Establishing the Annual “JSE Paper of the Year” Awards
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 4
In a spring 2017 meeting held in Denver, Colorado, the Board of the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering (JSE) decided to initiate a new set of awards to recognize papers in three categories:
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Best Journal Paper in Analysis and Computation: to recognize papers in the structural health monitoring (SHM)/structural system identification, optimization, computing and reliability areas;
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Best Journal Paper in Structural Hazards: to recognize papers in the seismic, wind, dynamic effects, and shock and vibration areas; and
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Best Journal Paper in Materials and Structural Response: to recognize papers in the metal, concrete, masonry, wood, and composites areas.
Candidate papers had to be accepted (not necessarily published) in the period from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017. It was decided to deviate from the regular ASCE process, which requires a paper to be published before being eligible for an award, to enhance the immediacy and value of the awards.
Selection of the award-winning papers was conducted by a committee of associate editors. Members of the committee were volunteers, and it was decided that the composition of the committee should change every year. To preserve the integrity of the process, papers written by award committee members, managing editors, and editor-in-chief were deemed ineligible.
The inaugural committee was composed of
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Prof. Sriram Narasimhan, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (Committee Chair);
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Prof. Ashraf Ayoub, City University of London; and
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Prof. Shamim Pakzad, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The subsequent report provided by the committee describes the selection process that was developed and the papers that were selected for the honor. The selection process will be discussed and reviewed during the 2018 board meeting and refined if necessary. It is the intention of the board to annually select and recognize the top papers published in JSE.
Selection Process
The inaugural awards committee was tasked with selecting award paper(s) accepted in the Journal of Structural Engineering over a period of 1 year. Because it was an inaugural committee, one of the additional tasks was also to develop a selection process, which could be used as a template for future awards. Over the period from May to September 2017, the committee met seven times (via conference calls) and was able to finalize the inaugural awards papers along with a general process that is recommended for the future. The process followed in selecting the papers is briefly described next.
The first step established the relevant time period of July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017. Papers considered for awards in this cycle should have at least been accepted (final) during this period. This resulted in a total of 281 papers for the inaugural period.
The next step involved solicitation for nominations from all the associate editors (AEs) on the board. The committee sent out an email to the editorial board, soliciting nominations. A total of 15 nominations resulted from this solicitation. The AEs were not given any specific criteria to follow and were free to use any criteria they felt appropriate in selecting papers for nominations. In other words, the committee largely relied on the AEs’ subject matter expertise for nominations.
The nominations were categorized according to the 13 thematic areas that exist within the Journal. Where sufficient nominations were not available (as a fraction of total accepted papers within the area to the total accepted papers over the 1 year period), papers with the highest reviewer ratings were considered within each of these thematic areas by the committee. The aim in this step was to select a pool of 24 papers for the second selection round.
The three awards committee members were assigned eight papers each by the committee chair, with the objective of selecting the top two to three papers each to be considered in the final pool. The members performed a full paper review of the papers they were assigned and used a combination of factors, such as reviewer rating, their subject matter expertise, and reviewers’ comments, to create the final short list of eight papers.
The committee then reviewed the eight papers individually and through consultations selected the top papers in the “Analysis and Computations” and “Structural Hazards” categories. No clear winner emerged in the “Materials and Structural Response” category, so it was decided to not select a winner for the period in question.
Awards Announcement
The awards committee determined that the following papers should receive the inaugural awards. The committee and the Board of the Journal of Structural Engineering would like to congratulate the authors on their excellent work.
2017 Best Journal Paper in Analysis and Computation
“Measured Buffeting Response of a Long-Span Suspension Bridge Compared with Numerical Predictions Based on Design Wind Spectra,” by Aksel Fenerci and Ole Øiseth [10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0001873, 04017131]
2017 Best Journal Paper in Structural Hazards
“Methodology for Development of Physics-Based Tsunami Fragilities,” by Navid Attary, John W. van de Lindt, Vipin U. Unnikrishnan, Andre R. Barbosa, and Daniel T. Cox [10.1061/(ASCE) ST.1943-541X.0001715, 04016223]
2017 Best Journal Paper in Materials and Structural Response
None selected this year.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 4 • April 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 12, 2017
Accepted: Oct 18, 2017
Published online: Jan 30, 2018
Published in print: Apr 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jun 30, 2018
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