AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-4.html[8/27/2013 1:03:41 PM] Editorial The long path to journal viability From time to time we compare AJET's development with some kindred journals, for example AJET Editorial 20(1) [1] compared AJET with three Australian based, not for profit journals in educational technology, under the criterion 'consistent sustainability'. Only one of those three, e-JIST, has sustained into this year's comparison, presented below in Table 1. Table 1 compares five Australian produced journals, including two recent startups [2], in an attempt to provide some insight into the question: How many years are required to attain a viable number of issues and articles per year? Table 2 explores this question further, using two prominent non-OA and two OA (open access, or 'free to the Internet') journals as illustrative examples. Table 1: Numbers of issues and articles in five Australian journals, 1995-2005 Year HERD [3] first issue 1982 e-JIST [4] first issue 1995 JLD [5] first issue 2005 JUTLP [6] first issue 2004 AJET [7] first issue 1985 issues artics issues artics issues artics issues artics issues artics 1995-2000 16 129 9 22 - - - - 14 79 2001 3 20 1 7 - - - - 3 20 2002 3 21 1 8 - - - - 3 23 2003 3 22 1 5 - - - - 3 24 2004 4 25 2 13 - - 2 8 3 21 2005 4 26 1* 4* 1* 7* 3 13 4 30 Totals 33 (95-05) 243 (95-05) 15 (95-05) 59 (95-03) 1* (05) 7* (05) 5 (04-05) 21 (04-05) 30 (95-05) 197 (95-05) * 2005 count is incomplete. Last updated 2 Dec 2005. The concept of 'viable number' is quite subjective, but if we supplement the data in Table 1 with comparable data for journals that are likely to be widely regarded internationally as viable journals (Table 2), the target for viability becomes more sharply defined at around 4 issues and 25 to 40 articles per year. The HERD, AJET and e-JIST records suggest that quite a number of years of growth may be required for attaining viable numbers. Of course, 'viable numbers' of issues and articles constitute only two of many measures that may be applied in evaluation of journal performance. Another measure of interest to authors is listing or 'indexing' by a well known abstracting service. Table 3, summarising AJET's experience with ERIC, ERA and CC and HWW indicates that the path towards this form of recognition may be quite lengthy. Table 2: Numbers of issues and articles in five international journals, 2001-2005 Year BJET [8] first issue 1970 ETRD [9] first issue 1953 JALN [10] first issue 1997 JETS [11] first issue 1998 AJET [7] first issue 1985 issues artics issues artics issues artics issues artics issues artics 2001 5 41 na na 2 17 4 41 3 20 2002 5 44 4 20 2 10 4 80 3 23 2003 5 41 4 21 3 23 4 43 3 24 http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/ajet21.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/about/ajetsearch.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/about/ajetsearch.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/ http://www.aset.org.au/ AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-4.html[8/27/2013 1:03:41 PM] 2004 6 45 4 21 4 36 4 43 3 21 2005 6 59 4 21 3* 24* 4 69 4 30 Tots 27 230 na na 14* 110* 20 276 16 118 * 2005 count may be incomplete. Last updated 2 Dec 2005. Table 3: Progress towards securing AJET's listing by some abstracting services Abstracting service Sub US$ No. jnls (a) Publisher Date init (b) Status Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) [12] Not applic Not avail US Dept Education 13 Nov 2000 (c) Pending Educational Research Abstracts (ERA) [13] $4869 789 Taylor & Francis 6 Dec 2002 Listed Oct 2005 Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences (CC) [14] (d) 1712 ISI Thomson 4 June 2004 Pending Education Index/ Abstracts/ Full Text (HWW) [15] (d) 623 (e) H.W. Wilson Databases Publisher initiated Listed Jan 2005 a. The number of journals abstracted (at 7 Oct 2005). A count of the number of journals currently abstracted by ERIC was not attempted for this table. b. Date initiated is the date of first communication between AJET (represented by the Production Editor) and the publisher of the service. c. ERIC was subjected to a major restructuring occupying several years of this period, which may have caused delays. [16] d. Publicly accessible information about subscription prices for 'electronic products' appears to be unavailable on the website (7 Oct 2005). e. An estimate made by the Production Editor. Perhaps AJET has had a 'lucky', or 'unlucky' experience with abstracting services, or the Production Editor has not been sufficiently diligent in lobbying for attention? To investigate those possibilities, consider Table 4, which presents a 'status summary' for thirteen illustrative cases. The first ten rows of Table 4 (AJET to JIME) are the Production Editor's 'top ten' OA (open access) journals [17, 18], in alpha order, whilst the last three rows are illustrative examples