days, or 3.9 months. We have added an average of two months for editing, formatting, and approval for a total of six months. We believe this to be a significant advantage to the authors and subscribers of the journal, who are getting access to the very latest technology.
Author Benefits
Authors benefit from publication in the Journal of ASTM International in many ways, including:
• Papers published in JAI are meticulously peer-reviewed to ensure the highest quality content.
• The average publication time is six months from receipt of a paper to online publication.
• There is no waiting for publication schedules.
• Online postings are the official publication and citable immediately.
• A copy of the final PDF can be posted on the authors’ Web site or institutional repository with a reference to the journal.
• Authors can submit photos and graphs in color and include multimedia attachments that will help the reader better understand test results.
• ASTM has launched a Digital Library that will include all papers published in JAI, providing another way that JAI papers are cited and promoted by ASTM.
Look for more information at www.astm.org/JAI to review the editorial board, table of contents of past issues, and online paper submittal details.
Continued Growth and Improvement
We encourage you to prepare your next technical paper for publication in the Journal of ASTM International. I also encourage you to write to me with any suggestions you have to improve the journal so we can continue to meet the changing needs of the community. //
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