Professional and Career Topics

Networking, improving the profession, and sharpening our communication skills: three things we accomplish by publishing our work in ASCE journals.

Have you published in the journals? Do you have any tips for those who would like to submit a paper?

The journals encourage a variety of papers from every type of practitioner. As described by the ASCE web site:

Technical Papers are original reviews of past practice, present information of current interest, or probe new fields of civil engineering activity.

Technical Notes present (1) original, practical information; (2) preliminary or partial results of research; (3) concisely presented research results; and (4) innovative techniques to accomplish design objectives.

Case Studies describe a method or application that illustrates a new or existing principle or presents an innovative way to solve a problem.

State-of-the-Art Reviews provide timely, in-depth treatment of a specific issue relevant to the journal topics.

Data Papers concisely describes the data, methods, and instrumentation used to acquire the data, associated metadata, data validation, and potential opportunities for reuse.

Book Reviews assess new books whose content is judged important.

Forums are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal.

Bill

------------------------------
William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
------------------------------

Thanks for this Bill!

Ever since ASCE's LME Journal was dissolved, I have learned that the editors of other ASCE journals

do not wish to consider similar material. Of course, some think that may be related to their tenure requirements.

There is clearly a need for practice-centric advice, guidance, and fact-based "Slips & Falls"

in the pursuit of engineering excellence.

Your advice/thoughts?

Cheers,

Bill

p.s. If one goes to the "ASCE LME: Journals online,

they may download any paper(s) without payment.

------------------------------
William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
Buffalo, N.Y.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
------------------------------

Good point, Bill. It would seem that our Journal of Management in Engineering would be interested in such papers; however, each editor applies her or his personal perspective to the journal's content. A new editor may see things differently.

Case studies are a good way to publish practice-oriented material, including things that didn't work well. It pays for such a manuscript submission to emphasize the "case study" phrase, since many reviewers are unaware that some of our journals welcome them.

Bill Mc

------------------------------
William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 03-16-2024 11:14 AM
From: William Hayden
Subject: Tips on Publishing?

Thanks for this Bill!

Ever since ASCE's LME Journal was dissolved, I have learned that the editors of other ASCE journals

do not wish to consider similar material. Of course, some think that may be related to their tenure requirements.

There is clearly a need for practice-centric advice, guidance, and fact-based "Slips & Falls"

in the pursuit of engineering excellence.

Your advice/thoughts?

Cheers,

Bill

p.s. If one goes to the "ASCE LME: Journals online,

they may download any paper(s) without payment.

------------------------------
William M. Hayden Jr., Ph.D., P.E., CMQ/OE, F.ASCE
Buffalo, N.Y.

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." -- George Eliot 1819 - 1880
------------------------------

Some tips on successfully publishing with ASCE based my experience as an author, reviewer, and associate editor: 

1.      Before writing:

a.       Visit the ASCE Author Center for a list of publications, publication types, and guidelines for submission.

b.      Be familiar with your journal of choice – note the range of paper topics plus typical paper structure, tone, and audience.

2.      Writing the manuscript:

a.       Begin with a clear statement of purpose for the manuscript. Keep that purpose in mind as you create the rest of the manuscript. For anything other than a Technical Paper, state the TYPE of contribution (e.g., cases study) in the purpose statement. Explain how the manuscript is significant contribution.

b.      Avoid creating multiple new acronyms for the reader to memorize.

c.       Use the Conclusions section to show the reader that the manuscript's purpose has been achieved by citing results and discussion from the body text.

d.      Write the Abstract last. It should convey the essence of the manuscript, as if the entire text was boiled down to a very concentrated form. For case studies, say so in the abstract, too.

3.      Revising the manuscript:

a.       Don't respond while upset by reviewers' comments. Most comments are meant to help the author.

b.      Respond to reviewer comments by revising the manuscript and telling which line numbers the revision can be found on. A discussion of the comment is unnecessary unless you disagree with the comment.

c.       If you disagree with a reviewer's comment and will not change the manuscript on the point in question, explain why in a professional, neutral tone. Use this option only if absolutely necessary.

d.      If one reviewer is unreasonably harsh and another is not, you can ask the editor for an alternate reviewer to replace the harsh one if you believe the comments to be unjustified.

------------------------------
William McAnally Ph.D., P.E., BC.CE, BC.NE, F.ASCE
ENGINEER
Columbus MS
------------------------------