Editorial 26(7)
Roger Atkinson
AJET report to ascilite AGM 2010 [1]
AJET continues to show a quite rapid growth in the number of submissions per year. Whilst the 'spurt' encountered in 2009 (a 46% increase from 2008) has moderated in 2010 (to 18 November, 24% increase compared with the comparable 2009 period), the number of submissions is growing faster than the annual increases in the range -6% to 19% encountered during 2005 to 2008. During 2005 to 2009 AJET's acceptance rate remained stable in the range 29-33%, and therefore 'articles per year' is on a fast growth path. For much detail on this topic, members are invited to scan AJET's Editorials, which once or twice each year present tabulated data under the heading 'AJET review process outcomes'. Members could note that AJET reports are made available to all readers, whether ascilite members or not, by being published in open access AJET Editorials.
The reports in AJET Editorials also cover matters of particular interest in scholarly publishing, and matters especially relevant for AJET as the society's flagship in this arena. For discussions of current topics such as AJET's Tiers ranking and AJET's Impact Factor, please see recent Editorials, particularly Editorial 26(6) [2]. Of the numerous priorities and action items identified in these Editorials, the one for the most concentrated attention in 2011 will be the expansion of AJET's editorial staff, to include a good number of Associate Editors. In doing this, we will be seek to further consolidate AJET's Australian and New Zealand 'base', and to draw in an increased representation from our principal 'Australasian' supporters in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR and more recently Taiwan, as new 'bases' for linking into the broader continental Asian, South Pacific and Indian Ocean rim countries.
AJET has developed strongly as a 'generalist' research journal in educational technology, that is the range of topics represented in AJET is similar to the range found in the journals that may be regarded as the world's 'best known', or 'most important', or 'most influential' in educational technology. Whilst opinions may vary quite widely, most researchers and readers will agree that any list of such journals is very likely to include most or all of Computers & Education, Instructional Science, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, British Journal of Educational Technology, Educational Technology, Research & Development, Educational Technology & Society, and ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology. All of these journals are 'generalist' in their selection of content and presentation of summaries of their scope. For example:
Articles cover the whole range of education and training, concentrating on the theory, applications and development of educational technology and communications (BJET) [3];
Published papers represent a variety of perspectives from the learning sciences and cover learning by people of all ages, in all areas of the curriculum, and in informal and formal learning contexts (Instructional Science) [4];
...an international peer-reviewed journal which covers the whole range of uses of information and communication technology to support learning and knowledge exchange (JCAL) [5].
Although 'community service' is not mentioned specifically in ascilite's constitution, AJET is one of the Society's most noteworthy examples of a community service, that is a service that reaches more widely into the community at large, compared with the immediate community implied by the words 'tertiary education' in the Society's title. Specifically, AJET enjoys a strong input from research topics in the primary and secondary sectors of education. From a budget perspective, it is a community service that is very easy to support. With the help of NetSpot's sponsorship of the AJET website, http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/, the rather large amount of work done by the journal's honorary reviewers and editorial staff, and the retirement of the printed version at end 2007, AJET is a 'zero dollars' item in the Society's budget.
We commend AJET to ascilite members as a publication avenue for your own work, a serious contender for a 'top five' position in the 'international edtech journals league', and with the Conference Proceedings, the Society's flagship in both the scholarly publication and community service arenas.
OK, what's the catch? Straightforward, please do your best to respond positively if asked to be a reviewer (all members of ascilite are more or less 'automatically' in the pool of potential reviewers), and during 2011 we really do need a good number of Associate Editors, to be workers in the team which will enable us to ride this wave of growth successfully.
Ethical use of email addresses cited in journal articles
This topic arose recently, when I was making my third or fourth discard of an email that was advertising a journal named Problems of Education in the 21st Century. The sender had used the "To:" field instead of the "Bcc:" field, so quite a number of email addresses were visible. Most or nearly all of the addresses were for authors of AJET articles, so that became a matter for concern for us, played out in the emails reproduced below (in reverse chronological order).
