Abstract
New Looks
This issue begins the second volume of the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry to be published in Seattle. By the time that you read this, you will have noticed that the Journal has changed its appearance. The typeface and layout for the journal title are new and enlarged, but the cover retains the electromagnetic spectrum color motif that has become a hallmark of the Journal. The typeface and style for the internal text have also changed. For the body of articles, we now use Sabon, a snappy serif typeface, and have enlarged the point size to increase readability. Titles and headings are now printed in Frutiger, a simple sans serif typeface. The overall result is a smart, contemporary appearance that is easier to read and pleasing to the eye. We think that you will like it. Our printer, Capital City Press, has been invaluable in guiding us through these changes, which do not involve any decreases in the quality of the paper or printing process. Our standards for paper, printing, and illustrations are among the highest to be found for all biomedical journals.
New Ways
Beginning with this issue, the page layout and printing of the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry are done directly from the word processing files supplied by the authors. This process shortens production time and reduces printer's errors, since manuscripts no longer are manually typeset from the hard copy. All figures are converted to digital image files that are imported into computer-generated pages, using a page layout computer program. One benefit of this change in printing technology is that you will receive page proofs sooner because they will be produced as laser prints directly from the page layout files.
We can accept images in the form of digital files for printing, but please consult with the Journal office about specifications before sending them to us. It is particularly important that adequate resolution (at least 300 dpi) is used in making the original image. A color image that has been saved at 72 dpi may look very sharp when viewed on a computer monitor, but an image file of 72 dpi is inadequate for producing a high-quality color half-tone printed image in the Journal. For this reason, it is essential for authors to submit hard copy prints of their digital images along with the digital files. Hard copies of figures must be printed with a high-resolution printer, such as a dye sublimation printer (not a color laser printer), and they should have the image qualities (color balance, hue, brightness, contrast) that the authors expect of the figures when they appear in the Journal. Only in this way can the printer be sure that the final printed figure meets your expectations.
Vital Statistics: The Rush to Judgment
The Journal is fortunate in continuing to attract many excellent papers, and we saw a 24% increase in the number of submitted manuscripts during 1996. Of those manuscripts submitted to us during 1996, about 45% were eventually published in the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry. Largely because we make heavy use of e-mail, we have reduced the referee turnaround time to about 3 weeks and the total time required to give the authors a decision to about 40 days. These figures are averages, and some manuscripts take longer (but some papers are turned around more rapidly, too). Unfortunately, we have less control over the timing of events beyond the point at which manuscripts are returned to authors. The total time taken for a submitted article to appear in print includes the time taken for the authors to revise and resubmit the paper, which often takes several months. We encourage rapid resubmission of manuscripts that have been returned to authors for revision, but the average time for this phase is about 6 weeks. Once the revised manuscript has been returned to the editorial office, it may be reviewed by one of the Editors (and sometimes by the original referees), but on the average we make a final decision within 10 to 14 days. After the manuscript has been accepted for publication, it takes about 3 months to get it into print.
Although never satisfied with the status quo, we are nevertheless very pleased with this trend towards shortening the time required to get a paper into publication. This success is due in large part to the efforts (sometimes heroic) of our office staff, Kim Borroni and Shelley Golard, who interact efficiently (and sometimes firmly) with the authors, reviewers, editors, and printer. We expect that the new procedure of producing the Journal from digital files will also contribute to reducing the time for production and printing. You can be assured, however, that the turnaround times for the review and publication of your papers in the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry are comparable to those of other cell biology journals that publish high quality illustrations such as ours.
Editors
At this time last year, our goal was to increase the visibility and impact of the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, already a highly respected international venue for publication of the development and application of histochemical and cytochemical methods in cell and molecular biology. To this end, the Publications Committee approved expansion of the Editorial Board and the Board of Associate Editors at the beginning of 1996, and have added more distinguished scientists (including international members) as Associate Editors and members of the Editorial Board this year. The Editors play an active role in selection of referees for manuscripts, evaluation of referee comments, and editorial decisions about the manuscripts, and in these ways essentially set the standards for the Journal. The pages of the Journal largely reflect their judgments about what constitutes excellent and timely scientific advances as well as what is appropriate content for this particular journal.
Rapids and Reviews
Last year we accelerated the review and publication of Rapid Communications, and we are especially interested in receiving more articles of this type in 1997. Rapid Communications receive a rapid review by the Editors and can be accepted for publication within a few weeks of receipt. To be suitable for publication as a Rapid Communication, an article must be prepared in accordance with the instructions in the “Guidelines for Authors” (printed in each issue and available on our web page) and must require only minor revisions at most. The most common reason that we decline to publish manuscripts as Rapid Communications is that they do not strictly conform to the guidelines and require extensive revision of text and figures. We encourage you to submit short articles as Rapid Communications. If accepted, they will go directly to the printer and we will try to get them into an issue within 3 months.
We plan to increase the number of articles and pages published, especially the number of review articles. Our goal is to have a review in each issue. Richard Burry has been appointed as an Associate Editor with a special responsibility for developing review articles. Please contact him or the Journal office if you are interested in contributing a review article or have suggestions about topics.
Cyberchemistry
Several prominent biomedical journals have recently started publishing over the Internet. This appears to be a fashionable trend in the industry, and it has been suggested to us that the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry should also be published on-line. After all, one does not want to appear “old fashioned” by continuing to communicate scientific information in a format that has not changed in essence since Gutenberg. On the surface, Internet publication seems innovative and exciting, and appears to offer the possibility of widespread dissemination of the Journal. However, leaping to on-line publication without careful planning and clear objectives carries significant financial risk. The Publications Committee of the Histochemical Society is currently investigating on-line publication as a possible venue for the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry, with the goal of eventually moving in that direction. As always, we welcome your suggestions and ideas.
Science and Science Fiction
The exploding universe of the Internet presents scenarios of both expanding science in the future and myths of science fiction in the present. There can be no doubt that some form of electronic communication such as Internet (or some future incarnation of it) will contribute to gigantic leaps in knowledge about biological systems. But it is probably naive to think that this knowledge will be communicated by simple online versions of today's journals in the same format as their printed versions. Clearly, Internet and on-line technology will change the way scientific information is communicated as well as the way in which scientists interact. It is conceivable that, as technology changes, so will the culture of scientific communication. Journals, as we know them, will eventually be replaced by more immediate and intimate means of communication. It is perhaps worth noting that journals are a relatively recent mode of disseminating new knowledge. For several centuries before the widespread development of journals at the end of the last century, new discoveries and theories, as well as controversies and disagreements, were publicized by personal letters written by scientists (they were called philosophers then) to their colleagues, who in turn reported the information (often with their own “spin”) to others by letters. It is tempting to speculate that the Internet may return us to a community of scholars who interact directly, without the need for journals, for, after all, the Internet makes it possible for every investigator to publish directly and instantly to virtually the entire world. Obviously, concerns about standards and peer review will lead to new mechanisms for ensuring the validity of “published” data. In the future, as now, reproducibility of the results will continue to be guardian of the truth.