Report for January 1—December 31, 2021

This report is divided into three parts:

1. performance data about the submission-review-editorial-publication process of Applied Animal Science (AAS) for 2021 compared with the previous four years;
2. activities and changes in 2021; and
3. anticipated work and activities for 2022 and forward. 

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

1. Performance data about submission-review-editorial-publication process in 2021 (January—December) compared with four previous years.

   Brief Summary.

   Table 1: In 2021 total submissions were down about 20% compared with 2020 or about 6% fewer than the average of the four previous years. Total articles accepted and published in 2021 were about 5% less than in 2020, but 6% greater than the four-year average. The overall acceptance rate (62%) was slightly greater than in 2020 but about 7% lower than the four-year average. Number of total pages published was 15% less in 2021 compared with 2020 but slightly more than the average of the previous four years. Open Access (OA) articles were 32% of total published articles in 2021; this was a sizable increase in the proportion compared with 22, 11, 8, and 7% (within issue) for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, respectively.  

   Table 2: The distribution of article types remained about the same in 2021 compare with previous years as recommended by Elsevier for a journal pursuing an Impact Factor rating: about 60 to 70% being research articles; 10 to 15 % being reviews and invited reviews; and the remainder being short communications and technical notes. 

   Table 1. Journal Submissions, Review, and Publication Data (compiled by S. Pollock, Fass).

   

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

   

2. Activities and changes in 2021 

   1. 2021 Activity
      • 14 press releases were issued: (https://www.appliedanimalscience.org/press_releases).
      • The Elsevier web page (https://www.appliedanimalscience.org/) was redesigned by Elsevier to make it accessible across mobile devices.
   2. Updates to Published Articles
      1. We are publishing ORCIDs, when authors provide needed information; ORCID maintains a database that keeps the publication history and unique name(s) of individual authors, if they choose to register in and maintain their data in the system.
      2. ScholarOne/ManuscriptCentral (S1M) questions were updated:
         • Added optional question to collect social media handles/contacts from authors for article promotion.
         • Added two required financial questions:
           • “I accept full responsibility for publication costs, if my submission is accepted for publication, and will be invoiced shortly before the article is published (payment will be due 30 days after invoice receipt). The individual author, or the authorized representative, agrees to make payment via credit card if the publication invoice has not been paid 90 days after the invoice due date.”
           • Invoicing name, mailing address, and email address.
      3. Changed Commentary article type to Perspectives and Commentaries with new description: 
         • “Perspectives and Commentaries. These articles provide a forum for authors to address important topics in the animal sciences related to industry opportunities, issues, practices, and applications or related to research investigation and application. They typically are more forward looking and may be more speculative than Reviews and Invited Reviews and may take a narrower field of view. They may be opinionated but should remain balanced and are intended to stimulate discussion and(or) describe and support (validate) new industry and(or) experimental approaches. These articles may document industry or scientific needs or practices and may provide recommendations. Information shared should be from extensive first-hand experience and new data, results, and information, which should be displayed with some statistical evaluation when possible. References to the refereed scientific literature are encouraged when appropriate but are not essential nor required. These articles are invited by the editor in chief. Individuals are encouraged to contact the editor in chief to suggest topics and(or) potential authors for Perspectives and Commentaries articles or to indicate a desire to submit an article of this type to the journal.”
         • Changed “Corresponding Author” to “Corresponding Author (Principal Investigator)” for clarity and accountability of the “PI” within the submission process.
         • Collecting CREDIT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) from authors. We may choose to publish this information with each article starting in 2022.
   3. Support and Marketing
      1. Associate Editors (AEs): Dr. Eric van Heugten (North Carolina State University; swine and nonruminants) (2021); Dr. Kristin Hales (Texas Tech University; beef feedlot and meats) (2022); and Dr. Daniel Rivera (University of Arkansas; grazing beef cattle, ruminants, and forages) (2023). Social Media Editor: Miriam Snider (University of Vermont), began in July 2019 (see separate report). 
      2. FASS staff members 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 from Elsevier. 
      3. Some editing and changes were made to Information for Authors (Policies and Instructions for Authors documents) for AAS web pages. 
      4. Marketing: A worldwide “Call for Papers” was made by ARPAS and Elsevier marketing using their databases and networks to prospective animal scientist authors (including in the USA). 
      5. Invitations were made to selected individuals to write and submit invited reviews to AAS. Ten Invited Reviews and Reviews were published in 2021.
      6. Official letters of thanks were sent to reviewers, and reviewers’ names were publicly posted on the journal web pages for all reviewers for 2021. 
      7. An official letter of thanks was sent via email to each reviewer of 2021 manuscripts; over 200 different volunteer experts reviewed one or more manuscript submissions. 
      8. Discussions and planning for AAS Impact Factor application occurred in 2020, with continuing monitoring by Clarivate in 2021. No word yet from Clarivate on status. 
   4. Review and Publication Updates 
      1. We continued collecting ORCIDs from corresponding authors via the ScholarOne site; we also 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 authors own and control and that distinguishes them from every other researcher. They can connect their iD with their professional information—affiliations, grants, publications, peer review, and more. They can use their iD to share their information with other systems, ensuring that they get recognition for all their contributions, saving 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) was added to S1M/MC letters with due dates to help authors, reviewers, and editors meet deadlines from the peer-review system.
      3. CRediT taxonomy (https://casrai.org/credit/) was added to the manuscript submission process. Authors can use tick boxes to designate coauthor contributions (type and level) to their submissions. 
      4. FundRef module was added to the manuscript submission process. This allows authors to include funding agency and grant numbers during the submission process (https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/). 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. Anticipated Work and Activities in 2022 and Forward 

