A happy new year to all of you! As the new-year unfolds, JEGTP will make a giant leap forward with a new publications schedule, enhanced ASME Journal Tool interface, and rapid paper processing. All these changes represent a “win-win” situation for authors, readers, and subscribers. ASME has responded to the journal needs in a big way, the editorial team and ASME staff have significantly decreased the paper processing time, and the journal is publishing papers on emerging hot topics. Below is the status report.
Beginning in 2008, JEGTP will be published bimonthly (January, March, May, July, September, and November) with a total of 1,300 printed pages. JEGTP may receive a permanent additional boost of 200 pages on 1 July 2008 to equalize the inflow and outflow of papers and to prevent future paper backlog. When implemented, each issue of JEGTP will pack 250 pages of outstanding content. During the past 12 months ending in July 2007, JEGTP published 146 (vs. 105) papers and decreased the backlog from 26 to 18 months. This year, I expect to shrink the backlog to an absolute minimum, necessary to maintain a steady supply of papers for each journal issue.
In recent years, several professional societies and private publishers have adopted a rapid publication policy (submission to publication in 6–8 months), using a variety of schemes such as: fast track paper acceptance, rapid journal reviews, and electronic Web publishing. ASME and JEGTP must keep abreast of these changes. Accordingly, and beginning on 1 January 2008, ASME will introduce a novel e-First, online paper publication for most of its journals. Now, individual papers will be posted on the journal Web site within four weeks of receiving the authors' page proofs. These papers will be available immediately for citation and downloading and will be published in the next journal issue. Now, the journal statistics covering the period July 2006 through October 2007 (last quarterly issue) follows.
JEGTP published 180 papers with an acceptance rate of 24 percent. The sector mix (given in percent) was: academia (60), industry (28), and government (12) and the paper submission mix (in percent) was: North America (35), Europe (30), China & India (15), and Others (20). A total of 12 associate editors were appointed (one-third each from industry and Europe) and the cumulative paper processing time was decreased to 2 months. (Note: cumulative average time a paper remains on the journal tool awaiting the next action. For comparison, in 2005, the average draft paper to final manuscript approval time was 8.7 months, and in 2006 it was 5 months.) Your papers will not remain inactive on the journal tool any longer!
JEGTP covers a wide range of topics in gas turbines, power generation, nuclear engineering, internal combustion engines, and advanced energy systems. The journal has no bias, policy, or printed-page quota for a specific technical area, author affiliation (academia vs. industry), and paper origination (U.S. vs. non-U.S.). JEGTP publishes high-quality papers on a first-come, first-publish basis and the content of each issue is balanced to provide a wide flavor of technical areas. JEGTP is publishing papers on emerging hot topics. For example, JEGTP published a paper on nuclear power in the July 2007 issue and will have 11 or more papers on power engineering (including nuclear power) appear in the first three issues of 2008. JEGTP is a research journal; not a newsmagazine or a trade journal and it will not publish papers with no archival value.
JEGTP secures associate editors from diverse backgrounds, and last year six new outstanding individuals joined. They are: Coal, Biomass, and Alternative Fuels, Kalyan Annamalai (Texas A&M University); Controls, Diagnostics & Instrumentation, Allan Volponi (Pratt & Whitney); Cycle Innovation, Pericles Pilidis, (Cranfield University, U.K.); Electric Power, Ashok Rao (University of California, Irvine); Structures and Dynamics, Patrick Keogh (University of Bath, U.K.); and Advanced Energy Systems, Jayanta Kapat (University of Central Florida). My congratulations to all these individuals for their appointments and work on behalf of the journal. Also, I thank the two outgoing associate editors: Dr. Nagaraj Arakere (University of Florida, Gainesville) and Dr. K. Mark Bryden (Iowa State University, Ames) for their many years of outstanding service to the journal.
Already, the improvements made during 2007 are attracting more journal paper submissions and authors must do their part to secure a quick publication for their papers. Below are three key suggestions.
- 1
Check the status of your paper regularly as it progresses through various stages of review to final (digital) manuscript submission, and electronic editing of page proofs. Please contact an associate editor if your paper continues to remain inactive on the journal tool.
- 2
Submit a pdf file of your signed 1903 (copyright release) form electronically (do not fax) to journalcopyright@asme.org. This is more efficient, and should this form get lost or misplaced, you will have an e-mail record.
- 3
Digitize your paper carefully (visit “Author Center” and read the instructions). Poor-quality graphics are unacceptable, and color figures must be checked on your black and white laser printer for adequate contrast before digitizing them. Graphics files must be labeled with Fig. or Figure.
Summarizing; in 2008, it will truly be “A New Beginning” for this journal. JEGTP remains the number one ranked journal in the world in the area of gas turbine engineering and power. Your continued support is needed to keep it there!
