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This is a temporary page for use by the Editorial Board of the Space Weather Journal and Space Weather Quarterly. See Dan Baker and Barbara Giles for further information.
Telecon March 17 Agenda:
Date: Monday, March 17 at 11am Eastern
Toll Free Number: 866-757-4161
Toll Number: 1-517-968-4405
Passcode: 5807653
Notes from the telecon are in blue. Beg pardon for typos, poor grammar, incomplete sentences, missed comments, etc.
Agenda:
- Louis Lanzerotti: Editorial Report on continued production of SWJ and SWQ. Last issue of Quarter for 2013 has been finished and distributed. First issue of Quarterly is being prepped now. A few articles are still in prep and we are waiting for the quarter to close to finish off and distribute. Some internal AGU staff is changing but looks to be smooth and will not interrupt. Nancy asked if Mohi Kumar, an AGU staff member, has been able to contribute to the journal as she is enthusiastic about the Quarterly and has had many good ideas. Brooks would need to talk with her about contributions in the future and, of course, this will be part of the current broader discussions about use of staffing and how all scientific fields would be covered via EOS or other publications. The kinds of things that used to be in Quarterly have suffered as a result of staffing changes and all of this is being discussed as part of the higher level review. Several folks on the telecon seconded and endorsed Mohi Kumar's contributions and we hope in the future that Mohi's leadership could be brought to bear in the future.
- Distribution list for quarterly was given "some" scrubbing. Thanks to Lexi and other staff at AGU for updating the list for staff members and aids!
- Thanks to Nancy Crooker! Article in EOS In the next year or two, we will all want to think of ways to bring attention to the Journal/Quarterly as a help to the new editor. Excellent example of "what to do"!
- additional thanks to Barbara Richman and Mohi Kumar, both of whom are Space Weather supporters from the past.
- Thanks to Delores Knipp! Working the Journal/Quarterly into the classroom. Hopefully this model could be written up as an idea for other universities to use in their courses. Excellent example of "what to do" as an editorial board member! This is a followup on her initiative to increase visibility and utilization: a SWJ version of Astrobites ("SWxbites"). Astrobites is a daily astrophysical literature journal written by graduate students in astronomy. Their goal is to present interesting papers in a brief format that are accessible to undergraduate students.
- AGU, AMS, and the Space Weather Journal/Quarterly. The door appears to be open for collaboration/cooperation. Dan Baker also connected with Bill Gates.
- Bob McCoy engaged Bill Gail, new president of AMS
- Bill Gail reached out to Lou Lanzerotti re jointly supporting the Quarterly with AGU
- Lou introduced Bill to Brooks.
- Bill's bottom line: "I speak only for myself at this point and my interest in seeing space weather well supported as an emerging discipline. I would have to speak with our publications team if there is any request for AMS support, but I would be glad to do so. The level of collaboration between AGU and AMS is growing. We are glad to explore any opportunities that strengthen that collaboration and ensure the health of communities like space weather. Please let me know what I can do."
- As an aside and included in the referenced email chain, here is a great picture of Lou and Don Carpenter at the recent Yosemite Conference. Don is apparently working on a "history of VLF" paper, which must be very interesting as Bill Gail's email to Lou is the third time I've heard it mentioned. Also, everyone loves the "Full Solar Cycle" theme for the Journal this Year.
- Search for the next Editor in Chief has begun. The search committee has met a couple of times.
- when does the nomination period close? End of this month, or into April. Our group is encouraged to speak to candidates and/or apply ourselves. Folks have looked very carefully into whether there may be issues, legal or otherwise, with the EIC being a civil servant. The conclusion is that there should not be a concern with that, given appropriate care on the part of the editor in question and appropriate support from AGU and government agency general counsel.
- timeline for when new editor can reasonably be expected to begin their work? Early to mid summer? Could be earlier?
- when does the nomination period close? End of this month, or into April. Our group is encouraged to speak to candidates and/or apply ourselves. Folks have looked very carefully into whether there may be issues, legal or otherwise, with the EIC being a civil servant. The conclusion is that there should not be a concern with that, given appropriate care on the part of the editor in question and appropriate support from AGU and government agency general counsel.