from commercial publishers. Needless to say, the 'top ten' is quite subjective and changes frequently. Some readers may feel that it strays too far away from edtech or even from education generally, and that some of the 'ten' are more like 'magazines' than research journals. We can revisit those topics later on; here it is sufficient to note that regardless of the possible influences of 'luck' and 'diligence', AJET is in a middling to good position, compared with a number of peers. Table 4: Some abstracting service coverages for ten OA and three non-OA journals Abstracting service (data compiled October 2005) CC ERA ERIC HWW Australasian Journal of Educational Technology [7] no yes no yes Contemporary Issues in Technology & Teacher Ed[19] no no no no EDUCAUSE Quarterly [20] no no was no EDUCAUSE Review [21] no no yes yes First Monday [22] no no no no Innovate [23] no no no no Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks [10] no no no yes Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication [24] no no no no AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-4.html[8/27/2013 1:03:41 PM] Journal of Educational Technology & Society [11] yes yes no yes Journal of Interactive Media in Education [25] no no no yes Higher Education Research and Development [3] no yes yes no British Journal of Educational Technology [8] yes yes yes yes Educational Technology Research & Development [9] yes yes yes yes Table 5 presents a list, also idiosyncratic, of recent startups we have noted for AJET editorial reference. Table 5 shows that the two recent startups noted in Table 1, JLD and JUTLP, have plenty of company as saplings in the great forest of scholarly journals. Table 5: Some recent startups of open access journals Name and URL Year Country Asia Pacific Cybereducation Journal http://www.acecjournal.org/ 2004 Various Asia- Pacific Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology http://www.naccq.ac.nz/bacit/ 2003 New Zealand Information, Technology and Educational Change http://ejournal.cite.hku.hk/ 2004 China Hong Kong International Journal for Educational Integrity http://www.unisa.edu.au/EducationalIntegrity/journal.htm 2005 Australia International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/ 2005 West Indies, South Africa, others International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning http://www.itdl.org/ 2004 USA Journal of Learning Design http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/ 2005 Australia Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice http://jutlp.uow.edu.au/ 2004 Australia Malaysian Online Journal of Instructional Technology http://pppjj.usm.my/mojit/ 2004 Malaysia Pedagogies: An International Journal http://www.crpp.nie.edu.sg/course/view.php?id=211 2006 Singapore Spreadsheets in Education (eJSiE) http://www.sie.bond.edu.au/ 2003 Australia AJET review process outcomes In AJET Editorial 21(2) we discussed AJET's review process outcomes, 2003-2005 [25], with particular reference to our increasing use of 'editorial rejections'. Table 6 below provides an update on the review process outcomes discussed in Editorial 21(2), this time to consider the number of articles in the 'pending' column. Currently (3 Dec 2005) at 34, the number 'pending' has barely changed since April 2005 (of course the composition of the 'pending' list changes continually). Whilst our goal is a three month 'turnaround time' for AJET's review process, Table 6's 'pending' column reflects the circumstance that we are 'not quite' or 'only just' approaching that target. Increased use of 'editorial rejections' is only a partial answer to the problem. http://www.acecjournal.org/ http://www.naccq.ac.nz/bacit/ http://ejournal.cite.hku.hk/ http://www.unisa.edu.au/EducationalIntegrity/journal.htm http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/ http://www.itdl.org/ http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/ http://jutlp.uow.edu.au/ http://pppjj.usm.my/mojit/ http://www.crpp.nie.edu.sg/course/view.php?id=211 http://www.sie.bond.edu.au/ AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-4.html[8/27/2013 1:03:41 PM] Table 6: Article review outcomes AJET 2003-2005 Year of receipt No. rec'd No. rejected editorially (b) No. reject ext review (b) No. with- drawn (c) No. pending No. accept (d) No. publ- ished % accep- ted (e) 2003 61 34 14 0 0 13 24 21.3% 2004 97 51 13 2 0 31 21 32.0% 2005(a) 85 32 4 2 34 13 30 - a. Data in columns 2-8 is at 3 Dec 2005. We expect to resolve the 34 year 2005 receivals that are pending at 3 Dec by mid-March 2006 (our goal is a three month maximum for the review process). The acceptance rate for a year cannot be finalised until after resolving all receivals in the pending category for that year. b. Some of the rejected articles may appear again as receivals in a subsequent year. The reasons for counting these instances as rejections are to enable a