Editorial

Abstract

Editing your journal is a responsibility that we gladly bear and which we hope we can execute responsibly and to the satisfaction of all. We know that there will always be critics of some action that we have taken, and we welcome such criticism. However, we also hope that a free and open exchange of information can help to create a climate within which we can all work pro®tably.Consequently, we are presenting as this month's editorial the substance of our annual report to the Board of Directors of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. The information contained in this report tracks the progress of all manuscripts received during our ®rst year of service as editors of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching. Overview of SubmissionsDuring the period January±December 2001, we considered manuscripts obtained from a variety of sources. Primarily, these new manuscripts were sent directly to us. However, we have also been given manuscripts that were accepted under the previous editors, as well as resubmissions of manuscripts previously considered but not accepted. We do not include in this analysis manuscripts that were accepted under the stewardship of the former editors.The number and types of manuscripts received during the ®rst year under the new editorship were sorted and then analyzed for trends in peak periods, research interest areas, and decisions. A month-by-month analysis (Fig. 1) illustrates that manuscript submissions peaked in April, at the time of the NARST annual meeting, and steadily declined throughout the summer months. A steady number of submissions occurred during the holiday season. The two slowest months of 2001 were January and September. These represent the beginning of the spring and fall semesters of the academic year. For many of our contributors, these were times when they were presumably busy with tasks other than preparing manuscripts.The following summary highlights the types of manuscripts that were received for January± December 2001: International RepresentationAlmost 34% of submissions were sent from foreign countries. Canada (Fig. 2) represents the most (21%) international submissions. Of the 47 international manuscripts, 21 different