This report is divided into three parts: I) performance data about the submission-review-editorial-publication process of Applied Animal Science (AAS) for 2019 compared with the previous 4 years; II) activities and changes in 2019; and, III) anticipated work and activities for 2020 and forward.

The journal can be found at: https://www.appliedanimalscience.org via the ARPAS member or the Elsevier/Science Direct webpages.

1. Performance data about submission-review-editorial-publication process in 2019 (January -December), compared with 4 previous years Table 1. Journal Submissions, Review, and Publication Data (compiled by S. Pollock, FASS).

   ITEM	2019, as AAS	2018, as PAS	2017, as PAS	2016, as PAS	2015, as PAS
   SUBMISSIONS
   Received new (revisions)	138 (160)	121 (158)	115 (133)	104 (166)	117 (140)
   Accepted (accept %)	68 (69%)	73 (66%)	78 (74%)	103 (90%)	91 (91%)
   Rejected	30	38	28	11	9
   Withdrawn	15	15	8	1	4
   REVIEW PROCESS
   Avg. time in review, d	107	121	121	138	125
   Avg. production time, d	68	74	92	110	84
   Total time, d	175	195	213	248	209
   PUBLICATION
   Pages published	652	670	782	874	608
   Total articles published	70	74	115	104	117
   Open Access published, articles (pages)	8 (65)	6 (63)	8 (82)	11 (104)	4 (31)

   Table 2. Published Articles by Manuscript Type (compiled by S. Pollock, FASS).

   Manuscript Type: n (% of total)	2019, as AAS	2018, as PAS	2017, as PAS	2016, as PAS	2015, as PAS
   Research article	46 (66%)	51 (69%)	87 (76%)	77 (74%)	93 (79%)
   Review	3 (4%)	2 (3%)	8 (7%)	6 (5%)	8 (7%)
   Symposium or Invited Review	12 (17%)	4 (5%)	1 (1%)	4 (4%)	5 (4%)
   Short Communications	3 (4%)	---	---	---	---
   Case study	5 (7%)	14 (19%)	18 (16%)	12 (12%)	11 (9%)
   Technical Note	1 (1%)	2 (3%)	1 (1%)	5 (5%)	0 (0%)
   Total	70	73	115	104	117

