This issue of Aerosol Science and Technology introduces several significant changes, all of which were approved by the AAAR Publications Committee and the AAAR Board of Directors.
The most significant change is the addition of a new type of paper, Aerosol Research Letters (ARL). ARL are short papers that, in the Editors' and Reviewers' opinions, describe especially significant developments in our discipline. The bar for acceptance as an ARL article will be high: no more than 10% of AST papers will fall in this category. Papers submitted as ARL will be prescreened by Editors to determine whether they should be sent out for review. Only the most novel and exciting work will be considered. Our publisher, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, has agreed to make ARL freely available to the world immediately upon publication. Other papers published in AST are freely available to the world one year after they are published.
AST now provides the option to publish Supplemental Information online. This enables publication of more concise, focused articles. Supplemental Information might include details of laboratory procedures, mathematical derivations, etc.
The paper categories Tutorials, Software, Technical Notes, and Communications, have been eliminated. Relatively few papers of these types were submitted to AST. Papers that might have fallen into these categories in the past should now be submitted as regular articles.
The “Information for Authors” in each issue now reflects these changes and provides updated guidance on the preparation of manuscripts.
I would also like to take this opportunity to remind authors of some of the benefits of publishing in AST:
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High Impact Factor;
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Articles freely available to the world one year after they appear in print (Open Access);
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No page charges (except for color);
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Free publication of color figures in electronic versions of articles;
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Copyright owned by AAAR, not the publisher.
Finally, I wish to express my appreciation to all who have worked so hard to ensure that papers published in AST are of the highest quality. I am routinely gratified by reviewers' insights and efforts. I also thank our remarkably dedicated and expert team of AST Editors who volunteer so much time to AST. My thanks also go to the previous Editors and Editors-in-Chief for providing such a fine foundation upon which to build.