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 2010 01:04:38 +0800
From: Roger Atkinson <rjatkinson@BIGPOND.COM>
Subject: Ethical use of email addresses given in journal articles
Comments: cc: problemsofeducation@gmail.com
To: ITFORUM@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Hi all,
This is a musing about bulk unsolicited email, for which I seek views from IT Forum people. Looking at the "To" and "cc" fields in a recently arrived email containing the "Tenth Call for Papers", issued on behalf of a journal named "Problems of Education in the 21st Century" (body text copied in below), I realised that most or nearly all of the addresses were addresses of authors of articles published in AJET (Australasian Journal of Educational Technology). It dawned upon me that someone connected with "Problems of Education in the 21st Century" had trawled through many years of AJET articles to extract the author email addresses that I insert routinely at the end of each article (reasons outlined below).
Naturally, I became concerned about adverse reactions from authors of AJET articles who may feel that AJET had somehow "leaked" their addresses to a spammer, so I did a follow up probe (body text copied in below). I expected to be ignored by 'problemsofeducation@gmail.com', whoever that may be, but I was surprised to receive a prompt answer from 'Prof. Vincentas Lamanauskas' (copied in below).
There are quite a number of issues! To begin with, has Prof. Vincentas Lamanauskas made an ethical use of email addresses appearing in AJET articles, given that he is not a serious reader of all articles published in AJET? Going further, how 'good' does the reason for "contact with the person" have to be, in order to cross over the dividing line between spamming and legitimate academic correspondence? Even more deeply, should I have refrained from 'going public' with the reply from Prof. Vincentas Lamanauskas (it could be a breach of copyright)? The last question is not a drama in the same league as Wikileaks (a really major breach of copyright), but I invite comments upon all questions, please!
Roger Atkinson
For AJET
-------------
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2010 17:08:30 +0200
Subject: Re: Problems of Education in the 21st Century. Tenth Call for Papers
From: Problems of Education in the 21st Century <problemsofeducation@gmail.com>
To: Roger Atkinson <rjatkinson@bigpond.com>
Roger Atkinson
Thanks for your email. We can not see a big problem here. All email addresses that we use are accessible on the internet. We do not think that this info is secret or so. We are distributing only relevant scientific information. It is so strange that according your opinion it is an inappropriate use of email addresses. If the address is publicly announced it is clearly mean that everybody can contact with the person. Let``s say it is also an international practice. Our world is global. have a nice day
Prof. Vincentas Lamanauskas
-------------
2010/12/6 Roger Atkinson
<rjatkinson@bigpond.com>
Hello "Problems of Education person",
We note that the address list for this email distribution of the file 'Journal_PEC.engl.2010.Tenth_Call.pdf' seems to have been compiled mainly by trawling through articles published in the online, open access journal, Australian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET).
We feel that you are making an inappropriate use of the email addresses that appear in every AJET article. We ask our authors to provide contact addresses for editorial purposes, and to facilitate communications between readers and authors of articles. We wish to avoid being a party to spamming, the distribution of bulk, unsolicited email. We ask you to refrain from any further spam postings to email lists compiled from AJET articles.
If you do make further postings, I will seek to publicise your use of undesirable and disreputable practices, by airing our complaint on international lists such as ITForum. You should use accepted channels of distribution for publicity about journals, such as postings to ITForum and similar lists.
Roger Atkinson
AJET Production Editor
cc: AJET Editor
------------
Dear colleagues,
We send to you the information about the possibility to submit an article for international scientific journal (Tenth call)
"Problems of Education in the 21st Century" ISSN 1822-7864
------------------------------------------------------------
Scientific Methodical Centre "Scientia Educologica", Lithuania; The associated member of Lithuanian Scientific Society and ICASE.
Donelaicio Street 29, LT-78115 Siauliai, Lithuania
http://www.jbse.webinfo.lt/Problems_of_Education.htm
http://www.gu.projektas.lt
E-mail: problemsofeducation@gmail.com
As is often the case in these matters, no real progress! ITForum [6] subscribers (numbering about 4,000, I understand) were distinctly uninterested. Only two comments, both unfazed: "... I feel his reuse is appropriate, given that the addresses were published in an educational journal"; and "...if the invitation to publish is related to my field, I do not feel that the sender has done something unethical, no matter where they got my email address. ... I am, on balance, a fervent hater of spam." Perhaps ITForum subscribers were busy with avid reading about Wikileaks, and my posting was poorly timed?
Another instance of dubious use of email addresses of concern to Members appears to have occurred with ascilite Sydney 2010 presenters. As is usual, their email addresses are given at the end of each paper in the Proceedings [7]. Soon after the Conference, several presenters reported the arrival of an email having the form reproduced below.
