Editor’s Note
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 26, Issue 1
ASCE Plans Sixth Congress on Forensic Engineering, October 31–November 3, 2012
The Technical Council on Forensic Engineering’s Sixth Forensic Engineering Congress will be held October 31–November 3, 2012, in San Francisco. Mark your calendar and explore the details on the Congress website: www.asce.org/forensiccongress.
Forensic engineering congresses are held every 3 years. Previous congresses were in Minneapolis (1997); San Juan, Puerto Rico (2000); San Diego (2003); Cleveland (2006); and Washington, D.C. (2009). The ASCE Forensic Engineering Congress represents the premier opportunity in the United States for learning about advances in the forensic engineering discipline. For more information regarding the congresses, please see my Editor’s Note reviewing the 2009 Forensic Engineering Congress in the March/April 2010 issue of the Journal. This year’s venue is particularly attractive. San Francisco is a unique American city, with many entertaining sites and rewarding activities for attendees and their families to experience. Several arranged tours will be offered by the Congress planners.
26th Year of Publication for the Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
This is the first issue for the 26th year of publication of this journal. While serving as editor in chief for those 26 years, I have been gratified to observe the development of the forensic engineering discipline as expressed in the pages of the Journal. During this time, the Journal has grown from a very small and insignificant quarterly publication to an internationally respected forum published bimonthly. The growth and success of the Journal is the result of many individuals, including our altruistic authors, volunteer reviewers, and enthusiastic readers, as well as the dedicated publications staff at ASCE.
Recently, an unsolicited manuscript was submitted that provides a comprehensive study of the Journal’s history, its content, and its contribution to the credibility and influence of forensic engineering in the international arena. The 24-year publication period, 1987–2010, is reviewed in the paper, which has not yet appeared in print, but is available on the Internet through ASCE’s post ahead of print program (Macdonald et al. 2011).
Among other interesting and useful statistics, the authors note that 1,700 authors have contributed manuscripts, representing six continents and 44 countries. Of the 706 total papers, 84 were collaboratively written by authors from more than one country; four of these by authors from three countries, and 80 by authors from two countries. Authors represented 48 states. The only exceptions were South Dakota and Wyoming. Efforts will soon be under way to solicit manuscripts from South Dakota, Wyoming, and Antarctica to complete the list!
Readers will find the content of this paper very interesting, as it traces the growth of forensic engineering throughout the world from the perspective of this Journal. The abstract states
The Journal continues to serve as a primary resource for published literature in the field of engineering forensics and provides a recorded history of our recognition and understanding of important lessons learned. Interesting facts were revealed (in the study) that provide insights for practitioners and academia alike. The investigation indicates a wide participation of engineering disciplines, an increasing number of new topics, innovations, and proactive forensic methodologies, extensive interdisciplinary collaboration, and a significant increase in international contributions. This study may serve as a basis for defining the history and breadth of forensic engineering and for understanding the international relevancy and regional interest in the diverse subject matter. Increased acceptance, dissemination, and participation in forensic engineering is evident and should be encouraged and sustained as part of engineering curricula, investigative research, and professional practice.
The increase in high-quality international contributions is further underscored by a review of the papers from the 2010 volume that were nominated for our annual Outstanding Paper Award. (See my Editor’s Note in the November/December 2011 issue.) Of the 14 nominated papers, only 5 were by U.S. authors. Two were by authors from Germany, and there was one each from Australia, China, Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, Taiwan, and Turkey. Again, the international growth and acceptance of forensic research and practice is gratifying to observe, and the assertion that this Journal has contributed in a positive way to that evolution is particularly gratifying to me and to all others who have contributed to its success.
Please feel free to contact me at any time regarding submission of a manuscript or to offer your contributions as a peer reviewer. I may be contacted by mail: Kenneth L. Carper, Professor Emeritus, School of Architecture and Construction Management, College of Engineering & Architecture, P.O. Box 642220, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2220; by telephone: (509) 592-5374; or by e-mail: [email protected]
Reference
Macdonald, R., Back, W. E., and Johnson, P. W. (2011). “Retrospective analysis to identify trends in forensic research.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., (Sep. 23, 2011).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 26 • Issue 1 • February 2012
Pages: 1
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 30, 2011
Accepted: Oct 31, 2011
Published online: Jan 17, 2012
Published in print: Feb 1, 2012
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