JAWRA Blog

An Associate Editor of a certain age (one I resemble) recently complained that ScholarOne is prone to passing along spelling errors in comments. ScholarOne’s forms use notoriously small font to make everything fit on the screen. Even on my wonderful iMac, I sometimes have to strain to see what I’ve written! I know some authors have received decision letters which made them wonder if their Editor is indeed literate!

According to the “Help” info, ScholarOne does not have its own spelling checker, though some browsers implement their own checkers. Few will differentiate between “to/two”, “wear/where,” etc. We try our best — and yes, I know about mouse zooms — but mistakes happen. So, if you see a clunker, please chalk it up to aging eyes. Do as I say, not as I do!

At last! The revised Instructions for Authors are now online!

The revision incorporates many large and small changes which have accumulated over the last two years. Some of the most important are:

• Literature Cited now distinguishes between formal citations and informal references. Data sets now are considered informal references, and are not listed in Literature Cited.
• “Groundwater” is now treated as one word. This use conforms to the global trend as underscored by a recent change in USGS practice.
• Information has been added regarding color selection if you choose to show color figures online but print in black-and-white.
• Text has been added concerning manuscripts which have been previously published in proceedings.
• There are new instructions for including online supplemental materials to papers.

If you are preparing a manuscript for submission to JAWRA, or even revising one under review, you should review the revised instructions.

To expedite future revisions, we are keeping the Instructions for Authors in PDF format. We will soon be adding more sections dealing with copy editing and post-acceptance production. The publishing field is changing rapidly, and we hope these revisions will keep JAWRA up to date.

Today was the day of reckoning for 4 manuscripts with long-overdue revisions. You may have heard the thwack of the axe as all were cut from the system. All had received somewhat problematic reviews, but we thought they could be salvaged with some work.

None of the authors apparently felt they were worth pursuing, which I suppose is their call. None, however, had the courtesy to inform us of their decision to abandon the effort. I guess it proves the adage that no good deed goes unpunished!

Once again, we don’t mind at all if you need more time to revise your manuscript. Just keep us advised.

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Brian Caruso, of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, as Associate Editor for Riparian Ecology and Management. This was a difficult position to fill, but the end result turned out fine. Brian has great qualifications, is well acquainted with JAWRA, and his work in the U.S. and New Zealand gives him a worldwide perspective on the issues.

Welcome Brian!

Some of you may have seen the note on the AWRA website about the snow disrupting Headquarters operations. Middleburg is a quaint little town outside of Washington, D.C., not far from the Blue Ridge mountains. Topographically, that’s where the recent blizzard dumped its deepest snow!

Editorially, the impact on JAWRA has been minimal, as most of our work is online. I normally edit from my apartment, high up above Reston, Virginia. Susan, who lives further out, also logged in from home to keep up.

Ironically, Susan and I were just about finished with the long-awaited Instructions for Authors revisions. The snow has pushed that back a little.

The Orlando GIS Conference in March is looking better and better to me! Not just because it’s warm there. The program is just chock full of talks which could turn into JAWRA papers. It will be a busy time.

I am pleased to announce the selection of Y. Jun Xu of Louisiana State University as the new JAWRA Associate Editor for Geospatial Analysis. Jun received his BS from Beijing Forest University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Göttingen University, Germany. He has worked in the U.S. since 1997, first at Virginia Tech, then at LSU since 2002. Jun already is familiar with AWRA and JAWRA, having published with us and served as a reviewer.

Jun has a strong interest in applying remote sensing to hydrologic applications. He feels remote sensing journals tend to focus heavily on the instruments themselves, leaving an opening for JAWRA to look at the hydrologic interpretation of the output. I think he will be a great complement to our skill set.

Welcome, Jun, to our team!

We are rethinking how JAWRA articles are presented in the “Literature Cited” section. Current practice is to include volume, issue and pages in the citation, as, for example,”46(1):17-28″. This venerable format may be coming to the end of its useful life.

First of all, we’re publishing more Featured Collections. The articles in such collections often refer to others in the same issue. Since the authors obviously don’t know page numbers until layout is complete, we have to go back in and make adjustments almost literally at the last minute. (Ask me how I spent this Wednesday afternoon!) Besides the work and inconvenience, there’s plenty of potential for error here.

Secondly, page numbers are almost useless for the online version. And, anyone with the printed journal in hand can easily look up the article in the table of contents.

Looming in the wings in an obvious candidate for addition: the Digital Object Identifier (DOI). This funny sequence of numbers is an international standard, a unique identifier and pointer to the online version. See an earlier post explaining the DOI.

One proposal we’re considering is to include only issue and volume and to add the DOI.

Comments?

I am pleased to announce the selection of Venki Uddameri of Texas A&M University-Kingsville as JAWRA Associate Editor for Subsurface Hydrology. Venki has an outstanding background, including strong publications and previous involvement with AWRA. Welcome Venki!

This was a difficult selection, as I chose Venki from an outstanding group of candidates. I thank all those who tossed their hat into the ring.

I recently was asked if JAWRA accepts opinion articles. Here’s what I replied:

Opinion articles are welcome in JAWRA provided they are fact-based. That is, “I think A because of B and C.” Naturally, all sources must be properly cited. We are particularly interested in articles which give a unique perspective on a topical issue or which enlighten us on the views of decision makers.

I once sent a paper authored by a Chinese scientist to a highly-qualified English-speaking reviewer in Greece. The English was somewhat problematic, but I thought it might be good enough for review. The reviewer returned it saying he could hardly understand the English at all.

This true story illustrates why we are so insistent upon authors using standard English. The problem, ironically, is that English is a second language for many of our readers and reviewers. I grew up in New York hearing all kinds of accents and syntactical variations of English and became pretty good at parsing non-standard grammar. However, if you’re already struggling to deal with English syntax, text that breaks the rules likely will be very confusing.

It is unfair to ask reviewers to review a paper in a language they cannot fully understand. Therefore, one of my initial screening criteria is language. If your English skills are weak, the best thing you can do to improve your chances of getting your paper into review is to have it reviewed by a good English editor BEFORE submitting it.