Vol. 18(1) Spring 2011

From the Editors

Taking Care of Business (in a Volunteer Organization)

Do any of you remember the old USA rock song “Taking Care of Business” by Bachman-Turner Overdrive?  (We’re probably showing our age with this question). 

The chorus of the song repeats:

Taking care of business every day

Taking care of business every way

I've been taking care of business, it's all mine

Taking care of business and working overtime…

You might be wondering why we’d use these lyrics for the editorial page in JIAEE.  As you well know, AIAEE is a professional organization run entirely by volunteers.  Like many volunteer organizations, we rely on your help for things to run smoothly.  The Journal is no exception.  Dr. Seevers and I would like to thank you for all your assistance and kindly ask for a bit more.

We spend quite a bit of time with format issues on manuscripts.  We have made a few updates (namely APA 6^th edition and moving the font size back up to 12 pt.) but most has stayed consistent, like including line numbers.  It is important for those submitting manuscripts to follow submission guidelines explicitly.  The article will be automatically rejected the first time if guidelines are not followed.

Another characteristic of volunteer organizations is that a few people tend to do most of the work.  We will be using the current membership list to add new reviewers, but we need to update our reviewer list.  Let Dr. Seevers know if you want to be added or deleted.  The more reviewers we have (with diverse interests, backgrounds, and research expertise) then the better choices we have to match reviewers and papers.  You must have published in JIAEE to be a reviewer.

Volunteer organizations also depend on members who can follow through on commitments.  Reviews that are not completed in a timely manner slow down the review process.  Consider that manuscripts that are rejected with resubmission will be reviewed again by the same initial reviewers for consistency.  So declining the review the second time poses problems in the legitimacy of the review process.

We couldn’t do it without you and appreciate how dedicated members of AIAEE make the JIAEE possible.  At the end of this issue we have the call for the managing editor-elect for JIAEE.  I would like to encourage you to apply (working overtime) and provide volunteer leadership for the organization.

Sincerely,

Dr. Kim Dooley, Executive Editor & Dr. Brenda Seevers, Managing Editor

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education