The first year with the baton

First, I would like to thank distinguished Professor Jerry Schultz for his help in getting started. Transitioning to editor was not the first time Jerry has helped me, directly or indirectly. Indeed, I recall Jerry asking a student during a thesis defense, during which a lot of elaborate modeling of a mutant was presented, “Have you ever looked at these cells under a microscope?” Jerry was wondering if all the equations fully connected to reality, and he was aware that it is possible to miss something that could be very interesting, due to lack of diligence. So, I recently posed the same question to a student now working with me. My student found that the high therapeutic DNA producers we engineered acquire an odd morphology, which has important implications for downstream separations. Adopting Jerry's instincts proved helpful for my student, and hopefully more good things have rubbed off on me from Jerry that will help as we move forward.

The first year has entailed becoming acclimated, and with the help of Dr. Elizabeth Gillard, we attempted to initiate and implement some changes that are intended to tighten the author–journal interface. For example, at the October 2011 AIChE meeting, I was pleased to report that the average time for first decision was just over 1 month. We also launched the Biotechnology Progress Award in Excellence in Biological Engineering Publication in 2011. With considerable support from Steve Smith (Director, Technical Activities and Publications at AIChE) and Dr. Susan Vice (Senior Developmental Editor at Wiley), the announcement was crafted and the nominations were collected. For a first run, the number and quality of the nominations exceeded our expectations. A group of existing Advisory Board members reviewed the nominations. The 2011 recipient of the Award was Professor Gregory Stephanopoulos, who hails from MIT. He will write a special contribution that I am sure will be of high interest to all.

Future recipients will have the same option to write a piece that may challenge current research directions or present a new idea. Alternatively, we can help the recipient to produce a webinar on a topic of their choosing. While excellence will remain an unwavering selection criterion, we plan to ensure that all research areas and career stages are represented by the recipients. Some funds are also available to enable an international recipient of the Award to attend the Fall AIChE meeting to personally receive the award prior to the Bailey Lecture.

There were 455 submissions in 2011. Because submission volume is trending upward for us and other journals, and we acknowledge that reviewers' time is valuable, not all articles are sent for external peer review. The Advisory Board members and the editors examine each submission for technical and scientific content as well as presentation in terms of figure quality, writing clarity, rigor (e.g., error bars), and subject. We aim to promptly inform authors whether external review will or will not occur. In some cases, submissions are returned with constructive comments for improvement, or some flags are noted that will likely trigger nonpositive reviews.

In October, the Advisory Board also provided some direction on content. Strategic development of content will remain an active conversation throughout 2012 now that operation has been successfully transferred, so please do not hesitate to offer some suggestions via e-mail.

In 2011, some of you may have received correspondence from us with some editing suggestions based on scouring your revision before accepting. Sometimes we find undefined acronyms, symbol problems in figures, and so forth, that can slip through the cracks. Reviews often do not note these, because they appropriately focus on the broader content. Most of you have welcomed this assistance because accepted articles are now quickly published online in preprint form, and it is beneficial to have an article as publication-ready as possible before it is “put out into the ether.” We plan to continue to provide this additional benefit.

I have been heartened to see investigators who early in their careers submit their work to our journal and offer their services as reviewers. For 2011, I can count 14 in the new reviewer–author category. I consider this to be very important for their development as well as to maintain the vitality of the biotechnology field and of course, the journal. Thus, if you are starting out in your independent research career, be assured that your submission will be rigorously reviewed, but you will receive a lot of support along the way. Also, consider sending us some biographical information so that you can join our reviewer pool.

From a more general perspective, the mix of academic and industrial work that we publish is a strength that strongly resonates with the journal's links to the AIChE and SBE. In fact, Biotechnology Progress rates high in the “number of downloads” category, one measure of content use. I remain committed to the journal providing a mix of top notch work from industrial and academic contributors. To that end, in 2012, we will develop some virtual issues based on our strengths. For example, a virtual issue devoted to quality by design will be developed. Such virtual issues are collections of highly cited papers that are made freely available. The bundling, in turn, allows the reader to readily trace a field's progression over time, efficiently organize bibliographies for their own use, and also provides other advantages. Your ideas on virtual issues as well as your co-editing assistance are welcome.

Finally, as Jerry Schultz noted in his “Passing the Baton” editorial early in 2011, Biotechnology Progress is truly international in scope. We highly value the contributions from all involved in biotechnology, and the slate of articles published in 2011 demonstrates this commitment.

With many thanks to all authors and reviewers, we are looking forward to continuing working with you.

Mike Domach

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Editor

Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Doherty Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15213