- Recommended Terms of Reference from the Editorial Board
- zeroth order draft circulated from our subgroup
- markups from Louis to consider and work in.
- Comments: Lou's markups are helpful. AGU's name is ... role of EIC has been more advocacy, this appears to more passive, written in receive mode or transmit mode. Tirelessly advocate for SWJ/SWQ. Want to ensure we give lots of latitude to the new editor. Job announcement doesn't capture the full breadth of the job. Hope this document can be used by the search committee to help inform editor candidates. Brooks thinks this can be helpful to search committee; agrees with comment about constructing an editorial team will be helpful and having proactive editor is important, encouraging content to be submitted, writing editorials, etc. Also, advocacy means appropriate relationships between AGU, AMS, societies, engagement with other journals and societies. On page 3 or so, editorial roles and responsibilities, add a few sentences along these lines. CHANGE THE TITLE. Number of the subeditors recommended is currently vague, being left to the new editor. AGU is trying to get at least two per journal as a minimum, good to have more than two. Brooks can see up to four for the amount of content. Growth of international content means we should have an international editor. Add more words in this area of the document to reflect growth of field, growth of content. A concern was expressed on point four on page four, EAB members may be discontinued ... wording seems a bit harsh. SWJ has an editorial board at the discretion of Lou, AGU doesn't officially recognize these and so in general, they do serve at the discretion of the EIC. Should there be something more formal, we can propose that. Since the journal was different, content is broader, the editorial board has a special function. Don't know what the process would be within AGU to formalize. AGU has the structure of "focus groups" to make connections; how might this function in that form? Should we work in that manner? Brooks feels all Editors should have a process to get feedback from the community and get critique as to how the journal is going ... how to connect with the community. Question. What about the quarterly expanding through the use of electronic means; what does that sentence really mean/imply, can we rewrite that to make our thoughts clearer? These comments will be addressed in the next version of the document and be circulated by email. Please keep the helpful suggestions and comments flowing!
- SPECIAL THANKS to Bob Robinson, Howard Singer, and Bob McCoy for putting out this first draft. It's not an easy task to clearly and succinctly synthesize the many thoughts and opinions of what the Journal and Quarterly are and the road the publications and editorial process should take in the future.
- Are there any other actions we can take now to be helpful? We ran our of time before addressing this agenda item. We agreed to continue working by email for now and may well schedule another telecon if that is encouraged by the group.
- is it time to step back and prepare to support the new editor as that person may request?
- are there actions that would be supportive to make their transition smoother?
- something re the Full Solar Cycle theme? How about an article summarizing the first solar cycle of Journal/Quarterly?
- drafting of a proposal to the agencies that they could use/no use as deemed helpful?
- drafting of "Quarterly hardcopy mailing list" plan? including priorities for receipt of hardcopies, further work on email list, roll out plan for moderized e-copy version to expand access?
- draft a list of article/feature suggestions for Journal/Quarterly? including lists of suggested interview subjects, tutorials, reviews, special issues, etc.
Telecon January 29 Agenda:
Toll Free Number: 866-757-4161
Toll Number: 1-517-968-4405
Passcode: 5807653
Agenda:
- Louis Lanzerotti: Editorial Report on continued production of SWJ and SWQ.
- Nancy Crooker: Potential submission to EOS as followup to her suggestion at the AGU Luncheon.
- Discussion about AGU/AMS and other partnerships
- Brooks Hansen: Progress on work to define Terms of Reference / Editorial Search Committee
- Brooks Hanson/Barbara Giles: Progress on work to provide visual prototype of SWQ using new Wiley special section software features.
Telecon January 17 Agenda:
Toll Free Number: 866-757-4161
Toll Number: 1-517-968-4405
Passcode: 5807653
Agenda:
- Louis Lanzerotti: Editorial Report on continued production of SWJ and SWQ. Last issue of the Quarterly for 2013 is underway and is basically finished. Very nice editorial this month introducing the solar cycle anniversary concept. Louis reports that the editorial side of the work is going well. Continues to solicit and receive non-technical material. The citation index continues to increase and we believe it will continue to do so as we are all being more viligant with activities that affect the index.
