JOE by the Numbers 2010

JOE by the Numbers 2010

As usual, this is the time of year I report on the previous year's submission rate and readership statistics. And I announce JOE's current acceptance rate. I also call attention to one of the most interesting features of the JOE site (and one that should interest many of you, too).

Submission Rate

JOE received 281 submissions in 2010. Only three years have seen more submissions.

Readership Statistics

In 2010, there were 1,454,758 "visitors" to the JOE site who viewed 2,937,743 pages. JOE is now using newer statistics collection software that better filters "bots" and search engine crawlers. You can find these statistics and definitions of terms at <http://www.joe.org/website-statistics/index.php>.

Also in 2010, JOE attracted readers from 218 nations and territories. You can find these nations and territories listed at <http://www.joe.org/website-statistics/nations.php>.

Acceptance Rate

In 2003, we started collecting the data that would allow us to post an annual acceptance rate for JOE, but posting annual acceptance rates caused confusion. It also failed to account for submissions that were submitted in one year but reviewed in another. We now have enough reliable data from enough years to post a single rate.

JOE's current acceptance rate is 29.4%. (This figure is the average of data from 2006 through 2010.) JOE is a rigorous journal in which Extension professionals and other scholars can be proud to be published.

The Top 50 Most Read Articles

You can find the list of the Top 50 Most Read Articles in 2010 as well as lists from 2005 to 2009 at <http://www.joe.org/about-joe-website-statistics.php>. Included are indications of which articles are new to the list and how the articles ranked in 2009. There's a lot of movement in the Top 50 lists from year to year. For example, one article on the 2010 list rose 17 places in the ranking, and another dropped 16 places. It all makes for interesting reading and potentially valuable information.

You'll see that there are 5 new entries on the 2010 list. One of the new entries on the 2010 Top-50 list is an article published in 1998—and another new entry was published in 1984. This reinforces what I said in my December 2009 Editor's Page about "a singular advantage of Web-based journals like JOE"—that all of the articles still "live" and "speak."

These lists are certainly not a reflection on the quality of the JOE articles that "made the lists" as opposed to those that didn't. But they do say a lot about the degree of interest readers from around the world have in some of the topics discussed in JOE.

February JOE

Gearing up for "The Fair," as the author calls it? Then you might be interested in the first Commentary, "Fairs and Other Exhibitions. Have We Really Thought This Through?" The article claims that "'The Fair' is deeply woven into the very DNA of Extension" but comments on "the remarkable dearth of information regarding the actual value of the fair in regard to youth development as opposed to other means of fulfilling our mission."

The second Commentary, "Extension's Progress in the Paperless Revolution: Balancing Digital and Paper," is a complement to the first two Features, "The New Digital [St]age: Barriers to the Adoption and Adaptation of New Technologies to Deliver Extension Programming and How to Address Them" and "Extension Learners' Use of Electronic Technology." The titles say it all.

Skipping past 19 excellent articles well worth reading, I'd also like to call attention to the first two of nine Tools of the Trade articles. "Can I Breathe Yet? Reflections on My First Year in Extension" advises "both new personnel and their supervisors about life in our world of Extension from the novice perspective." The second Tools of the Trade article offers "Strategies for Ensuring High-Impact Outreach and Scholarship."

Thirty-two articles in an excellent issue.