Editor's Page

Welcome to 1995. Our first year as an electronic Journal was truly challenging, eventful, and exciting. In changing to an on-line publication, we had to convert from a print to an electronic format and institute an electronic manuscript submission and review process. These changes were significant, to say the least. As a result, we might have expected a decrease in support for the Journal and the number of manuscripts submitted for publication. On the contrary, support for the Journal remained very high, as evidenced by the commitment of more than 50 land-grant institutions, thus far, to pay sustaining institutional subscription fees to support Journal operations. In addition, the number of manuscripts submitted showed no signs of decreasing; in fact, submissions are on the increase. Both of these indicators provide evidence that the Journal, regardless of format, serves as a means for expanding and updating the research and knowledge base for Extension professionals and other adult educators to improve their effectiveness. I think the 17 articles in this issue support this.

As we continue to move forward in our new electronic format in 1995, we strongly encourage your input. If you have comments, suggestions, or thoughts you would like to share about the Journal, please send them via the Internet to joe-comments@joe.org.

Conversion to an electronic format caused a delay of approximately six months in processing manuscripts. We had hoped to decrease the time from submission to publication to six months or less. As many of you know, we did not achieve this goal in 1994. Please bear with us and know that we will continue to work towards this goal throughout 1995.

We have updated the submission guidelines that appear in every issue of the Journal. We have also added two new pieces to provide more information to authors. One contains often asked questions about the Journal; the other describes the manuscript review and evaluation process.

Finally, the Journal Board is developing a variety of materials to help market the Journal. A professional development packet is being produced for state Journal representatives. It includes marketing suggestions and a training outline on accessing and publishing in the Journal. States will also receive a color poster, camera-ready flyer, and camera-ready display ads. A computer demonstration disk will be distributed later this spring, and a short video to increase awareness and use of the Journal is in the planning stages.

MTL