- Delores Knipp: Followup on her initiative to increase visibility and utilization: a SWJ version of Astrobites ("SWxbites"). Astrobites is a daily astrophysical literature journal written by graduate students in astronomy. Their goal is to present interesting papers in a brief format that are accessible to undergraduate students. Delores is going to try this out on her students this semester! The class has 28 aerospace engineers enrolled. In addition to HW, they will review SW paper and try to write "astrobite" type of summaries. Four or five paragraph summary. Here is an example written by one of the more advanced students.
- Howard Singer/Dan Baker: Summary of Discussions at AGU Editorial Board Luncheon (cryptic notes taken during the meeting are here). WANT MORE INFORMATION ON THE SPECIAL SECTION WILEY FEATURES, were not able to cover that in sufficient detail. There is a difference between 'special issues' and 'special collections". We were not able to explore any potential links between this journal and AMS and any connections with IEEE Explorer.
- Nancy Crooker: Potential submission to EOS as followup to her suggestion at the AGU Luncheon. Barb will circulate Nancy's message; all will reply back with further suggestions and encouragements.
- Paul Cannon: Ensuring the "mission statements" or "scope statements" for Radio Science, Space Weather Journal, and JGR-Space Physics are consistent and clear. Paul encourages an ~100 word description, with the aim to ensure little to no cross-over as much as that is possible. This is the text that goes in the OVERVIEW area of the journal's website.
- Barbara Giles/Brooks Hansen: Progress on work to define Terms of Reference. A template has been created and our subcommittee of Bob, Bob, and Howard will proceed with a draft.
- Brooks Hanson/Barbara Giles: Progress on work to provide visual prototype of SWQ using new Wiley special section software features. Hope to have this for our telecons by April? May be able to have something earlier than April. All agree that more discussion is needed as we are all uncertain as to how this should proceed.
- Besides status on the various initiatives, what should be the focus for next telecon? Bob McCoy reporting on AGU/AMS partnership to support also partnerships with IEEE Explorer? More information on the "special collections" / "special issues" software and features, and how SWJ/SWQ could take advantage.
Re Distribution List: We need to scrub that. Louis will help with that, AGU has already taken a pass wrt congressional staff, Howard will help too.
AGU has started organizing the confidential search committee for a new Editor-in-Chief and hope to have the announcement out soon. Having this group involved will be very important. SEND suggestions for members of the search committee to Brooks. It is essential that everyone in this group be proactive in encouraging appropriate members of our community to apply.
In other news:
Starting to keep a list of suggestions for articles, interviews, tutorials , etc.
Peter Chi, editor of the SPA News, pointed to the Wiley online library subscription service specially noting the Space Weather Journal. Thanks for the "shout out" Peter! To ensure folks remain aware of the need to subscribe, we will add a "notes to the editor" page to remind future editors to post subscription information to the newsletters at least once/twice a year.
Bob Robinson has contributed to a "history" page . Please take a look and consider what history you may be able to add. We'll want this material for our "Space Weather Journal First Solar Cycle" celebration.
Article in the Politico re consequences of EMP and magnetic storms. Thanks Lou for the alert.
AGU home page featured the news release for the very interesting lunar dust and radiation paper that was recently published in Space Weather.
List of items this group is tracking:
- Values/directions voiced as wanting to preserve? (feel free to add/edit the list)
- further establish SWJ/SWQ as the premier policy magazine for the space weather-related research disciplines
- continually increase the number and citation rate of high quality research papers in the journal
- continually increase visibility inside and outside the research community
- printed version of quarterly to funding/policy stakeholders
- broad circulation of quarterly in some form as communication tool
- Current Editorial Focus:
- Q4 2013 SW Quarterly - Editor and AGU currently working on this
- special section, nearly completed, devoted to the CRATeR mission and the radiation environment around the Moon
- Updates to the "about" text on the web site for the Space Weather Journal - in final editing and approval.
- 10th (or 11th) year anniversary
- Initiatives suggested through the flurry of emails (feel free to add/edit the list):
- Overall:
- work w/ AGU and SPA leadership to institutionalize SWJ/SWQ as a flagship science policy publication for AGU
- increase visibility of journal and quarterly beyond its current readership
- explore what a partnership with AMS and/or other societies would mean, what aspects would be enhanced or diluted.
