Farewell

I have been the chief editor of the quarterly Journal of Surveying Engineering (JSE) sponsored by ASCE’s Geomatics Division for the past eight years, the maximum tenure allowed by our Journal’s code of practice. Starting in January 2014, the baton is being passed to Dr. James Bethel from the Department of Civil Engineering at Purdue University.

During my editorship, I witnessed firsthand the transition from a publishing system with a tedious and cumbersome all-paper review process (where postal mail and fax machines were the workhorses) to the electronic revolution presently conquering our society. After a brief span of person-to-person communication through a pioneering e-mail network, journal publishing procedures evolved into a sophisticated web-based digitized system run by Editorial Manager’s software. This new implementation drastically increased the processing speed at which manuscripts are reviewed and approved for publication, substantially decreasing the time from the receipt of the original manuscript to the appearance (print or online) of the final article.

In 2010, a new innovation was introduced: the Journal started to provide the final draft of every accepted manuscript online in a section of the Journal’s website titled Preview Manuscripts. This way, interested researchers in the surveying engineering field have access to the latest investigations months ahead of the print publication date.

The scope of the Journal has not changed much since I took over. The roadmap that I envisioned when I began this enterprise (Soler 2005) has been charted. Nevertheless, the type of papers that we should be publishing is changing in accordance with the pace of new technological developments. However, disregarding the advice in my inaugural editorial, many authors continue to submit material clearly out of the scope covered by JSE. This lack of consideration on their part affects our editorial staff, who need extra time and energy to properly reassure authors of the restrictive topics that we want and request.

All in all, in my opinion, the reputation of JSE in the scientific community has gradually improved during the last few years; therefore, I leave this appointment with the inherent satisfaction that my mission has been accomplished. My principal aim when I embarked on this responsibility was to boost the scientific quality of the Journal, and I depart convinced that a serious effort was done to achieve this objective. Our peer-review practice has maintained the highest standards, and that prerequisite, among others, has enhanced the prestige of our Journal compared to its direct competitors. Fig. 1, as reported on the Web of Science, clearly shows that the number of citations of articles published in JSE has progressively increased over the years. For example, during 2012, the last complete year of record, a total of 231 citations to articles published in JSE were made by international investigators. The plotted values plainly depict that more and more scientists are citing articles published in JSE, demonstrating a clear trend that the interest in our publication as a scientific source of information is steadily advancing. Other metrics, such as the progression of the Journal’s impact factor, were previously discussed in another editorial (Soler 2013).

It has been a great privilege and a wonderful experience to serve as the chief editor of JSE. In this respect, I should thank my associate editors, Dr. Dorota Grejner-Brzezinska (Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science, Ohio State University) and Dr. Michael J. Olsen (Assistant Professor, School of Civil and Construction Engineering, Oregon State University). Many thanks are also extended to the staff of ASCE’s Journals Department—in particular, Angela Cochran, Holly Koppel, Kelly Anderson, Liz Guertin, and Michelle English—for their professional help at all times. I would like to conclude by acknowledging the members of the Editorial Board, the scientists who published manuscripts in JSE, the willing reviewers, and finally, the readers and subscribers of our publication. Please continue to support JSE as you have done so far. My sincere thanks to all for your participation in this common endeavor during these years! I have no doubt that in the future I will continue to be a loyal enthusiast of our Journal, and I will be reading, citing, and last but not least, publishing in Journal of Surveying Engineering for years to come. Thank you!