Ten years. Forty-two issues. Fifty countries.
A decade after first rolling off the presses, a Memorial publication is celebrating a milestone some quarterlies never see.
Now, the editorial team behind the Journal of Ocean Technology (JOT)—published four times a year by the Fisheries and Marine Institute—is encouraging more researchers on Memorial’s campuses to consider the journal’s worldwide distribution and loyal readership when looking to showcase their work.
“We’re ready”
“We’re here. We’re ready,” said an enthusiastic Dawn Roche, JOT’s managing editor, during an interview in the JOT’s offices at the Marine Institute, “We want to help show just how great we are at Memorial. We want to ensure our research, our knowledge, is shared as widely as possible.
“The JOT is a ready-made medium to promote innovation in the ocean technology sector,” added Ms. Roche, who considers the journal an ideal platform to highlight Memorial’s myriad of research expertise focused on ocean technologies. “We’re interested in publishing cutting-edge developments and research in ocean technology and related disciplines. It is our objective to publish world-leading papers and articles that will set the standard for the ocean technology community.”
Decade of distribution
The first issue of JOT was published in the summer of 2006. Since then, its small team has quietly carved a niche in the international academic community, publishing more than 40 high-quality journals and becoming a leading source for oceans-related research.
“Since its inception in 2006, the JOT has brought ocean technology to the forefront of ocean publications.”
The journal’s current editorial board consists of experts from around the world, including Iran, Italy, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
Each issue combines themed essays with peer-reviewed research, pairing challenges and opportunities with potential solutions.
‘Valuable data’
Ms. Roche, who has worked at Memorial since 2007, says the journal has a unique editorial approach.
First of all, there’s no cost for contributors to publish their research. Technical papers are printed in full-colour graphics—a plus for researchers whose work is best presented in colour to provide further clarity of research findings. Papers are also published in open access, electronic format on the journal’s website.
“This allows researchers around the world access to valuable data that can be applied to other projects and uses, and helps build on existing knowledge,” Ms. Roche noted. “Many funding agencies require that grant recipients’ whose research is published in a peer-reviewed journal ensure that their research is freely accessible within 12 months of publication.
“With the JOT’s open access policy, all peer-reviewed papers are available online immediately upon publication. And we provide researchers with a final copy of their papers in PDF format, which can be used as desired—for example, as teaching and learning materials, posted to institutional websites and research depositories.”
Disseminating knowledge
Over the years, the JOT has focused on a variety of ocean technology-related themes ranging from seabed mining and vessel design to simulation and aquaculture.
The editorial team is understandably proud of the role the journal plays in disseminating ocean technology knowledge around the world, as well as the high-calibre quality of submitted papers from its pool of contributors.
“We’ve published technical papers and essays from researchers and technology users located in 37 countries from graduate students to those at the start of their careers and to those in mid-career and nearing the end of their careers,” said Ms. Roche. “One of my favourites is having contributors who published as students return to publish with us as ocean technology professionals.”
Wide distribution
The journal’s reach has grown considerably over the past decade.
“Since its inception in 2006, the JOT has brought ocean technology to the forefront of ocean publications,” said Glenn Blackwood, vice-president, Memorial University (Marine Institute). “The journal provides contributors all over the world the opportunity to showcase their innovative research and is an excellent avenue to profile the interesting work happening across MI and Memorial as well as in the ocean technology industry cluster throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.”
Today it’s distributed to more than 1,200 buyers, suppliers, researchers and decision-makers in more than 50 countries, including private sector companies, academic and research institutions, libraries, government departments and agencies, industry regulators and oceans-related associations and organizations.
“The concept of the JOT is to provide a venue for exchanging ideas between technology users and developers from around the world.”
What’s more, the journal is also indexed by abstract and citation databases, including Scopus and Google Scholar.
Engagement tool
Ms. Roche says the team believes the journal plays an important engagement role by showcasing innovative research from Memorial and other post-secondary institutions around the world.
She’s confident the publication will grow even more in the future.
“We see the JOT continuing to play its role as an information catalyst,” she noted. “The concept of the JOT is to provide a venue for exchanging ideas between technology users and developers from around the world.
“And it’s not just about exchanging ideas. It’s about sparking new ideas from existing ideas. About combining and reworking ideas to create new and innovative solutions and future developments. We’d like to publish more of this in the future.”