clearer cut off for each year's outcomes, and to align data collection with the editorial advice, used in a significant proportion of cases, 'Reject. Invite resubmission of a revised or expanded work for a new review process'. c. Withdrawn means withdrawn at the request of the authors. d. The number of articles accepted from a particular year's receivals does not correspond to the number published in each year, owing to time taken for review and revisions, and fluctuations in the speed of these processes. For example, AJET published 24 articles in 2003, the majority being 2002 receivals. e. % accepted is calculated from column 2 (No. rec'd) and column 7 (No. accepted). During 2006 one of our most important tasks concerning the continuing growth of AJET will be an expansion of the editorial team. We will need an expanded team to consolidate the increase to four issues per year that has been initiated with this issue, 21(4). In particular, 'editorial rejections' is an area that warrants more resources. Whilst a small editorial team can decide relatively quickly on 'editorial reject' or 'send to reviewers', each case requires one of us to devote 1-3 hours to the preparation of formative advice to the authors. Again, we record our grateful appreciation of the work done by AJET's reviewers, who spend similar amounts of time per review [26]. Roger Atkinson and Catherine McLoughlin AJET Production Editor and AJET Editor Endnotes 1. AJET Editorial 20(1). http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet20/editorial20-1.html 2. For some details on the planning behind the new journals, see Godat, M. & Carter, H. (2005). University-based e-journal publishing: Getting up and running. Workshop summary. ASCILITE 2005 Conference, Brisbane, 4-7 Dec. [viewed 4 Oct 2005] http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/workshop_godat_carter.doc 3. HERD. Higher Education Research and Development. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/07294360.asp 4. e-JIST. e-Journal of Instructional Science and Technology. http://www.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/ 5. JLD. Journal of Learning Design. http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/ 6. JUTLP. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice. http://jutlp.uow.edu.au/ 7. AJET. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ 8. BJET. British Journal of Educational Technology. http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0007- 1013&site=1 9. ETRD. Educational Technology Research & Development. http://www.aect.org/ For an explanation of 'first issue 1953', see AECT (2001). AVCR. http://www.aect.org/About/History/avcr1.htm [viewed 6 Oct 2005] 10. JALN. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/index.asp 11. JETS. Journal of Educational Technology & Society. http://www.ifets.info/ 12. http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal? _nfpb=true&_pageLabel=JournalPage&logoutLink=true 13. http://www.tandf.co.uk/era/covered.asp 14. http://www.isinet.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=B http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet20/editorial20-1.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/workshop_godat_carter.doc http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/07294360.asp http://www.usq.edu.au/electpub/e-jist/ http://www.jld.qut.edu.au/ http://jutlp.uow.edu.au/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0007-1013&site=1 http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0007-1013&site=1 http://www.aect.org/ http://www.aect.org/About/History/avcr1.htm http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/index.asp http://www.ifets.info/ http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=JournalPage&logoutLink=true http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=JournalPage&logoutLink=true http://www.tandf.co.uk/era/covered.asp http://www.isinet.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jloptions.cgi?PC=B AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-4.html[8/27/2013 1:03:41 PM] 15. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/Journals/ 16. ERIC Overview. [viewed 7 Oct 2005] http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/about/about_eric.html 17. Directory of open access journals. Education [viewed 8 Oct 2005] http://www.doaj.org/ljbs?cpid=127 18. McVeigh, M. E. (2004). Open access journals in the ISI citation databases: Analysis of impact factors and citation patterns. Thomson Scientific. http://www.isinet.com/isihome/media/presentrep/essayspdf/openaccesscitations2.pdf 19. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education. http://www.citejournal.org/ 20. EDUCAUSE Quarterly. http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/ 21. EDUCAUSE Review. http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/ 22. First Monday. http://firstmonday.org/ 23. Innovate. http://www.innovateonline.info/ (readers may be familiar with this journal's predecessor, The Technology Source, http://www.technologysource.org/ or http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ts.mivu.org) 24. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/ 25. Atkinson, R. & McLoughlin, C. (2005). Editorial 21(2). AJET's review process: An outcomes summary. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 21(2), iii-vi. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21- 2.html 26. AJET (2005). Panel of Reviewers 2004-05. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/about/rev-panel-current.html Conferences advertised in AJET 21(4) Congratulations to Halima Goss and the Queensland team for a splendid 22nd ascilite conference, well and truly 'maintaining the momentum' of this great series. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/ AusWeb 2006 Australis Noosa Lakes Resort Sunshine Coast, Queensland 1-5 July 2006 http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/ 10-13 July 2006, The University of Western Australia, Perth WA http://conference.herdsa.org.au/2006/ http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/Journals/ http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/about/about_eric.html http://www.doaj.org/ljbs?cpid=127 http://www.isinet.com/isihome/media/presentrep/essayspdf/openaccesscitations2.pdf http://www.citejournal.org/ http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/ http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/ http://firstmonday.org/ http://www.innovateonline.info/ http://www.technologysource.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ts.mivu.org http://jcmc.indiana.edu/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-2.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-2.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/about/rev-panel-current.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/ http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/ http://conference.herdsa.org.au/2006/ AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/editorial21-4.html[8/27/2013 1:03:41 PM] ALT-C 2006: The next generation http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2006/ 13th International Conference of the Association for Learning Technology Edinburgh, Scotland, 5- 7 September 2006 The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology is a refereed research journal published three times per year jointly by the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education and the Australian Society for Educational Technology. Prior to Volume 20, 2004, AJET's title was Australian Journal of Educational Technology. Members of ASET, ASCILITE and ISPI (Vic) receive AJET as a part of their membership benefits. For details on submission of manuscripts, subscriptions and access to the AJET online archives, please see http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ For review inquiries, contact the Editor, Associate Professor Catherine McLoughlin, School of Education (ACT), Australian Catholic University, PO Box 256, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia. Email: C.McLoughlin@signadou.acu.edu.au, Tel: +61 2 6209 1100 Fax +61 2 6209 1185. For production matters and subscriptions contact the Production Editor and Business Manager, Dr Roger Atkinson, 5/202 Coode Street, Como WA 6152, Australia. Email: rjatkinson@bigpond.com, Tel: +61 8 9367 1133. AJET is managed by an Editorial Board nominated by ASCILITE and ASET. The 2005 Editorial Board comprises: Catherine McLoughlin (Editor), Australian Catholic University Roger Atkinson (Production Editor) Trish Andrews, University of Queensland Carolyn Dowling, Australian Catholic University Mike Keppell, Hong Kong Institute of Education Lori Lockyer, University of Wollongong Mary Jane Mahony, University of Sydney One appointment pending for ASET Copyright in individual articles contained in Australasian Journal of Educational Technology and its predecessor title is vested in each of the authors in respect of his or her contributions. Copyright in AJET is vested in ASET (1985-86), AJET Publications (1987-1996), and ASCILITE and ASET (from 1997). © 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this journal may be reprinted or reproduced without permission from the publishers. ISSN 1449-3098 (print) 1449-5554 (online). http://www.alt.ac.uk/altc2006/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet21/ajet21.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/about/ajetsearch.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/about/ajetsearch.html http://www.ascilite.org.au/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/ http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/brisbane05/ http://www.aset.org.au/ mailto:rjatkinson@bigpond.com www.ascilite.org.au AJET 21(4) Atkinson and McLoughlin (2005) - Editorial