JOE Style on Journal Names & Tables

JOE Style on Journal Names & Tables

Journal Names

JOE style on journal names is simple. Do not abbreviate them. As I've said before, JOE is a heterogeneous journal. Some readers are academics; some are more applied in orientation. And they come from a wide range of disciplines. This means that abbreviated journal names, common in more discipline-specific journals, are unlikely to mean much to many readers.

So, for JOE, journal names must be given in full—no abbreviations allowed.

Tables

I have three things to say about tables.

First, make sure all of your tables are constructed as per the JOE Submission Guidelines <http://www.joe.org/for-authors-submission-guidelines.php>, which state that "tables should be constructed with the table facility of Microsoft Word and should not be embedded images."

Second, again as per the submission guidelines, table captions/titles should be placed above and outside the fields of the tables so that they can eventually be formatted according to JOE style. (This holds true for figures, too.)

Third, in JOE, tables must have both columns and rows. They must "mean" both vertically and horizontally. If your "table" only has one column, it isn't a table; it's simply a vertical list. Either make it a figure, or treat it as a vertical list in the text of your article.

April JOE

There are two Commentaries in the April issue, "The Role of Extension in Energy Education" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/comm1.php> and "Farmers and Health Care Reform: A Challenge and Opportunity for Extension" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/comm2.php>. The subject of energy is also front and center in "Landowners, Bioenergy, and Extension Strategies" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/a3.php>. And health care figures prominently in "Rural Health Care Information Access and the Use of the Internet: Opportunity for University Extension" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/rb1.php> and "Long-Term Health Care Planning: A Subset of Farm Transition Programming" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/iw1.php>. Expect more on both topics in future JOE articles.

The first Feature, "What Is Your Library Worth? Extension Uses Public Value Workshops in Communities" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/a1.php>, continues the public values discussion first introduced to JOE readers in the April 2004 article "Identifying the Public Value in Extension Programs" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2004april/a1.php>. The many articles on the topic between April 2004 and today have focused on the public value of Extension. The authors of the article in this issue share strategies for "customizing Extension's public value program so that any public program can articulate short private and public value statements."

Ripple effect mapping is the topic of the first Tools of the Trade article, "Using Ripple Effect Mapping to Evaluate Program Impact: Choosing or Combining the Methods That Work Best for You" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/tt1.php>.

And I would be remiss if I were not to point to three articles that discuss the importance of designing effective outreach publications, "Design Clarity in Public Outreach Documents: A Guidebook for a First Detector Volunteer Network" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/tt3.php>, "Know Your Audience, Ask Your Audience" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/tt4.php>, and "Early Detection Rapid Response Program Targets New Noxious Weed Species in Washington State" <http://www.joe.org/joe/2015april/tt5.php>.

The 25 other excellent articles in this issue are also more than worthy of your attention.