Vol. 11(1) Spring 04

From the Editor

Greeting to all members of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education (AIAEE) and to all readers of the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education!

It hardly seems possible that I am entering the third year of service as editor of the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education. The passage of time has become remarkably faster with my own aging process, or so it seems. However, one of the benefits about becoming older is the accumulation of experiences and “learning” from one’s own previous mistakes. As you read this issue you will notice a continuation of certain features now common to the Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education. For example, the authors’ full names, titles, and complete contact information (where possible) have been included for a second time. The contact information, although a small portion of each article, is vital for cataloguing our scholarship in various databases worldwide. It also affords new subscribers/readers an opportunity to contact the authors directly for additional information about their research.

A second vital bit of information in each article is the listing of keywords. Again, this bit of information plays a valuable role in the indexing and searching processes that are commonplace in today’s literary collections. To the authors, I commend you for remembering to include all this vital information because it does improve the overall quality of the Journal. To all future authors I encourage you to read thoroughly the Journal’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines, located at http://www.aged.tamu.edu/aiaee/jiaee/archive/OnlineGuidelines.pdf The likelihood of having your manuscript accepted for publication after the peer-review process is “increased significantly” for those authors who follow those guidelines. The Manuscript Submission Guidelines have been in place since the inception of the Journal; it behooves all authors to follow them so our collective scholarship becomes consistent from one volume to another. Thank you to all those scholars who adhere to the guidelines.

You may have noticed a different logo for the Journal. Just remember, change can be a good thing. Actually, the new logo takes about 50% less ink to produce and considerably less time to dry, which speeds up the process for getting the Journal into the mail system. Also, the material used for the new covers is different from previous volumes; again, it’s a matter of speeding up the printing, binding, and shipping processes. We hope you enjoy the new look.

I am hopeful you will attend the AIAEE Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland. The conference planners have prepared an exciting assortment of activities, and as always, it will be a great time to anew and renew friendships in the profession. Safe travels to Dublin and remember to do all you can to promote greater understanding of agricultural and extension education worldwide!

Sincerely,

Gary J. Wingenbach, Editor

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education