ANZJS - Editorial Matters

Report to NZSA AGM 2006
Australia and New Zealand Journal Of Statistics - ANZJS

1. Activities since last report

1.1 Editorial Board

The final changes to the Editorial Board of the Journal have been confirmed. The Editorial Board now comprises Kerrie Mengersen (Managing Editor), Stephen Haslett (Theory and Methods), Jeff Wood (Applications) and Ken Russell (Technical). The contributions to the Journal made by the former members of the Editorial Board are warmly acknowledged.

1.2 Submissions

More than 80 manuscripts have been submitted to the Journal since January 2006. This is a pleasing rate of submission and gives opportunity for careful selection of papers on the basis of quality, composition and attractiveness to our readership.

As initiated by the previous Editorial team, the backlog of papers has been substantially reduced, so that time between acceptance and publication of papers is now much more reasonable.

Review times continue to be monitored. A summary of review times for manuscripts submitted in 2006 is given in the following plot. It is clear that some manuscripts are still subject to unacceptably long delays of more than three months.

Another issue under consideration by the Editorial team is the length of time for revisions of manuscripts. At present there is no limit to this, which means that Associate Editors and reviewers may be asked to remember and reconsider manuscripts that were submitted more than twelve months ago.

1.3 Operations

Interaction between the Editorial team and Blackwell, as the publisher of the Journal, has been very positive. The efforts of the publishers, in particular Foong-Ee Tan and Sussan Au (Production Editor) are appreciated in assisting the new Editorial team. Procedures, division of tasks and author submission requirements will continue to be settled in the next twelve months.

The web-based production system used by Blackwell appears to be working well. As described by the publishers, “Using Author Services, authors have the ability to track the progress of their manuscripts from receipt at Blackwell through the production process to publication online and in print. Registered authors benefit from free access to the full text of their papers in Blackwell Synergy as well as a 20% discount on Blackwell publications… Author Services will be further enhanced in 2006 to include readership and citations per article in Blackwell Synergy.”

1.4 Profile

The online readership of the journal continues to grow. As reported by Blackwell, “in 2005, ANZJS articles were downloaded 14,795 times through Blackwell Synergy and other online hosts. This compares with 10,263 in 2004; an increase of 44%.”
The following information was kindly provided by Nick Melchior, Blackwell’s Journal Publishing Coordinator, Asia.
The 2005 Journal Citation Reports from the ISI's Science Citation Index reveal that the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics has seen a 48% increase in its Impact Factor, from 0.387 in 2004 to 0.573 in 2005. This is the third year running that the journal has seen an increase and 2005 sees the second highest impact factor the journal has achieved. The 2005 Impact Factor is derived from articles published in 2003 and 2004.
Despite this impressive rise, the journal remained ranked 59th in the Statistics & Probability category for the third consecutive year, albeit from a larger pool of journals (75 in 2003, 77 in 2004 and 81 in 2005).

2. Activities over next 12 months

2.1 Editorial Board

Communication and interaction will continue to be consolidated among the Editorial team.

Increased communication between the Society and the Editorial Board will continue to be subject of discussion in 2006.

Standard documents used for communicating with authors, Associate Editors and reviewers will continued to be reviewed in light of changed practices.

An assistant Technical Editor will be appointed in the next month.

The review of Associate Editors will be completed with the Editorial team. The new board of Associate Editors will be confirmed with the Editors before being published on the website and in future issues.

2.2 Operations

In addition to continuing to consolidate the journal publication processes, a number of issues continue to be pursued with Blackwell.

Online Open is a service provided by Blackwell whereby accepted manuscripts are made available electronically by the Publisher prior to formal publication, thus facilitating faster access to papers. The Editorial team strongly supports the introduction of this initiative for ANZJS and is working with the Societies to investigate the financial implications.

A web-based submission service is also provided by Blackwell. The potential advantages of this electronic editorial office (EEO) will be discussed with the Editorial team and the Society Executive. Blackwell cites reports of a median decrease in refereeing times of 25% and an average growth in volume of submissions of 20% arising from such online services.

Review times and time between acceptance and publication will continue to be monitored.