- renewed visibility on ISIS website
- engage AGU's new director of public affairs, Lexi Shultz, in our discussions for the purpose of advising what will be most beneficial to agency/government stakeholders, among other topics. Her long experience as a gov't liason and legal advisor for UCS will be beneficial to the discussions.
- Overall:
- Near-term publication issues to address:
- Establish distribution priorities for Quarterly (print vs electronic), update distribution list.
- Prototype layout of Quarterly via standard/custom Wiley Special Section templates.
- Proposal to NSF and NASA re distribution of Quarterly and Writer Support.
- Form Editorial Search Committee, write Terms of Reference for Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board
- Mid-term issues:
- Access/Citation Rate:
- increase the number of reviews among the journal papers
- continue/expand the Editor's Choice column
- series of articles on the operational models
- work with other editors to encourage redirection of appropriate research papers to SWJ
- work with other editors for greater cross-referencing of relevant papers via new WWW site capabilities
- Formulate plan for broader electronic access of journal/quarterly.
- Capture history of the journal and quarterly in accessible place.
- carefully assess the government-mandated open access journal model, the responses to that mandate across the relevant publishers, and the potential benefit/liability to the range of journal and quarterly business cases that could be suggested.
- Access/Citation Rate:
- Longer-term issues:
- Explore/expand partnerships: AMS, AIAA, etc.
- How to assess the full "impact" of the journal, when the access/citation stats don't tell the full story.
- What is the desired balance between pursue "sponsored" support for the journal or quarterly or both?
Summary of points made in various emails/notes:
- Value to Community as identified in emails/telecon notes:
- important policy magazine for the Union and for a broad segment of membership
- premier journal for space weather
- the journal is the only society sponsored publication for operational space weather research
- quarterly is key for communicating ideas to people with limited science background
- Primary Challenges as identified in emails/telecon notes:
- access statistics appear low; one of least accessed AGU journals
- cost, including the quarterly, is high relative to other journals
- Contributing Challenges identified in emails/telecon notes:
- scientists in the field perhaps either do not have the time to publish the applications of their research or it's not a priority?
- the quarterly somewhat over-shadows the journal? a casual poll reveals that some scientists aren't aware there are two distinct, but linked publications
- increasing the visibility of the journal can result in increased subscriptions to the Quarterly, which increases costs.
- authors of non-technical articles may not continue to write for the journal/quarterly if their writings will no longer reach the decision makers and policy folks that the quarterly has reached in the past.
- AGU/Wiley assets about to be in place that can be leveraged:
- iPad App soon available for SWJ. Once synced with institutional account, downloads and reading can happen anywhere for 3 months. The app provides an HTML view of the content and can be organized by special section. One can browse by issue or by just released articles. Note that the quarterly is currently produced in a manner which limits the ability to participate in this rollout of journal aps.
- Wiley is working on redesign for journal WWW sites including flexible "widgets" that can be used to increase cross-referencing between journals and/or special collections. One new feature will be a "special collections" feature than can pull and organize content across journals and include options for a cover, TOC, and introduction. These can have guest editors and should be able to be released as individual aps or ebooks. These can also be printed on-demand.
- Questions (summarized from emails and meeting notes):
- What should the business model for the Space Weather Journal be? Should move to open access with author fee? How can the commentary pieces be supported under that model?
- Is there a need for editorial scope change? How can we better enforce the distinctions to the science research journals such as Radio Science and JGR Space Physics?
- How should the Quarterly evolve? Should the content expand to highlight related content published in other journals?
- Is a separate composition/production stream necessary for the Quarterly? Can we use the production stream created for the new virtual journals to streamline production and enable electronic access?
- How to best balance the business model for the quarterly? What should be the proportion of print versus electronic access? Should we renew sponsored development and printing? How do the necessary writing professionals get their support?
- During this time of transition, how can we best support a continuous stream of the highest quality space weather research papers AND the important news that our stakeholders need to have presented to them? Can we put some attention on the journal/quarterly to better aid the editors in meeting the current production schedule and to smoothly transition into a new production environment?
Background:
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Purpose and Scope:
Space Weather Journal:
Proposed update for the website: Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications is an online publication devoted to the field of space weather and its impact on the design and operations of technical and engineered systems, including telecommunications, electric power, and satellite navigation. The journal’s readers include engineers, system operators, systems designers, space weather forecasters, space weather modelers, as well as the research community.
