Table 1 describes the NACTA manuscripts submitted, reviewed, accepted and rejected through FastTrack for the past five years.

 

Table 1. NACTA Journal Manuscripts Submitted and Accepted

 

Year

Submitted

Accepted

Percent

Rejected

Percent

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

23%

Average

53

37

70%

15

30%

 

During the past five years, manuscript submissions gradually increased. For 2010, manuscript submissions increased 52% over the average of the previous four years. With an average of 37 accepted manuscripts per year each issue of the Journal contains at least 10 published manuscripts, a reprint from a past Journal, Teaching Tips/Notes, NACTA Yesterday (feature from the Historian), and book reviews,

 

Besides the manuscripts submitted through the NACTA FastTrack (http://nacta.expressacademic.org/) five Teaching Tips/Notes and eight book reviews were submitted in 2010. These items are not peer reviewed. For 2011, 36 manuscripts have been submitted as of the mid-June. The NACTA Journal Review Board in 2010 consisted of 44 reviewers from 33 different institutions. (Notes: A request to members for Teaching Tips produced nine in early 2011. Thanks to Chuck Francis, University of Nebraska, who submits many book reviews during the year. Other book reviews are those the editor requests when he receives unsolicited books from publishers.)

 

The overall statistics for the NACTA FastTrack site include: 365 total submissions in 5 years and 1 month; 5.9 submissions/month, 71.2 submissions/year (including book reviews and teaching tips/notes); 841 reviews: 23 (3%) pending, 804 (96%) completed, 6 (1%) expired, 8 (1%) declined; and 36.4 average days in review.

 

For the 2011 NACTA/DOCE Conference the Editor received and oversaw the review of 185 abstracts. (down from 225 in 2010 but up from 170 in 2009 and 140 in 2008). Abstracts were electronically submitted to the website http://nactaabs.expressacademic.org/. Each abstract was assigned three reviewers. Based on the reviews abstracts were accepted as oral presentations, poster presentations, or rejected (6). The local planning team at the University of Alberta assigned the presentations to session days and times. The abstracts are published in a booklet for participants at the University of Alberta Conference. They are also published online on the NACTA Journal website (NACTAteachers.org). Abstracts from this year can be cited as NACTA Journal vol. 55 (supplement 1) page x and or abstract x.

 

Website and electronic publishing: Current 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 on the NACTA FastPress website (http://nacta.fp.expressacademic.org/). Eventually, alI issues of the NACTA Journal will be moved to NACTAteachers.org. An annual hard copy of the 2010 Journal was mailed to all members. This year Sheridan Press in Hanover, PA printed and mailed the annual hard copy issue at a savings of about $6K.

 

The NACTAteachers.org website continues as a very valuable communication tool. The content is changed frequently. Statistics on use are gathered by Google Analytics. During the past year the NACTAteachers.org had 17,047 visits with 3.6 page views per visit. The number of visits per month steadily increased and averages around 1000. Visits to the website come from 118 countries with the US (15,001) and Canada (581) visits far above other counties. The top ten countries also include: India, Iran, Philippines, Argentina, United Kingdom, Australia, China and Tanzania. Traffic to the site came from three main sources: 1. search engines (60%); 2. direct traffic (26%) and 3. referring sites (14%). New visits represent 53%.

 

Through the NACTAteachers website we can have award nominations submitted and reviewed. The power of submitting award nominations online needs to be more completely used.

 

NACTA is on Facebook and 131 people "Like" us (up from 78 people in 2010). Find us on Facebook. Leave us a comment on our "wall." Content is added on a regular basis.

 

 

Recommendations:

  • Investigate better ways of reviewing abstracts
  • Determine if a hard copy of the abstracts should be distributed to all members
  • Find 10 new reviewers to join the NACTA Journal Review Board.
  • Use the NACTA awards nomination site. (Some training and changing of wording on notifications will be needed.)
  • Involve others in contributing to the NACTAteachers.org website
  • Increase the use of the NACTA website by members.

 

 

Submitted:

Rick Parker

NACTA Journal Editor/Publications Committee Chair