It Has Been an Honor and a Privilege

It has been an honor and privilege to serve as editor of this most august mechanics journal over the past nine years. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of its associate editors, the Journal of Engineering Mechanics (JEM) has made great strides, and with Dr. Franz-Josef Ulm as its new editor starting August 1, 2021, the future looks even brighter.

Since 2012, the metrics for this journal have significantly improved. The annual number of submissions has increased from 375 to 640; the acceptance rate has decreased from 51% to 24%; the number of papers published yearly has increased from 135 to more than 180; the time to first decision has decreased to approximately 2 months; and the impact factor has increased from about 1.0 to just over 2.6. But these are mere quantitative measures. What is most important is the enthusiastic response of the global engineering mechanics community to the increased quality and timeliness of published papers, including those that comprise the numerous special collections. Its ever-increasing reputation has made JEM the journal of choice for authors who had not previously published in it.

One of the most significant achievements over the past nine years is the increased diversity of JEM’s editorial board. When I began serving as editor, the number of female associate editors was zero; it is now seven. Also, the addition of associate editors from Europe and Asia has significantly increased both submissions and participation in the Engineering Mechanics Institute conferences from authors on these continents.

It is worth mentioning the mechanics topics addressed in the increased number of submissions; uncertainty quantification and stochastic mechanics in general, the mechanics associated with wind effects on tall buildings, micromechanical modeling of quasi-brittle materials, and multiphysics modeling of geomaterials are but a few. I encourage the community to identify additional topics that will make JEM even more distinctive, such as mechanistic methods for creating the ASCE Infrastructure Report Card, topology optimization of materials and structures, and reliability of load-bearing glass structures whose use in architecture is ever increasing.

In closing, I want to state one more time that I firmly believe that JEM’s “renaissance” is the result of the talents, commitment, and hard work of the associate editors and the staff in the ASCE Journals office. For this I am indebted to them. Please join me in welcoming Franz to his new role.