Dear Mr/Ms Dr [presenter's name deleted],
This is US-China Education Review, a professional journal published across the United States by David Publishing Company, Chicago, IL, USA. We have learned your paper "[title of presentation deleted]" in the conference which you presented your paper. We are very interested in your paper and would like to publish your paper in the Journal of US-China Education Review. If you have the idea of making our journal a vehicle for your research interests, please send electronic version of your papers and books to us.
Sincerely yours,
Lily, R.
David Publishing Company http://www.davidpublishing.com/
Journal of US-China Education Review, ISSN1548-6613ACUSA
Email: teacher@davidpublishing.com or edu1658@hotmail.com
[Text after this line of the email deleted. It advertised US-China Education Review, and attached a sample issue, filename 'US-China Education Review 2010-11.pdf', size 1.2 MB. Issues of this journal prior to No. 11, 2010, may be obtained from the journal's website [8] - when last viewed No. 11 was not available]
Again, it seems to be an instance in which "Mr/Ms Dr Lily, R." is not a serious reader of the ascilite Proceedings paper titled "[title of presentation deleted]". Also, the solicitation of an article already published contradicts a clause in the David Publishing Company's 'Instructions for Authors' [9]:
2. The article should not belong to any kind of translated, revised or selected version of any language and should not be published in any other kind publication both home and abroad. [9]
However, there is little we, or Members and authors generally, can do about dubious or unethical use of email addresses, other than shun the perpetrators. For our part, we will email the perpetrators asking them to desist, though that may be futile. Nevertheless, we do seek feedback from AJET authors and ascilite Members generally on their encountering of any instances which may be regarded as inappropriate, bulk unsolicited uses of the author email addresses that are included routinely at the end of every AJET article and every ascilite Conference proceedings paper. If the problem escalates, we may be forced to change practices, for example change to giving only each author's institutional website address, then the reader (or email address harvester) can use (or try to use) that website to obtain an author's email address.
By the way, upon checking the journals named above in the ARC's ranked journal list [10] (per John Lamp's service [11]) we find Problems of Education in the 21st Century listed in two FoRs (1301 Education Systems, 1605 Policy and Administration) with Tier ranking C, whilst US-China Education Review is not listed.
ARC announces a Tier Review Process
In a terse statement dated about 1 November 2010, the Australian Research Council (ARC) announced a Tier Review Process:
In preparation for the ERA 2012 round, the ARC will revise the ERA 2010 ranked journal and conference lists. This process will involve a public consultation period, followed by a review and finalisation phase supported by peak bodies and other academic groups... The ARC will release the journal and conference lists for public consultation in early 2011. [12]
An indication of the feedback that the ARC may receive from AJET and a rather large number of Australian based journals has been published elsewhere [13, 14]. Whilst many or even most editors may be quite pessimistic in their estimates of the ARC's willingness to sensitise itself to 'rank and file' feedback, we will not be deterred from making a serious and significant input during the promised "public consultation period". We and perhaps many other parties concerned with scholarly publication will be particularly alert to perceptions about the ARC's inability or unwillingness to put forward a credible, evidence-based, research-based foundation for the imposition of its Tiers regime upon Australian-based journals and conferences.
Idle Moment 42: AJET's first seven issue year
We recorded 'AJET's first five issue year' in Editorial 24(5), 2008 [15]. As 2009 was also a 'five issue year', there was no opportunity to record AJET's 'first six issue year'. We will not worry unduly about that missed opportunity, as the key point is a deeper matter, namely how to (and whether to ...) match the growth spurts made by AJET's major competitors, a matter last reviewed in AJET Editorial 23(4) [16]. An update will appear in AJET Editorial 27(1), mid to late February 2011.
Another important aspect also on the 'round tuit' list is an update on the topic of internationalisation of AJET, reported upon in Editorials 23(4) [16], 24(4) [17] and 25(3) [18]. Here the key point is the extent to which AJET is progressing towards a goal announced succinctly in Editorial 23(4), and, by implication, the merits of that goal:
... AJET's aspirations to be a front ranked international journal with an Australasian character. [16]
These are important and weighty matters, but the weightiest purpose for Idle Moment 42 is to conclude formally the Idle Moment series, which commenced with Editorial 19(3) in November 2003 [19] and has meandered on for seven years. The actual inspiration was mundane, an Editorial was needed in a hurry (a 'my kingdom for an editorial' situation [20]), early start to Christmas New Year holidays, or whatever was the reason, perhaps dubious, for urgency. The series was projected as a loftier inspiration, connecting to a literary classic which created a special significance for the number forty-two [21]:
42 ways to fill idle moments in the life of an editor [19]
'Forty-two!' yelled Loonquawl. 'Is that all you've got to show for
seven and a half million years' work?' (Adams, 1979:136) [21]
To paraphrase, 'Forty-two!' yelled [the dear readers, if any]. 'Is that all you've got to show for [fourteen - it seems much longer!!] years' work [on AJET]?'