Copyright remains a topic of active discussion among authors, the Editorial team and the publisher. These have also been motivated by changing demands by funding bodies and employers. Blackwell has responded positively with a range of options, including (i) an Exclusive Licence Form that allows authors to retain the copyright of their article while granting the journal the exclusive rights to publish it; (ii) self-archiving the final version of an article on personal websites or institutional repositories after an embargo period with a link to the definitive published version on Blackwell Synergy for citation, and (iii) Online Open services; see above.

2.3 Profile

• The profile of the Journal continues to be the topic of discussion among the Editorial Board. This includes:
• The focus of the journal: who is the target audience and what do they want in the Journal?
• The impact of the journal: how can measures such as the Impact Factor be improved for the Journal?
• The content of the journal: the role of reviews, book reviews, statistical education and applications will be carefully considered.

To this end, five main activities are planned for the next year.

1. Blackwell’s initiative, Author Feedback, “will gather feedback from authors on their experience during the peer review and production processes. The corresponding author of every article published will be asked a short set of questions on his/her experience with the publishing process.” Answers will be collated annually and shared with societies and editors.
2. A separate survey of journal readers and Society members will be undertaken in collaboration with Blackwell in the second half of 2006, in order to elicit interests of readers, preferences for articles and ideas for increasing readership and impact. The results of the survey and interviews will be published in the Newsletter and will be summarised as an action plan by the Editorial team.
3. The Editorial team will conduct a series of interviews with the editors of other journals over the next year in order to solicit ideas about improving readership, impact factor and focus of the journal.
4. The Editorial team will solicit a series of invited reviews on topics of current interest. These papers will form an ongoing section of the journal.
5. A review will be undertaken of the status of the Applications section of the journal. Despite the commitment of the Editorial team to this section and the evident interest that these papers generate, it remains strongly undersubscribed.

This report is an edited version of material supplied by Prof Kerrie Mengersen, Managing Editor, ANZJS

Stephen Haslett
Theory and Methods Editor
ANZJS
28 June 2006

ANZJS - Organizational Matters

Structure of SSAI-ASPAI and Publication of ANZJS

Discussion Paper

Neville Bartlett, Statistical Society of Australia, June 2006

Summary

This discussion paper outlines the current configuration of SSAI-ASPAI and their role in the publication of The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics (ANZJS). It is proposed that this structure be reviewed in an effort to provide the New Zealand Statistical Association (NZSA) with a more direct role in the management of ANZJS and to simplify the working within SSAI. Any such changes will not be allowed to adversely affect the autonomy of the editorial decisions made by ANZJS editorial team.

Introduction

The Statistical Society of Australia has two central registered organisations, namely, the Statistical Society of Australia Incorporated (SSAI) and Australian Statistical Publishing Association Incorporated (ASPAI). Both of these bodies are incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and are separate to the six branches based in Canberra, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. ASPAI was originally setup to carry out publication of the journal (the Australian Journal of Statistics) and the SSAI Newsletter.

Since 1998 the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics (ANZJS) has been jointly produced with the NZSA via an agreement with the publisher Blackwell. ANZJS replaced the Australian Journal of Statistics published by ASPAI and the New Zealand Statistician published by NZSA. A memorandum of understanding between NZSA and SSAI governs how the Journal is funded and the structure of the editorial team. A journal capitation fee per member paid to ASPAI funds ANZJS publication.

Current Configuration

SSAI and ASPAI are two separate bodies that require separate accounts and meetings. SSAI and ASPAI have the same central councils made up of representatives from the Branches (with the number of delegates related to branch membership numbers) and Sections as well an Executive made up of the President, Secretary, Treasurer and ANZJS Editor. NZSA has no representation on ASPAI even though ASPAI’s primary purpose is the publication of ANZJS and the SSAI Newsletter.

Funds to support SSAI are raised by charging each branch an annual capitation fee per member and part of this capitation fee is forwarded onto ASPAI to cover the ANZJS capitation fee and the cost of publishing the SSAI Newsletter.

