Submissions and Reviewers: Table 1 shows the number of NACTA Journal manuscripts submitted, reviewed, accepted and rejected through FastTrack for the past eight years.
Table 1. NACTA Journal Manuscripts Submitted and Accepted
|
Year |
Submitted |
Accepted |
Percent |
Rejected |
Percent |
|
2013 |
109 |
76 |
70% |
33 |
30% |
|
2012 |
82 |
54 |
66% |
28 |
34% |
|
2011 |
83 |
49 |
59% |
34 |
41% |
|
2010 |
73 |
54 |
74% |
19 |
26% |
|
2009 |
58 |
42 |
72% |
16 |
28% |
|
2008 |
48 |
30 |
63% |
18 |
37% |
|
2007 |
44 |
29 |
66% |
15 |
34% |
|
2006 |
41 |
30 |
73% |
11 |
27% |
|
Average |
67 |
46 |
69% |
22 |
31% |
During the past eight years, manuscript submissions doubled. With about 50 accepted manuscripts per year, each issue of the Journal contains 12 to 14 published manuscripts, a reprint from a past Journal, Teaching Tips/Notes, occasional book reviews. Last year, 2013, was an exception with the creation and publication of a special September issue on global education, "Globalization: Implications for Teaching and Learning in Post-Secondary Agricultural Education." We received 36 manuscripts. After the reviews, 24 were accepted for the special issue which is posted on the NACTAteachers.org website as volume 57 number 3a. The issue is 156-pages. Hard copies can be purchased through Lulu, a print-on-demand service: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/nacta-journal-special-sept-2013/14158331
Besides the manuscripts submitted through the NACTA FastTrack (http://nacta.expressacademic.org/), 16 Teaching Tips/Notes and five book reviews were submitted in 2013. These items are not peer reviewed. For 2014, 30 manuscripts and 11 Teaching Tips/Notes have been submitted as of mid-June. The overall statistics for the NACTA FastTrack site: 704 total submissions in 8 years, including manuscripts, Teaching Tips/Notes and book reviews. On average, manuscripts reviews are completed in 38 days.
The NACTA Journal Editorial Board in 2013 consisted of 69 reviewers from 47 different institutions. Reviewers who do not maintain their NACTA membership are dropped. Reviewers with three-year terms ending the last day of June 2014 have all been notified and most asked to serve another three-year term.
Table 2 provides a comparison of the numbers of abstracts submitted to the annual conference for the past six years.
Table 2. Abstract Submissions to the Annual NACTA Conference
|
Year |
Number |
|
2014 |
250 |
|
2013 |
275 |
|
2012 |
176 |
|
2011 |
185 |
|
2010 |
225 |
|
2009 |
170 |
|
2008 |
140 |
|
Average |
203 |
Abstracts were electronically submitted to the website http://nactaabs.expressacademic.org/. Each abstract was assigned three reviewers from the NACTA Editorial Board. Based on the reviews abstracts were accepted as oral presentations, poster presentations, or rejected. The local planning committee at Montana State made the final decision on which abstracts would be oral presentation. The abstracts are published as NACTA Journal, Volume 58, Supplement 1, in hard copy for participants at the Montana State University in Bozeman. They are also published online on the NACTA Journal website (NACTAteachers.org). This year the CHS Foundation donated money to pay for the development and printing of the abstracts for the conference. Miriah Pace developed, assembled and designed NACTA Journal Volume 58, Supplement 1, with the help of Karen Earwood and Nada Olson.
All presenters are invited to share their presentations as PDFs for jpgs, which will be posted on the NACTAteachers.org website under the 2014 Conference.
Website and electronic publishing: All issues of the NACTA Journal are available on NACTAteachers.org. The most recent eight issues require a member login and password. Older issues of the NACTA Journal are available to anyone. An annual hard copy of the 2013 Journal was mailed to all members. Again, this year Sheridan Press in Hanover, PA printed and mailed the annual hard copy issue in January 2014 to all NACTA members with paid memberships for 2013. Electronic issues of the Journal are also provided to ProQuest and the Gale (Cengage) Group. NACTA receives annual royalty payments from these groups, depending on access.
