Last year, we saw several great outcomes because of our joint efforts. Likewise, we can put all our efforts and resources toward making this year even better.
I appreciate the time you spent with me advocating for the cause, which resulted in an increase in the journal's profile, influence, citations, worldwide reach, peer review and submission trends. This expanding influence has improved production, as the present backlog contains enough articles to fill at least 58-59 issues of the IETE Journal of Research. This, I would say, establishes a new kind of problem and has gotten us into a jam. You'd agree that retaining this stack of articles pending allocation to a particular issue is not a professional way of working. To stay current with global trends and writers' perspectives, I with IETE and T&F have discussed lowering the backlog over the next three years by increasing the number of articles published per issue. Hopefully, by doing so, we can reduce the backlog of online-published papers by expediting their publication. You will notice, there are five times more articles in this issue than usual.
All of this prompts us to pursue a different course going forward, one that demands us to be more responsive, to conduct rapid reviews to reduce paper turnaround times, and to be unafraid to reject papers that lack focus, content, and value. According to present acceptance rates, the backlog of published articles will swiftly rebuild, and our efforts will likely be in vain. That is not to say that we should allow articles to remain in the peer review loop indefinitely without deciding; that would be more unjust. This year's resolution should be to accelerate peer review and to be more selective, particularly with respect to high-quality original contributions. Previously, such options did not exist, but thanks to everyone's efforts, IETE JR has consistently received more manuscript submissions than anticipated each year. Thus, the moment has come to significantly improve the academic quality of published works. Additionally, we must make a determined effort to ensure that the number of peer review scores obtained for each submission is timely and not less than what is set in the criteria for your decision making. Make a conscious effort to identify and invite your known experts who could be contacted and asked to assist us in accelerating the peer review process if necessary.
Let's be more productive in the New Year and continue to clear papers that have been assigned to us. By publishing more high-quality original papers, the IETE Journal of Research will be able to make a more significant contribution to the advancement of fundamental research in electronics, computer science, and information technology. I am confident that with the sustained efforts of all our contributors, reviewers, Editorial Board members, and readers, we will be able to elevate IETE JR's academic reputation by 2022. I encourage everyone to participate selflessly and wholeheartedly to achieving these aims.
We remain open to feedback that will assist us in improving the operation and publication of IETE Journal of Research. Kindly contact us at [email protected] with any feedback or suggestions on the journal.
On behalf of the IETE JR, I wish you and your families a happy & prosperous new year.
Best wishes!!