This year will be my fifth year serving as associate editor for the Journal of Swine Health and Production. When I first considered the role, I shared what the job responsibilities entailed with my husband and his response was “Personally, that job sounds awful. But I think you would be good at it if it’s what you want to do.” While the role of editor is not everyone’s idea of a good time, I enjoy collaborating with authors to refine and polish their writing and communicate their research hypotheses, data, and interpretations effectively, clearly, and concisely with our JSHAP readers.
Once a submitted manuscript has completed the peer-review process and has been conditionally accepted, I receive the files for manuscript editing and publication preparation. During the manuscript editing phase, I correct grammar, spelling, and word usage; verify mathematical calculations; verify and correct reference citations; and edit to JSHAP style. I review and edit all tables and figures for style, accuracy, clarity, and consistency with the manuscript text. I also may query the authors with any remaining peer-review comments or with questions on clarity or consistency. Sometimes when writing about a familiar topic, what makes sense to the authors may not be clear to other readers. All proposed edits and queries are sent to the lead author for their review, approval, and response. Upon return, I re-review the manuscript, tables, figures, and author responses. Emily Hanna, our JSHAP proofreader, also reviews the manuscript at this phase. This process is repeated (usually once or twice) until both the author and I are satisfied, at which point the files are ready for the next phase.
During the publication preparation phase, Tina Smith (you will hear more from her in the next JSHAP issue) and her team of graphic designers will convert the manuscript into our standard publication format. The formatted version is reviewed by Emily and me to identify any copy errors, formatting issues (eg, inappropriate line or column breaks and spacing errors), or mistakes in page makeup. Once all corrections are made, a proof is created and sent to the author. This is the authors final opportunity to review the manuscript for accuracy.
A similar process is used for the editorial messages and news features that also appear in the journal. These along with the scientific papers, JSHAP editorial board member/reviewer spotlight, and advertisements are compiled into a complete journal issue and are once more thoroughly proofed cover-to-cover before being sent to the printer and our webmaster. My final step is to assign and register a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for each scientific paper before readers receive the latest JSHAP issue in their mailbox or inbox.
Submitting research results and interpretations for publication is a critical step in the scientific method. However, writing a scientific manuscript is no easy task. That is why we have created several tools to help authors as they prepare manuscripts for submission to JSHAP. The JSHAP Author Guidelines describe journal policies and procedures and details for manuscript preparation, format, and style. The JSHAP Author Guideline Checklist is a quick reference for the format and style that manuscripts must follow. Authors should use this checklist to review their manuscript prior to submission to ensure they have included the essential information and used the journal’s preferred style. Templates to assist authors in formatting their manuscript are available for each of the 9 genres accepted by JSHAP. Each template provides a brief description of the sections required for that genre. All these author tools can be found at aasv.org/shap/guidelines. Using these tools will assist authors in preparing their manuscript for submission, and in turn will help facilitate the peer review and editing process.
I hope this column has given you some insight into how this JSHAP issue came to be. I look forward to collaborating with future authors on their contributions to JSHAP as we strengthen, enhance, and expand the scientific body of knowledge.
Sherrie Webb, MSc
Associate Editor