The NACTAteachers.org website continues as a very valuable communication tool. The content is changed frequently. Based on "hits" Table 3 lists the most popular articles on the website:
Table 3. Most Popular on NACTAteachers.org
|
Most Popular Articles |
Hits |
|
Position Announcements |
19644 |
|
Upcoming NACTA Conferences |
19604 |
|
Teaching Awards |
19117 |
|
NACTA Judging Conference |
15643 |
|
NACTA Organization |
11182 |
|
About |
11069 |
|
2014 Calendar |
10619 |
|
NACTA Membership |
9644 |
|
Teacher Fellow Award |
6412 |
|
Annual Reports |
5738 |
Just an interesting note: Many individuals are coming to the NACTA website to get information about the NACTA Judging Conference.
Prior to our 2014 Conference and marking the 60th anniversary of NACTA, Miriah Pace completely redesigned and updated the NACTA History (http://www.nactateachers.org/nacta-history.html). Also, at the request of Chris Morgan, she added a page for the International Committee (http://www.nactateachers.org/international-committee.html).
Through the NACTA awards website (http://nactaawards.expressacademic.org/) award nominations are submitted and reviewed. This simplifies the nomination and review process for everyone.
NACTA is on Facebook: On Facebook, 575 people "Like" us (up from 416 last year). All measures show an increase over last year. Content is added on a daily basis, except during the summer months. Our Facebook link is https://www.facebook.com/NACTA.teachers.
NACTA E-newsletter: We continue to use the E-newsletter to reach a large audience of members and non-members of NACTA. Hopefully more members are relying on the NACTA Facebook and the NACTAteachers.org website. Also three of the websites -- the abstract submission site, the manuscript submission site and the NACTAteachers.org have the ability to easily and quickly email all of the members. More use is being made of this feature to provide members with information and reminders.
Continuing this year: The Second Annual Poster Contest for Graduate Students will be held this year at Montana State University. The format is similar to last year’s successful launch.
New this year
QR codes for downloading: QR codes and URL links will be used at this year’s conference. One will allow anyone to download an electronic copy of the NACTA Journal, volume 58, supplement 1 which contains the abstracts for the 2014 NACTA Conference. Another one will allow anyone to download and read the NACTA Journal articles that won the E.B. Knight, Jack Everly and Bob Gough awards.
NACTA abstract, instructions and checklist: The NACTA Editor with the help of Miriah Pace and Karen Earwood analyzed 141 rejected NACTA manuscripts. This analysis was used to revise the “Instructions for Authors,” to create a submission checklist and to develop a poster presentation for the 2014 NACTA Conference, “What Makes a Manuscript Publishable in the NACTA Journal?”
AAEA invitation: The NACTA Editor was invited to participate in a symposium titled, “How to Fund and Where to Publish the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness” This symposium will be held at the annual meeting of AAEA (Agricultural & Applied Economics Association) in Minneapolis, MN, July 27 -29, 2014.
New design for awards booklet: This year we changed and upgraded the design on the Awards Program booklet. The development and printing of this was paid for by a donation from the CHS Foundation. The Awards Program booklet was designed by and assemble with the assistance of Karen Earwood, Nada Olson and Miriah Pace.
Practical applications: In an effort to find a way to reach out to faculty at two-year colleges, we remodeled some of the best published manuscripts from 2013 into one-page “how to” articles. We are looking for ways to distribute these and to test the idea as a means of attracting faculty from two-year colleges. The first ten of these practical/classroom applications are available here: http://www.tagmydoc.com/practical2013.
Recommendations:
- Review a format/modernization change for the NACTA Journal.
- Look into Kindle/IPad publishing of the NACTA Journal.
Submitted by:
Rick Parker
NACTA Journal Editor/Publications Committee Chair
