Page 75 - Spring2020

Sound Perspectives
Vladimir E. Ostashev
Address:
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) University of Colorado at Boulder 216 UCB Boulder, Colorado 80309 USA
Email:
Vladimir.Ostashev@Colorado.Edu
D. Keith Wilson
Address:
United States Army Engineer Research and Development Center 72 Lyme Road Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 USA
Email:
d.keith.wilson@erdc.dren.mil
Administrative Committee Report: Committee on Publication Policy
The Committee on Public Policy is charged with reviewing and suggesting changes in the policy, contents, and format of the Journal and other Society publications, but excluding the ASA books program and Standards, for consideration by the Editor-in-Chief and the Executive Council and proposing new publications.
Introduction
Among many other tasks, scientists and engineers write proposals and reports, read related literature, learn new approaches and techniques, and attend meetings and conferences. (And, hopefully, somehow find time to actually undertake research!) In the end, these many activities do not matter unless research findings are published for posterity. Papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, such as The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA), JASA Express Letters (JASA- EL), Acoustics Today, and Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics (POMA) are our final products toward which our other activities are generally channeled.
Publication involves two main steps: writing a paper and getting it through the publication process. As its name would suggest, the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Committee on Publication Policy (PP) discusses policy issues impacting both steps of this process. On the basis of these discussions, the PP provides inde- pendent advice to the ASA Publications Office, editor in chief, Executive Council, and a forum through which the ASA membership can make suggestions and raise issues and concerns.
The importance of writing clear and thorough research papers can hardly be over- stated. Over the centuries, scientists have tailored writing conventions to present their research results effectively. This style is known as scholarly (or academic) writ- ing. Scholarly writing is quite different now than in the nineteenth century and will likely continue to evolve. The stylistic conventions of JASA are described in the Information for Contributors at bit.ly/2ph0qZK. Scholarly writing practices also adhere to ethical principles. The ethical principles of the ASA can be found at acousticalsociety.org/ethical-principles.
Publishing research papers is an involved process. For ASA publications, authors submit their original and revised manuscripts, rebuttal letters, and supplemental materials via the online Editorial Manager (EM). In addition to keeping the EM and review process running smoothly, the editor in chief and the ASA Publications Office appoint associate editors (AEs), archive the ASA publications, write instructions for submitting papers, manage online handling of manuscripts, and maintain a database of reviewers. The Publications Office also works with American Institute of Physics (AIP) Publishing to get papers published. In recent decades, the publication process has been changing rapidly. Not long ago, all communications with the Publications Office were handled via postal mail, and all members received JASA in print form.
©2020 Acoustical Society of America. All rights reserved. volume 16, issue 1 | Spring 2020 | Acoustics Today | 75 https://doi.org/10.1121/AT.2020.16.1.75