2. Activities and changes in 2019
   1. A. Support and Marketing
      1. Associate Editors (AEs): Dr. Eric van Heugten (North Carolina State University; swine/nonruminants) continued from 2018, Dr. Glenn Duff (New Mexico State University) continued from 2018, and Dr. Stacey Gunter (USDA/ARS; beef cattle/ruminants) continued from 2018.
      2. Social Media Editor, Miriam Snider (University of Vermont) began in July 2019.
      3. FASS staff working with AAS were Susan Pollock (managing editor and FASS director of publications), Christine Horger (lead technical editor), Shauna Miller (ScholarOne Manuscripts support) and, Ron Keller (production). Becky Collins was the Publisher, Elsevier.
      4. Launch of AAS and webpages (www.appliedanimalscience.org) completed in early 2019.
      5. New cover design for AAS to illustrate science and interaction of people with animals in the animal sciences and production systems instituted in 2019.
      6. New, significantly re-designed and edited Information for Authors (Policies and Instructions for Authors documents) for AAS webpages.
      7. Changed to a structured ABSTRACT (< 250 words) format in response to membership questionnaire requests for an easily visible, quick read of each article. Research papers (original research, short communications, technical notes, commentaries, and case studies) were listed with these headings in their structured ABSTRACTS: Objectives, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, and Implications and Applications. Reviews and invited reviews will use these headings in their structured abstracts: Purposes, Sources, Synthesis, and Conclusions and Applications. The new APPLICATIONS section replaced IMPLICATIONS section. Case study was placed under Short Communication article type and the definition was rewritten to be more specific about what is expected in a case study.
      8. Marketing: Worldwide calls for manuscript submissions were made by Elsevier marketing three times in 2019, using their databases and networks to prospective animal scientist authors (including USA).
      9. Marketing: Elsevier developed and broadcasted globally an ‘Early Career Investigator’ campaign to highlight three authors who had published in AAS, and they described their reasons for and positive experience with the process.
      10. Invitations were made to selected individuals to write and submit invited reviews to AAS. Twelve Invited Reviews were published in 2019; this compared with three in 2018.
      11. Fourteen Press Releases about AAS articles were issued in 2019. They were:
          1. What Are the Economic Consequences of Disease Mismanagement? [PDF]
             December 9, 2019
          2. Why Do Cows Die in US Dairy Herds, What Can Be Done About It? [PDF]
             December 2, 2019
          3. Nutrition in First Week Critical to Dairy Calf Success [PDF]
             September 30, 2019
          4. Monensin Supplementation Mitigates Enteric Methane Production [PDF]
             August 5, 2019
          5. Organic Dairies Face Fertility Challenges and Opportunities [PDF]
             July 29, 2019
          6. Immune response and milk production compete for resources [PDF]
             July 22, 2019
          7. Proper protocol can reduce antibiotic use for high-risk calves [PDF]
             June 17, 2019
          8. Use of straw bedding for calves does not affect dietary studies [PDF]
             June 10, 2019
          9. Feed manufacturing processes affect poultry performance [PDF]
             June 3, 2019
          10. Water buffalo remain underutilized as livestock [PDF]
              April 22, 2019
          11. Breed affects auction price for beef steer and heifer calves [PDF]
              April 15, 2019
          12. Better practices lead to greener dairy farms [PDF]
              April 8, 2019
          13. Cooperative extension programming must adapt to changing industry [PDF]
              February 5, 2019
          14. Stocking density requirements for lairage are outdated [PDF]
              February 5, 2019
      12. Official letters of thanks and public posting of reviewers’ names made to journal webpages for all reviewers for 2019.
      13. Official letter of thanks sent via email to each reviewer of 2019 manuscripts; over 200 different volunteer experts reviewed one or more manuscript submissions.
      14. Discussion initiated and planning for renegotiation of Elsevier contract (Al Kertz lead, et al.).
      15. Discussions and planning to position AAS for application of an Impact Factor continued in 2019.
      16. A common member complaint is not being notified of a new issue by email alert or not being able access the journal online at the Elsevier site. In reality this is due to lack of understanding and action by members (member’s responsibility) to achieve secure Internet access; any member can/should opt in to receive the table of contents (TOC) email alert, with links to the articles, each time an issue is posted online to complete a 2-step registration. Registration is necessary to ensure Internet security for ARPAS members and permits access to view the table of contents, abstracts, and full articles. If not able to register or needing assistance, contact Brittany Morstatter (brittanym@assochq.org) ARPAS administrative assistant, to verify membership status, membership number, and email address and then register for full access to the ARPAS journal. Or go to https://www.arpas.org/, login as a member, and access the journal from the society website and “Publications” tab. See below for the instructions for claiming access to Applied Animal Science.
   2. Review and Publication Updates
      1. 1. Began collecting ORCiDs from corresponding authors via the ScholarOne site; updated letters to authors to encourage addition of ORCiDs to their accounts. For authors that have ORCiDs in their accounts, the ORCiDs are published on final articles. More about ORCIDs:
         1. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that you own and control, and that distinguishes you from every other researcher. You can connect your iD with your professional information — affiliations, grants, publications, peer review, and more. You can use your iD to share your information with other systems, ensuring you get recognition for all your contributions, saving you time and hassle, and reducing the risk of errors.
         2. It also is a benefit that AAS can offer its authors.
      2. iCal (calendar reminders) added to S1 letters with due dates to help authors, reviewers, editors meet deadlines from the peer-review system.
      3. CRediT taxonomy added to manuscript submission process. Authors can use tick boxes to designate co-author contributions (type and level) to their submitted paper.
      4. FundRef module added to the manuscript submission process. This allows authors to include funding agency and grant numbers during the submission process. This information is collected at author proofs if not submitted before then (and published on final papers), so this should assist the technical editor in collecting the information further upstream.
   3. Social Media Efforts & Metrics (report from Miriam Snider, Social Media Editor, University of VT)
      
