State of the Journal

This article presents the State of the Journal report for the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (JGGE) for 2012. Publication of such end-of-year reports fulfills one of my goals as editor in chief.

The JGGE strengthened its position in 2012 as a leading worldwide venue for publication of geotechnical engineering research. I am pleased to report that the latest metrics are excellent. The JGGE has the highest circulation of all geotechnical journals and is currently one of the largest and most selective ASCE journals. Submissions reached record levels in 2012, with 623 new manuscripts and 514 revised manuscripts received for review. The acceptance rate was the second-lowest on record at 29%. The 1-year impact factor was 1.017, and the 5-year impact factor was 1.306, both up substantially from last year. In addition, there was only one appeal made to our ombudsman out of hundreds of decline decisions. One of my priority goals for 2012 was to reduce review times for the Journal. Thanks to the efficiency of our web-based Editorial Manager system and the hard work of our editorial board and manuscript reviewers, the average time to first decision decreased to a record low of 2.4 months for all submissions and 4.0 months for papers that underwent full review.

The JGGE was served by an outstanding editorial board in 2012. In addition to the editor in chief, the other four editors were Mohammed Gabr, North Carolina State University; D. V. Griffiths, Colorado School of Mines; Iraj Noorany, consulting engineer; and Joseph Wartman, University of Washington. The editorial board also includes approximately 50 associate editors who work with hundreds of external reviewers to make publication recommendations to the editors. The JGGE was honored to again offer the services of our ombudsman, John Christian, consulting engineer, who provides final editorial decisions for paper appeals.

The editorial board has some important changes starting in 2013. D. V. Griffiths and Iraj Noorany are stepping down as editors after many years of excellent service to the JGGE. We sincerely thank them for their high level of dedication and wish them every success going forward. Stepping into these positions will be our two new editors: Rodrigo Salgado, Purdue University; and Timothy Stark, University of Illinois. I have every confidence in Rod and Tim and look forward to working with them to maintain the high standards of the Journal.

The following associate editors also retired from the editorial board last year: Tarek Abdoun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Sam Helwany, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee; C. Hsein Juang, Clemson University; Dunja Peric, Kansas State University; and Radhey Sharma, West Virginia University. We sincerely thank our outgoing associate editors for their service and wish them every future success as well. There were no new associate editors appointed in 2012, and the editors are currently in the process of making a fresh round of appointments to the editorial board.

The 2012 recipient of the award for outstanding associate editor is John McCartney, University of Colorado. This award is made annually to an associate editor who displays extraordinary dedication to the responsibilities of manuscript review management, including timely handling of a large number of papers and careful evaluation of manuscripts and review comments to provide quality publication recommendations to the editors. Our sincere thanks go to John, as well as all of the excellent associate editors who handle the daily workload of paper management for the JGGE. The award will be given in March 2013 at the annual ASCE Geo-Congress.

In closing, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the outstanding and dedicated service of our editorial board in 2012. I look forward to continuing work with our editors, associate editors, and the many hundreds of authors and reviewers who maintain the JGGE at the highest level of excellence worldwide. The success of the JGGE is also attributed in no small part to efforts of the ASCE Journals Department staff, and in particular our editorial coordinator, Jennifer Parresol, who provide ongoing support and assistance to the JGGE.

As editor in chief, I am pleased to report that the state of the Journal is strong and welcome your comments and suggestions on ways in which we can improve our Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.