   1. Consider and develop special issue(s) of AAS or focused sections within issues on selected topics (e.g., specific feedstuff utilization, production systems, others?). 
   2. Continue quarterly invitations from editor in chief to write and submit invited reviews to AAS. 
   3. Continue press releases monthly or quarterly based on journal articles in each issue and any other associated industry or ARPAS events. 
   4. Continue letter of thanks to each and all reviewers in 2022. 
   5. Elsevier (Elena Herzog, AAS publisher) to apply for PubMed indexing of AAS in 2022. 
   6. Continue to pursue Impact Factor with Clarivate Analytics with help of Elsevier (Elena Herzog, AAS publisher) in 2022; awaiting word on status currently. 

Graduate Student and Social Media Report
Miriam Snider, MS, PAS

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 July 2019 meeting to launch a Twitter account highlighting the journal as well as related journals, articles, and conferences.

Current Efforts and Analytics

As of July 2021, 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 and 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 demographic, what works and what doesn't, and to tweet out prewritten tweets if I'm away from my phone or computer for an extended period of time. Overall, everything is based on promoting the journal. ARPAS has put out Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts. Facebook and Instagram have been difficult to use; our Facebook account might be more engaging if we drop the account focused on finding friends and just use the account driven by “likes.” LinkedIn and Twitter have proven to be more engaging.

• AAS (Twitter)
  • We are currently following 619 accounts and have 544 followers (AAS).
  • We have tweeted and retweeted content around 247 times.
  • Our tweets have earned 88 impressions in the past 28 days with 245 profile visits.

• ARPAS (Twitter) is following 838 accounts with 379 followers
  • We have tweeted 176 times.
  • We have connected with ADSA, JDS, and the ADSA Graduate Student Division, which has proven to be extremely useful.
    • We have formed a relationship with ADSA to retweet graduate student articles as well as advertise ARPAS exams.
  • We should continue to pursue these relationships, as well as one with the NE ASAS-ADSA.
  • Tweet Impressions in the past month: 516
  • Visits in the past month: 170
  • Top follower: Elsevier Vet News

• LinkedIn appears to have over 1,000 followers.
• Instagram
  • 31 posts
  • 184 followers
  • 526 following

User Demographics

(This information is similar to my previous report.) 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. It might be a good idea to reach out to him because he has a decently large following and might be able to help promote the journal to extension professionals and other interested parties.

Conclusions and Moving Forward

Students were our lowest reached audience (6%). Therefore, efforts should be made to reach a younger audience. More effort and 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 and members through photos or even small interviews. That might be well received and help us gain a larger following as it puts faces to names.

For the coming year (2022 to 2023) we may want to think about developing a graduate division. I am more than happy to help out the new graduate student representative as she transitions into her new role. It has also been shown that highlighting graduate student papers has produced the most engagement; we might want to think about producing a special edition featuring graduate students as first authors. I have reached out to a few early career scientists and graduate students regarding development of an “early career” division, but I have only been able to gain interest from one person. We could potentially reach out to Casey Bradley for more exposure because she runs an animal science–based podcast; we have already collaborated with her previously by giving a talk for her “Coffee & Careers” group.