Letter From The Editor

Abstract

The annual editorial board meeting of the Agronomy Journal (AJ) was held on 15 Nov. 2006 in Indianapolis, IN. A number of issues were presented to the editorial board, and the intent of this letter is to inform our readership about the board's current activities. At our editorial board meeting held on 9 Nov. 2005 in Salt Lake City, UT, we approved adding an Acquisitions Associate Editor to the editorial board. Given the approval by the editorial board, on 22 Feb. 2006 Dr. Wesley Rosenthal from Texas A&M University was appointed as our new Acquisitions Associate Editor. His major function is to work with members of the editorial board, particularly the Editor, to identify topic areas and then solicit authors to prepare manuscripts on these topics. Most of the content sought would likely be review articles. In the intervening time since his appointment several topic areas have been identified, and Dr. Rosenthal is working with several authors to prepare review manuscripts for submission to AJ. In handling manuscripts, we allow 2 weeks for editors to assign reviewers, 90 days to complete reviews and make an initial recommendation, 30 days for reviewers to complete their reviews, and 90 days for authors to complete a revision of their manuscript; thus, the maximum time from submission to final decision should be 194 days. The data in Table 1 show we are doing well in most areas. We still need to work on reducing the time it takes associate editors to assign reviewers. The data in Table 2 show the number of international manuscript submissions to AJ. International submissions are a significant portion of the total number of submissions and, based on the 2005 and year-to-date 2006 information, the number of international submissions appears to be increasing. We continue to encourage the submission of high quality international manuscripts and recognize their importance to the journal. Occasionally, I receive inquiries from people asking about the percentage of manuscripts submitted to AJ that are accepted and published. In 2003, we published 55% of the manuscripts submitted. In 2004, we also accepted 55%, and in 2005 we accepted 59%. During the past 23 years, the length of articles published in AJ increased from an average of 4.6 pages in 1984 to 8.4 pages in 2006 (Fig. 1). The average length of articles in Volume 50 (1957) was 3.7 pages. Thus, during the past nearly 50 years (from 1957 to 2005) the average length of articles has more than doubled and over the past 23 years (from 1984 to 2006), the average article length has increased 83%. For many years through the 1970s and most of the 1980s, there was no page charge if articles were 4 pages or less. For articles over 4 pages, there was an escalating page charge in half-page increments. This was a deterrent against long articles. It was part of the editorial culture to keep the papers short in that they would be more readable. This was a significant factor for encouraging authors to prepare short papers during this time period. The average length of articles published in Agronomy Journal from 1984 through 2006. The tri-societies adopted a new publication fee that became effective for manuscripts submitted at the beginning of 2004. The publication fee for AJ was $450.00 for members and $700.00 for nonmembers. The publication fee replaced page charges and is assessed on a per-manuscript basis. This pricing structure does not encourage authors to prepare short, concise manuscripts. In fact, some authors have viewed AJ as an outlet to submit long manuscripts that would otherwise not be suitable for publication in many other journals. During 2007 the AJ editorial board will deliberate this issue and make a recommendation to the Budget and Finance Committee and the Executive Committee of ASA to change the pricing structure for AJ in an attempt to encourage authors to prepare shorter papers, promote the economic health of the journal, and to maintain a consistent pricing structure over an extended period of time. During 2008, we will celebrate the centennial anniversary of AJ. To commemorate this important occasion, the AJ editorial board has planned several activities. During 2005 we established four committees and chairs of each committee, who are responsible for their associated activity: AJ Centennial Cover Committee—chair, Mark Brick; AJ Centennial Calendar Committee—chair, Bill Raun; AJ Centennial Poster Committee—co-chairs, Jeremy Singer and Bill Payne; AJ Centennial Bookmark Committee—chair, Albert Sims. During 2006, in cooperation with the ASA Centennial Committee, the AJ centennial bookmark was printed. On one side of the bookmark is the AJ centennial information and on the other side is the ASA centennial information. The bookmark was initially distributed by putting a copy in each registration packet for the ASA meetings that were held 12–16 Nov. 2006 in Indianapolis. The bookmark will be similarly distributed during the 2007 meetings to be held in New Orleans. The content for a 2008 centennial calendar for AJ has been obtained and completed by Bill Raun and his committee. The calendar will be printed during mid-2007 and distributed in late 2007. The calendar features long-term field plots around the world. The bookmark and calendar committees have completed their work. The cover committee and the poster committee will continue their work during 2007. We appreciate the work and contribution these committees have made and are making to the centennial celebration of AJ. A call for “special papers” was issued in 2004 for manuscripts to be prepared in advance and published in each issue of Volume 100 of AJ during 2008. Details of this call for special papers were published in Agron. J. 96:321. In response to this solicitation 20 proposed manuscripts were approved by the editorial board for preparation. Several of these approved manuscripts have been submitted and one manuscript has already completed the review process and is accepted for publication. Manuscripts for the remaining approved topics must be submitted to AJ by 1 Jan. 2007. During 2007, in honor of the ASA centennial, the ASA centennial logo will be printed on the cover of each issue and on the first page of each article. A special cover will be designed during 2007 that will be used for the AJ centennial volume. For 2008, in honor of Volume 100, the AJ centennial logo will be printed similarly to what we did with the ASA centennial logo during 2007. An introductory article has been prepared for the centennial volume. This article highlights some of the history and facts about AJ. This article was authored by the current Editor, the Managing Editor, and all living former Editors of AJ. The first issue of Volume 100 will debut a redesign of the journal. Currently under consideration in the redesign are the following: full versus left justification, 2 versus 3 columns, cover and title page revisions, footers, headers, page number placement, fonts, use of text boxes and sidebars, and other design elements. During this past editorial board meeting that was held in Indianapolis, we gathered written input from the editorial board regarding their ideas and preferences regarding the redesign. This input from the editorial board will be taken into account as Headquarters staff makes the final decisions on the various aspects of the redesign of the journal. Feel free to contact me at any time during the year if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding AJ. Our desire is to serve our authors, readers, and others in the best possible manner.