Opportunities and Acclaim for JGE Contributors

Abstract

IntroductionFor many academic geoscientists the summer months are a time when teaching loads go down and research productivity goes up. Whether we are traveling to distant field locations, working in labs, or writing, we temporarily turn away from grading and towards other intellectual endeavors that deepen our scholarship. For those whose scholarship is in geoscience education, the research outcomes can broadly impact teaching and learning as well. With this in mind I describe new opportunities for sharing your scholarship in JGE, and for further developing your scholarly skills through professional development workshops co-sponsored by NAGT, our Journal's parent society. I also draw your attention to recent high impact articles in JGE, and the opportunity to nominate reviewers and articles for special recognition.Expanding Scholarship Opportunities in JGEThe Editorial Board recently made revisions to the Types of Papers (http://nagt-jge.org/page/papers) that are appropriate to submit to JGE. We are pleased to announce that a new category of Literature Reviews has been added. Articles submitted to this category should synthesize and evaluate the published literature on a particular topic within geoscience education research or practice. Patterns and trends in the literature should be described, and research gaps identified and used to make recommendations on future directions in our field. We feel that this category has the potential to be of great benefit to the geoscience education community, and look forward to high quality submissions.In addition, the criteria for Commentary papers have been redefined. Commentary articles should provide a critical or alternative viewpoint on a key issue, or provide an insight into an important development that is of broad interest to geoscience educators or researchers. A strong literature-based context is expected. Unlike a literature review article, the author of a Commentary is expected to give his/her own opinions and perspectives. The Commentary category is not a venue for ''data-weak'' Curriculum & Instruction or Research papers, nor a venue for project reports or updates. The article by Callahan et al., (p 98, this issue) on the importance of social capital in mentoring and geoscience workforce development is an excellent example of a paper meeting these revised Commentary standards, and I encourage you to read it. I expect it will be a conversation starter in geoscience departments and among colleagues.Updated Author GuidelinesThe Editorial Board and external Reviewers continue to nurture manuscripts through the peer-review and revision process, providing detailed constructive feedback to authors on submitted manuscripts and manuscript revisions. Manuscript preparation and submission guidelines were recently revised in order to address common submission questions of both an organizational and technical nature.These guidelines (http://nagt-jge.org/userimages/ ContentEditor/1423846865909/Author_guidelines_JGE_ Feb_11_2015.pdf) also now include specific advice on how to respond to reviewer feedback. The point-by-point response to each critical comment by reviewers is still expected; but we now ask that this be organized such that each critical comment is listed verbatim, and directly followed with an explanation of how it was addressed, with reference to specific line or figure numbers in the revised manuscript.We have also laid out a procedural process for how revised manuscripts will be handled, should they undergo multiple-rounds of re-review. …