1/1/2013 Greetings from the New EditorAuthor(s): Shapour Azarm,
Volume: 135(1) – January, 2013
Greetings from the New Editor
Greetings to our stakeholders: readers, authors, reviewers, associate editors, guest editors, past editors, staff, and all others who have contributed to the success of the Journal of Mechanical Design (JMD). It is a privilege to be selected as the new Editor of this prestigious journal. I am both honored and challenged with assuming the responsibilities of this position.
I am honored because my predecessor, Professor Panos Papalambros of the University of Michigan, together with the board of Associate Editors and staff members, has done a superb job over the last five years serving the journal and our design engineering community. As Editor-in-Chief of JMD, Professor Papalambros put in place an impressive array of best practices such as streamlining and promoting timely publication of contributions in emerging design areas, producing insightful and enjoyable monthly editorials, guest editorials, and yearly special issues, and creating a new companion website (https://asmejmd.org/) for the journal. These and other related efforts have resulted in the publication of many high quality papers and helped place JMD among a few top journals worldwide in the area of design engineering in general and mechanical design in particular.
I am also challenged because I want to place this premier journal at an even higher level of excellence. What strategies should I use to meet this challenge? Here are a few initial ideas: I will seek input from the journal’s leading stakeholders for ways to further improve the quality and impact of JMD. I will continue with the current best practices devised by my predecessor while identifying and implementing new ones. I will invite top researchers to submit articles in popular and emerging areas and put those papers on a fast track for publication. I will strive to reduce further the review time from submission to publication. Following the ASME’s global motto, I will carefully promote JMD worldwide and, in particular, seek quality papers from diverse regions where the JMD authorship is currently low or non-existent. I will identify globally applicable design related areas for the journal to consider and solicit papers and editorials to promote them, including those that meet the National Academy of Engineering’s grand challenges, the ASME strategic priorities, and other areas, such as innovation and competitiveness, design for affordable and reliable sources of energy, design for global impact, design for sustainability, and design for environmental and human health. In addition, I will continue to build upon the ASME legacy: embed excellence at all levels of JMD.
To be successful, I will rely on the assistance and wisdom of our dedicated reviewers, our board of very talented associate editors, guest editors, and staff members supporting the journal. I am also pleased to introduce a new member to our staff family, Assistant to Editor: Ms. Amy Suski, who has a Law degree from the University of Virginia. Ms. Suski has experience as an Editorial Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Journal and will bring a fresh perspective to the operation of the JMD.
Every one of our stakeholder makes up the fabric of the Journal of Mechanical Design. If we seek to take this journal to the next higher level of excellence, then all of us must work together to do it. I hope you will join me on this promising journey, and I look forward to receiving your suggestions and best submissions for consideration in the JMD.
Happy New Year!
Shapour Azarm
Editor