Roger Atkinson and Catherine McLoughlin
AJET Production Editor and AJET Editor
Endnotes
- This report was invited by ascilite Executive for inclusion in the ascilite President's Annual Report 2010. An abridged version is available at http://hub.ascilite.org.au/file.php/1/ascilite_2010_AGM/2010_asc_President_Report.pdf
- AJET Editorial 26(6). A Letter to the Editor: Defending the ERA initiative. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/editorial26-6.html
- British Journal of Educational Technology. http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0007-1013&site=1
- Instructional Science. http://www.springer.com/education+%26+language/learning+%26
+instruction/journal/11251
- Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0266-4909&site=1
- Instructional Technology Forum. http://itech1.coe.uga.edu/itforum/
- Proceedings ascilite Sydney 2010. http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney10/proceedings.htm
- US-China Education Review. http://www.teacher.org.cn/
- David Publishing Company. http://www.davidpublishing.com/contr/select-en.php
- ARC (Australian Research Council). Ranked Journal List. http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_journal_list.htm#1
- John Lamp's IS Pages :: ERA Outlet Ranking. http://lamp.infosys.deakin.edu.au/era/
- ARC. Review of the ERA 2010 Ranked Outlet Lists. Announcement dated 1 November 2010. http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_2012/review_of_era10_ranked_outlet_lists.htm
- Atkinson, R. J. (2010). ARC announces a Tier Review Process. HERDSA News, 32(3). http://www.roger-atkinson.id.au/pubs/herdsa-news/32-3.html
- Atkinson, R. & McBeath, C. (2010). Editorial 20(3): ARC to revise the ranked journal lists. Issues In Educational Research, 20(3), ii-iv. http://www.iier.org.au/iier20/editorial20-3.html
- AJET Editorial 24(5). AJET's first five issue year. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet24/editorial24-5.html
- AJET Editorial 23(4). Idle Moment No. 24: Growth rates for some leading journals. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet23/editorial23-4.html
- AJET Editorial 24(4). IM 33: Internationalisation revisited (again). http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet24/editorial24-4.html
- AJET Editorial 25(3). AJET's acceptance rate: A regional analysis. http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet25/editorial25-3.html
- AJET Editorial 19(3). http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet19/editorial19-3.html
- The Life and Death of Richard the Third. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardiii/richardiii.5.4.html
- Adams, D. N. (1979). The hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy. p.136. London: Pan Books.
The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (AJET) is a refereed research journal published 7 times per year by the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite). AJET retired its printed version (ISSN 1449-3098) at the end of Volume 23, 2007, and from Volume 24, 2008, the journal is open access, online only (ISSN 1449-5554), and does not have paid subscriptions.
© 2010 Authors retain copyright in their individual articles, whilst copyright in AJET as a compilation is retained by the publisher. Except for authors reproducing their own articles, no part of this journal may be reprinted or reproduced without permission. For further details, and for details on submission of manuscripts and open access to all issues of AJET published since the journal's foundation in 1985, please see http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/
For editorial inquiries, contact the Editor, Associate Professor Catherine McLoughlin, School of Education (ACT), Australian Catholic University, PO Box 256, Dickson ACT 2602, Australia. Email: Catherine.McLoughlin@acu.edu.au, Tel: +61 2 6209 1100 Fax +61 2 6209 1185.
For review process, production and business matters, contact the Production Editor and Business Manager, Dr Roger Atkinson, 5/202 Coode Street, Como WA 6152, Australia. Email: rjatkinson@bigpond.com, Tel: +61 8 9367 1133. Desktop publishing (PDF versions) and HTML by Roger Atkinson.
HTML Editor: Roger Atkinson [
rjatkinson@bigpond.com]
This URL: http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/editorial26-7.html
Created 21 Dec 2010. Last correction: 21 Dec 2010.
