Editor’s Note

This note marks the beginning of the 14th year of publication of the Journal of Composites for Construction. In the first issue of each year, I present recent statistics and developments for the Journal and acknowledge the individuals who help ensure the success of the Journal.

Recently, the average time period elapsed between submission and publication of a paper has been about $15\text{months}$ , while the average period between submission and approval (including re-reviews) has been about $8\text{months}$ . The paper acceptance rate in 2008—the last full year for which data are available at the time of this writing—was 50%. The two- and five-year impact factors for the Journal in 2008 are 0.798 and 1.375, respectively.

In 2009 ASCE implemented a new procedure wherein an unformatted manuscript may be posted in the ASCE Online Research Library within $72\text{hour}$ of its approval by the editor. This “preview” option is available at no cost to all authors. The manuscripts are exactly like the PDF files accepted in review except that a digital object identifier (DOI) is added by ASCE. The DOI is permanent and may therefore be used to cite the paper immediately. By circumventing the sometimes lengthy copyediting and production stages, the preview option dramatically reduces the time required to disseminate approved manuscripts to readers. Of course, final copyedited manuscripts with page numbers will still appear in the hardcopy and online versions of the Journal in the order in which they are finalized for production. Once the hardcopy version is published, the unformatted manuscript will be removed from the preview site and stored in a permanent archive, linked to the final version. Preview papers are searchable within ASCE’s Online Research Library and certain external search engines. Check the Composites for Construction “Preview Manuscripts” Web page to view approved manuscripts that authors have agreed to post online.

All ASCE journals are now configured to accept supplemental data files from authors. These may include large data sets, video files, color pictures, audio files, etc., that authors want to include when submitting their manuscripts. The files are peer-reviewed and can be accessed electronically from a hyperlink built into the PDF file generated when the paper is submitted to Editorial Manager for review. A complete understanding of the paper should not depend upon viewing or hearing the supplemental materials since, at this time, not all readers of the Journal have access to ASCE’s electronic library.

Papers appearing in the Journal have traditionally been categorized into five general topics as follows:

Table 1 shows the breakdown of the papers and discussions published in the five general topics. The Journal published 57 technical papers and notes in Vol. 13. The year-end issue of each volume of the Journal contains an index of the year’s papers by subject and author. As has been true the past few years, papers on repair and strengthening comprised the major portion of Vol. 13. The relative distribution of papers should not be interpreted as a deliberate effort to narrowly focus the Journal. To the contrary, I would like to strongly encourage the submission of papers in all the categories of interest.

Table 2 shows the breakdown of papers according to the country of origin. Papers originating in the United States, Italy, and Canada comprised slightly over half of the papers in Vol. 13, while 17 countries were represented overall.

In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who help me in assuring the continuing quality of the Journal. First, the distinguished members of the editorial board of the Journal are acknowledged for their tireless reviewing work. Every paper submitted to the Journal is reviewed by at least one board member. Board members are appointed by the editor for two-year renewable terms. In addition to providing timely reviews of exceptionally high quality, board members provide valuable input to the editor on the directions and policies of the Journal. Second, I thank the many reviewers who are not on the board yet provide equally important critiques of manuscripts. I try to keep the number of reviews by nonmembers of the board to no more than one or two manuscripts per year. Reviewers are listed by name in the last issue the Journal each year. Additional persons who are interested in reviewing papers for the Journal are encouraged to notify me with their contact information and technical area of interest. Finally, I thank Ms. Renee Lindenberg, who assists me in the management of the Journal at Penn State and ensures that deadlines are met, and the Journals Department staff at ASCE headquarters for their expert handling of all manuscripts and valuable advice on many editorial matters.