{"id":3605,"date":"2015-06-17T08:06:57","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T08:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/wp\/2015\/06\/17\/meet-the-new-editor-in-chief-of-the-canadian-entomologist\/"},"modified":"2019-11-14T21:40:37","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T21:40:37","slug":"meet-the-new-editor-in-chief-of-the-canadian-entomologist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/2015\/06\/17\/meet-the-new-editor-in-chief-of-the-canadian-entomologist\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the new Editor-in-Chief of The Canadian Entomologist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kevin-Floate-image-571x500\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My name is Kevin Floate.\u00a0 Back in 1985, I became a member of the Entomological Society of Canada<\/em><\/a> (ESC<\/em>) and found it to be a warm and supportive organization.\u00a0 I\u2019ve since undertaken a number of roles, because I enjoy a challenge, but also because I believe that it is important to give back to the Society and the scientific discipline that has given so much to me during my career.\u00a0 I have served on the Society\u2019s Governing Board and I have Chaired the Publication Committee and what is now the Marketing and Fund-raising Committee.\u00a0 I am a past-Editor of theESC Bulletin<\/em> and have been a Subject Editor for The Canadian Entomologist<\/em><\/a> (TCE<\/em>) since 2002.\u00a0 In September of last year, I embarked on my most challenging role thus far, that of Editor-in-Chief (EiC) for TCE<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t make the decision lightly.\u00a0 The journal has been continuously published since 1868 under the capable hands of a long-chain of EiCs and I wanted to be sure that I could devote the time to do a credible job.\u00a0 So for six months prior to saying \u2018yes\u2019, I job-shadowed the activities of the previous EiC, Chris Buddle.\u00a0 It also helps that I \u2018inherited\u2019 a strong Editorial Board and a very competent Assistant Editor (Andrew Smith).\u00a0 With their support, my first six months at the helm have been relatively smooth sailing.<\/p>\n

So what exactly does it mean to be the EiC?\u00a0 I\u2019m coming to realize that it means several things.\u00a0 First, I\u2019m the gate-keeper.\u00a0 TCE<\/em> is an international journal that publishes on all aspects of entomology.\u00a0 We only ask that submissions meet the journal\u2019s publication policy and that they be written well-enough to permit a thorough scientific review.\u00a0 I assess each new submission and reject those that don\u2019t meet these criteria.\u00a0 Second, I represent the Editorial Board, who help shape the journal\u2019s publication policy and ensure that manuscripts are reviewed by qualified individuals in a timely manner.\u00a0 I note that Board members (myself included) are all volunteers and receive no compensation for our efforts.\u00a0 Third, and equally important, I represent the authors, who have taken the time to develop and complete a project, write up the results and submit their findings.\u00a0 If we all do our jobs right, the outcome is a quality publication that enhances the entomological literature.\u00a0 And finally, I am the public face of the journal\u2026 the bull\u2019s eye at which authors can aim their emails.<\/p>\n

Being EiC also means keeping up with changes in technology.\u00a0 Consider that the very first article published in TCE<\/em> is a report of a luminous larva authored by C.J.S. Bethune<\/a>.\u00a0 He would be amazed to learn that his article remains readily available 147 years later to journal subscribers across the world.\u00a0 He would be even more astounded to learn of downloadable PDFs, the internet, computers, and open-access electronic journals (e-journals).\u00a0 This latter topic is of particular interest to me, both as an author and as the EiC.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t educated yourself on the potential pitfalls associated with some of these journals, I urge you to read Open access, predatory publishers, The Canadian Entomologist, and you <\/a><\/em>(Bulletin of the ESC, vol. 45 (3): 131-137).\u00a0 I co-authored this article as a way to understand why I was being inundated with spam emails from journals I\u2019d never heard of, promising to quickly publish my next paper for a nominal fee.\u00a0 As part of my on-going education as an EiC in this brave new world of publishing, I\u2019ve also become a regular reader of Retraction Watch<\/a> and Beall\u2019s Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With changes in technology, we also have improved our services for authors and subscribers.\u00a0 In 2012, TCE<\/em> entered into a partnership with Cambridge University Press<\/em> (CUP<\/em>).\u00a0 CUP<\/em> is the world\u2019s oldest publishing house and, in keeping with the philosophy of the Society, is a not-for-profit organization.\u00a0 This new partnership has allowed us to drop the requirement for page charges, and papers now appear online as \u2018First View<\/em>\u2019 articles prior to hardcopy publication.\u00a0 Last year, TCE<\/em>adopted a hybrid open-access model to give authors the option of making their papers open-access upon payment of a one-time fee.\u00a0 These changes have increased the number of manuscript submissions, which has allowed us to expand our published content by ten percent as of this year.\u00a0 Quite frankly, I\u2019d be swamped if it weren\u2019t for the efforts of the Assistant Editor to ensure a high-quality standard of editing for all accepted manuscripts.<\/p>\n

Another feature of the journal that is often overlooked is that we accept proposals for review articles, special issues and supplemental issues.\u00a0 Special issues are papers with a common theme that appear in a regular issue of the journal.\u00a0 Supplemental issues are issues that are in addition to the normal six per year.\u00a0 This year is particularly exciting, because we have one of each.\u00a0 A special issue on Emerald Ash Borer will appear in the June issue.\u00a0 A supplemental issue on the history of forest entomology in Canada is being published later in 2015.\u00a0 Be sure to keep an eye open for these issues, and send me an email if you want to discuss ideas for potential reviews, special issues or supplemental issues.<\/p>\n

Other than EiC, what is it that I do as a researcher?\u00a0 My graduate research encompassed pests of wheat in northern Saskatchewan and gall-forming insects in riparian forests of Utah and Arizona.\u00a0 In 1993, I was hired by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada<\/em><\/a> to develop a biocontrol program for insect pests of livestock.\u00a0 Although I\u2019m still with AAFC<\/em>, my current research has expanded to include insect-symbiont interactions, insect-parasitoid interactions, the ecology of cow dung communities, the non-target effects of chemical residues, and use of molecular methods to barcode insects or characterize their bacterial associates.\u00a0 I worry a bit about being a \u201cjack-of-all-trades, master-of-none\u201d, but this breadth of experience has served me well in dealing with the large variety of submissions to the journal.\u00a0 Away from work and depending upon the season, you\u2019ll find me hiking, curling, playing table tennis, reading, gardening and\u2026 of course\u2026 looking at bugs.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m getting more comfortable in my position as EiC, but I\u2019m not complacent about the job.\u00a0\u00a0 It takes time to do it well and I promise to take that time to ensure your submissions are dealt with in a timely and respectful manner.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t, you know where to aim your emails.<\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/p>\n

Kevin<\/p>\n

Click here to read the first issue of 2015 for free.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on the Cambridge Journals Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Kevin Floate.\u00a0 Back in 1985, I became a member of the Entomological Society of Canada (ESC) and found it to be a warm and supportive organization.\u00a0 I\u2019ve since undertaken a number of roles, because I enjoy a challenge, but also because I believe that it is important to give back to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[477,543,473,544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canadian-entomology-fr","category-editors-pick-fr","category-blog-fr","category-the-canadian-entomologist-journal-fr"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5708,"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions\/5708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esc-sec.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}