      Background
      Since July 2019, ARPAS in conjunction with Elsevier has launched a social media campaign to draw attention to ARPAS and the journal Applied Animal Science (formerly The Professional Animal Scientist). Plans were made during the 2019 ARPAS Governing Council Annual Meeting to launch a Twitter account highlighting the ARPAS journal, as well as related journals, article, and conferences.
      
      Current Efforts & Analytics
      As of July 2019, ARPAS has launched the account Applied Animal Science. Typically, the most traffic is noted when we post original content and tag the corresponding universities or researchers. I have been trying to form collaborations/network with other journals (JDS, JAS, etc.) and universities by following them on Twitter and retweeting some of their more high-profile tweets.
      
      I also put out a weekly article from the journal, press reviews, conference reminders, workshops, policy news, member highlights, and AAS submission guidelines when possible. I try to interact and draw attention to our page by tagging people, universities, and industries involved in the research published in AAS.
      
      Finally, I use social media analytics to give me an idea of our demographics - what works and what doesn't - and to tweet out pre-written tweets if I'm away from my phone or computer for an extended period of time. Overall, everything is based on promoting the journal. We have discussed briefly about utilizing a Facebook page or Instagram account but nixed that idea because Instagram is so image driven.
       
      • We are currently following 288 accounts and have 95 followers.
      • We have tweeted and retweeted content around 133 times.
      • Our tweets have earned 247 impressions in the past 28 days (or 8 impressions per day).
      • Our most influential month was September with an engagement rate of 1.9%, 5 link clicks, and 445 impressions over 30 days.
      • Since the beginning of January, we have had 129 tweet impressions, 7 profile visits, and 6 new followers.
      User Demographics
      Our biggest reach (28% of the audience) has been professionals and technical personnel, followed by homemakers (24%), and self-employed individuals (20%). Our top follower has been Andy Vance from the podcast Feedstuffs.
      
      Conclusions and Moving Forward
      Students were our lowest reached audience (6%). Therefore, efforts should be made to reach a younger audience. More effort/ ideas should be put forth to earn attention and get retweets. It might be a good idea to have our account promoted although this does cost money. Finally, I also think it would be a good idea to highlight some of the regional chapters/members through photos or small interviews. That might be well-received and help us gain a larger following as it puts faces to names.
3. Anticipated Work and Activities in 2020 and Forward
   1. Decision was made by ARPAS Executive Committee in 2019 to discontinue the print version of the journal in 2020, as a cost-savings and because of the low number of print subscribers.
   2. Continuing Associate Editors (AEs) in 2020: Dr. Eric van Heugten (North Carolina State University; swine/nonruminants); and, Dr. Stacey Gunter (USDA/ARS; beef cattle/ruminants). New Associate Editor Kristin Hales (Texas Tech University began January 1, 2020 beef cattle/food science/environmental; replacing Dr. Glenn Duff, who asked to be replaced).
   3. Consider and develop special issue(s) of AAS on selected topics (e.g., swine science and production systems; others?).
   4. Continue quarterly invitations from Editor-in-Chief to write and submit invited reviews to AAS.
   5. Continue press releases monthly or quarterly based on journal articles in each issue and any other associated industry or ARPAS events.
   6. Continue letter of thanks to each and all reviewers in 2020.
   7. Elsevier (Rebekah Collins) to apply for PubMed indexing of AAS in 2020.
   8. Anticipate applying for an Impact Factor at Clarivate Analytics with help of Elsevier in mid-2020.
   9. Post this reminder to ARPAS members quarterly via email:

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