Since ASPAI was first created many things have changed and these include:
• Incorporated bodies in Australia are subject to increased regulation
• ASPAI currently does not employ people to carry out copy editing and typesetting
• The publisher (Blackwell) looks after collection of all institutional subscriptions and almost all of the publication process from the point of acceptance of papers
• The introduction of a goods and service tax (GST) in Australia has increased the need for disciplined financial recording and regular lodgement of GST returns
• The financial position regarding the journal is much more stable and assured.

There are two areas of difficulty with the current structure:
1. NZSA has an indirect role in the (non-editorial) management of ANZJS that is structurally inappropriate as well as being vulnerable to unnecessary ‘surprises’.
2. The structure/working of the SSAI/ASPAI relationship in its current form does not seem to offer any benefits to SSAI members and works against providing NZSA with up-to-date and relevant financial information regarding ANZJS.

Each of these aspects is sufficient on its own to warrant a review of alternatives.

Potential Future Structure

Objectives

• Provide NZSA with a more direct and equitable role with regard to the overall and financial management of ANZJS and the relationship with its publisher without decreasing the autonomy of the ANZJS editorial team.
• Simplify the structure of SSAI/ASPAI so that it is easier to manage as well as being clearer to the SSAI membership.
• Put in place a board of management for ANZJS that enables appropriate consideration of short and longer term publication issues as well as providing the ANZJS editorial team with a forum to raise general issues.
• Facilitate the financial management of ANZJS in a way that is much more transparent to both NZSA and SSAI.
• Provide a structure that keeps options open regarding how the ANZJS is published in the future.

Management Board for ANZJS

A board could be established with:
• 6-8 people with at least 3 from each of NZSA and SSAI
• 1-2 others with particular and relevant skills/experience
• Membership will be for 4 years and renewable in 1 year increments so that a good balance is struck between maintaining knowledge while ensuring some new minds are introduced
• Chair would be for 2 years at a time and would be expected to alternate between NZSA and SSAI representatives
• Editorial team members will have an open invitation to all board meetings
• The board will be based in Australia under the auspices of SSAI unless substantial benefits can be shown for it to be a subcommittee of NZSA.

The role of the board would be to:
• Manage the relationship with the publisher (currently Blackwell)
• Consider alternative forms of publication and relationship with publishers
• Appoint people to the editorial team
• Co-ordinate the financial affairs of ANZJS including recommendation of capitation fees and regular reporting of financial status. Formal approval of all recommendations would still rest with SSAI and NZSA but the board’s role will be to ensure that all recommendations are debated appropriately and well constructed.
• Keep members of both NZSA and SSAI up to date with journal related matters.

Financial Management of ANZJS

Audited annual financial statements will be supplied to NZSA and SSAI in suitable time for annual general meetings and other relevant meetings. Funds required for the publication of ANZJS from NZSA and SSAI will be calculated on a per member basis (as currently) or by agreement between the two societies. Any refunds will also be calculated on the same basis unless otherwise agreed by both NZSA and SSAI. It is expected that the management board will have a modest reserve of funds available to use at its discretion. The publication of festschrifts and the reduction of publication backlogs by publishing bumper issues would be two examples of appropriate uses of such a reserve.

Editorial Management of ANZJS

The current autonomy of the ANZJS editorial team will be protected. There has been a long tradition of allowing maximum autonomy for the editorial team to handle editorial issues and this tradition will be maintained. Any new structure/arrangement regarding ANZJS must provide the editorial team with clear financial guidelines and act as a forum for the editorial team to raise general policy issues and actions that would require extra funds or other forms of support.

Afterword by Murray Jorgensen

Neville's article pretty well outlines the areas that will be under discussion between the two societies over the next few months. If you have any questions about these proposals or comments that you would like to make, please get in touch with Roger Littlejohn and/or myself. We are keen that the final arrangement gets the broadest possible support.

Blackwell Synergy

Members were emailed (1 February, 2006) instructions and their password from Blackwell Publishing on how to log-on to the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Statistics online directly through Blackwell Synergy (www.blackwell-synergy.com).

Alternatively, check with your library about access to ANZJS online through the subscriber-based providers Ingenta, Ebsco, SwetsWise or OCLC.

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