State of the Journal

This article presents the State of the Journal report for the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering (JGGE) for 2013. Publication of such end-of-year reports fulfills one of my goals as editor in chief.

The JGGE again strengthened its position in 2013 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 2013, with 686 new manuscripts and 464 revised manuscripts received for review. The acceptance rate was 31%, which is a typical low number for the last several years. The 1-year impact factor was 1.16, and the 5-year impact factor was 1.35, both at record levels. In addition, there was only one appeal made to our ombudsman out of hundreds of decline decisions. One of my priority goals has been 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 1.9 months for all submissions and 3.8 months for papers that underwent a full review.

The JGGE was served by an outstanding editorial board in 2013. In addition to the editor in chief, the other four editors were Mohammed Gabr of North Carolina State University, Rodrigo Salgado of Purdue University, Timothy Stark of the University of Illinois, and Joseph Wartman of the University of Washington. The editorial board also includes approximately 50 associate editors (AEs) who work with 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 following AEs retired from the editorial board last year:

We sincerely thank our outgoing AEs for their service and wish them every future success. In addition, the following new AEs were appointed to the editorial board in 2013:

The editors look forward to working with all newly appointed and continuing AEs to enhance the reputation of the JGGE worldwide. Similarly, I would like to take this opportunity to invite leading individuals in practice and academia to consider serving on the editorial board and contributing to the mission of excellence for the JGGE.

The 2013 recipient of the award for outstanding associate editor is Michael Malusis of Bucknell University. This award is made annually to an AE 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 Mike as well as all of our excellent AEs who handle the daily workload of paper management for the JGGE. The award will be given in February 2014 at the annual ASCE Geo-Congress in Atlanta.

An important announcement was made recently regarding new content for the JGGE. The Journal has started to publish a new type of article called a technical breakthrough abstract (TBA). Technical breakthrough abstracts are short contributions that present original, concise, and practical information regarding an important new breakthrough relevant to geotechnical engineering. These articles may contain figures, tables, and references but may not exceed one published page (single side) in the Journal. The TBA was developed as a new concept for the JGGE and represents the first publication of this type by ASCE. TBAs will appear at the front of journal issues and are intended to provide a fresh new venue through which the latest advances and breakthrough research can be quickly conveyed to the readership. With a relatively light burden required of authors, we hope to receive TBA submissions from practicing engineers who often do not have time to write full articles for the Journal. An editorial describing the TBA concept is available online at the JGGE website (http://ascelibrary.org/journal/jggefk) and was printed in the February 2014 issue.

Another important editorial, titled “Guidelines for Writing a Case Study Paper,” will appear in 2014. Coauthored by Allen Marr, Chuck Ladd, and myself, this editorial provides guidance to authors on the attributes of a good case study paper. The editorial emphasizes that a good case study should present a clear message to the reader that describes the practical relevance of the findings and includes, where possible, specific recommendations. The publication of quality case study papers remains a priority for the JGGE. Such papers should be submitted under the new category of “Case Study” within Editorial Manager. I would like to thank Allen and Chuck for their inspired work on this important contribution to the profession.

In closing, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the outstanding and dedicated service of our editorial board in 2013. 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 provides ongoing support and assistance. 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.