Since the era of development of the initial electrical telegraph systems in the early 19th century, the solar-terrestrial environment has influenced the design and operations of ever-increasing and sophisticated technical systems. James Van Allen reported in 1958 that the space environment around the Earth was not benign, but rather composed of high-intensity radiation. Engineers and scientists immediately recognized from this discovery that technical systems such as the communications satellites envisioned by Arthur Clark and John Pierce would require design and operations procedures (and therefore costs) that had not been otherwise anticipated. Space Weather addresses these and all engineered systems that are affected by solar-produced processes, from ground currents in electrical grids, communication cables, and pipelines, to GPS navigation to HF radio propagation.
Space Weather is a research resource that also provides news and information for space weather professionals. Space Weather publishes:
- peer-reviewed articles presenting the latest engineering and science research in the field, including studies of the response of technical systems to specific space weather events, predictions of detrimental space weather impacts, and effects of natural radiation on aerospace systems;
- feature articles that describe specialized topics in space weather, from history to new developments to national activities to interviews with space weather professionals. Feature Articles are 2000 words in length and can contain three figures;
- news articles and book reviews. News articles provide up-to-date coverage of government agency initiatives worldwide and space weather activities of the commercial sector. These articles can be 500 to 1000 words and can contain one figure;
- letters and opinion articles offering an exchange of ideas; these articles are 500 words or less;
- editorial comments on current issues facing the community.
From the First Issue: The primary goal of Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications is to promote communication among scientists, engineers, technicians, science administrators, and space weather policy makers in a way that leads to continuous improvement in the nation's ability to mitigate space environment hazards to technical systems on the ground and in space.
Currently on the website: Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications is an online publication devoted to the emerging field of space weather and its impact on technical systems, including telecommunications, electric power, and satellite navigation.
Space Weather is a research resource that also provides news and information for space weather professionals. Space Weather publishes:
- peer-reviewed articles presenting the latest engineering and science research in the field, including studies of the response of technical systems to specific space weather events,predictions of detrimental space weather impacts, and effects of natural radiation on aerospace systems;
- news and feature articles providing up-to-date coverage of government agency initiatives worldwide and space weather activities of the commercial sector;
- letters and opinion articles offering an exchange of ideas; and
- editorial comments on current issues facing the community.
Space Weather is published by the American Geophysical Union and is co-sponsored by the International Space Environment Service (ISES). A digest of the online publication, Space Weather Quarterly (ISSN 1539-4964), is distributed four times a year free of charge.
Space Weather Quarterly:
From the first Issue: Space Weather Quarterly is a digest of selected articles published online in Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications.
A copy (or derivative) of the original press release (can't find the original).
Currently on the website: Space Weather Quarterly is a free, subscription-based print publication devoted to the impacts of space weather on technical systems, including telecommunications, electric power, radiation effects on space electronics, and satellite navigation. Space Weather Quarterly is a digest published by the American Geophysical Union that supports the journal, Space Weather: The International Journal of Research and Applications, which addresses the applications of space research findings and results to practical problems that face numerous government and industry entities that design and operate technical systems that are known to be influenced and affected by processes in the solar-terrestrial environment. Space Weather also publishes models of various solar system processes, as well as more integrated models, that are addressed to predictions and forecasts of solar and geomagnetic disturbances that impact technical systems.
Related journals and publications:
The Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate (SWSC) is an international multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary peer-reviewed open access journal which publishes papers on all aspects of space weather and space climate from a broad range of scientific and technical fields including solar physics, space plasma physics, aeronomy, planetology, radio science, geophysics, biology, medicine, astronautics, aeronautics, electrical engineering, meteorology, climatology, mathematics, economy, informatics. An online, open access electronic journal published by EDP Sciences, Les Ulis Cedex, France. Five paper and an editorial were published in 2011; 22 papers were published in 2012; and 30 papers and an editorial have been published thus far in 2013.
One person suggested that if the Space Weather Journal was no longer available or combined so as to diffuse its identity, then JSWSC would become their journal of choice for operational space weather articles.