Message from the Technical Editors-in-Chief
Another outstanding year, thanks to our outstanding peer reviewers
As in past years, we would like to take this opportunity to offer our sincere thanks to the hundreds of volunteer peer reviewers who, with their continued dedication and commitment to the scientific community, help ensure the quality and integrity of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association (JA&WMA). And so in keeping with JA&WMA’s longstanding tradition, this issue is dedicated to the many qualified professionals who help us decide which manuscripts to publish each year. A list of the reviewers who contributed to JA&WMA in 2011 starts on page 118. We thank all of you who have donated your time and effort to this cause, and look forward to adding to this list next year.
In addition to the critical efforts of our peer reviewers, we are fortunate to be able to call upon an eminently qualified and dedicated group of Associate Editors. The Associate Editors play a crucial role in the day-to-day operations of JA&WMA. Their breadth of expertise gives us more complete coverage in the science of air and waste management, and brings new diligence to the manuscript review and selection process. The Associate Editors are also key representatives of JA&WMA in their countries and disciplines, seeking out new topics of interest and potential special issues. JA&WMA’s Associate Editors are listed at the front of each month's issue. This year, we would like to welcome two new Associate Editors to the list: Drs. Joshua Fu (University of Tennessee) and Chung-Shin Yuan (National Sun Yat-Sen University). And it is with sincere regret that we must say thank you and farewell to Dr. Jozef M. Pacyna (Norwegian Institute for Air Research), who will retire as an Associate Editor in June after more than eight years.
Now, as we look forward to the coming year, there are some exciting changes afoot. Beginning with this issue, JA&WMA is now published by Taylor & Francis, an internationally recognized leader in the publication of environmental engineering and science journals. This new partnership combines the deep tradition of excellence for which JA&WMA, one of the oldest continuously published, peer-reviewed, technical environmental journals in the world, is known, with the global reach and technological capabilities of Taylor & Francis. What does all of this mean for members, subscribers, authors, and reviewers? Members and subscribers now have improved online access to JA&WMA, including the complete current year issues, as well access to JA&WMA archives, dating back to 1951, fully searchable online and in .html format. In addition to JA&WMA content online, members and subscribers will have access to additional scientific journals and content published by Taylor & Francis.
For authors and reviewers, the changeover to Taylor & Francis's online manuscript submission system ScholarOne has been a gradual one since mid-2011. For those of you who have not yet checked out the new system, go to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jawma and submit your manuscript today. Authors will experience the most changes this year, as Taylor & Francis will begin posting pre-published versions of accepted papers online, allowing researchers access to the most up-to-date peer-reviewed information. Also, all authors (not just the lead authors) will have online access to their published papers and will have more autonomy in sharing their published work among colleagues and in ordering reprints and so forth, all through the new-look JA&WMA Web site.
You'll have noticed that this month's printed issue also includes a new cover and page template design. As part of the transition to our new publishing partnership and the movement toward new and (hopefully) more successful avenues for JA&WMA, the Editorial Review Board has decided on an updated cover design with clean, modern lines and a page template and format that uses the more common Chicago Manual of Style and reflects the style of several other successful scientific journals.
This year, we will also be actively working to improve JA&WMA’s impact factor, which is a measure of the publication's reach when compared to other peer-reviewed publications in environmental science and engineering. We hope that the changes made through our new publishing partnership with Taylor & Francis will help us achieve our goal. But perhaps most critical is the need to urge authors to aggressively submit their research for publication in JA&WMA. We “challenge” everyone to continue your research efforts in these difficult economic times and submit your work to JA&WMA for communication to the scientific community.
Tim Keener
Technical Editor-In-Chief
University of Cincinnati
George Hidy
Co-Editor
Envair/Aerochem