ESSIC/AOSC Professor Zhanqing Li has been appointed to a 4-year term as an editor of the American Geophysical Union’s Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (AGU JGR-Atmospheres).
It’s a prestigious honor for Li, given JGR-Atmospheres standing as one of the most-highly cited research publications on climate change over the past decade. Li is certainly no stranger to JGR-Atmospheres itself, given his ranking as its currently most published author.
According to the AGU web-site, AGU editors have the full authority to accept or reject submitted papers and are considered to be the “custodians of the journal” during their editorial terms.
Journal editors are typically nominated by the publications Editor-in-Chief (EIC), with typical terms being 3 years. However, EIC’s of different journals are offered the flexibility to recommend the appointment of an Editor for as little as 2 years or as many as 4. JGR-Atmospheres is supported by 6 editors.
According to Li, he carefully weighed the commitment required to become a JGR-Atmospheres editor before finally accepting.
“JGR-Atmospheres tends to have a very large number of submissions,” said Li, estimating perhaps as many as 2000 papers annually for review by the publications 6 editors. “I virtually need to process one paper per day,” he said. “Of course, I also consider it a recognition and honor for being an editor in the most popular journal in earth Sciences.”
Upon learning of the appointment, ESSIC Director and ConE Chair Professor Antonio Busalacci congratulated Li and thanked him for his community service. Busalacchi noted that a certain commitment to the peer review process is a necessary component of scientific research.
“An appointment like this is testimony to one’s standing in the field,” said Busalacchi. “While it requires a tremendous amount of time and dedication to be a good Editor, the manner in which scientific research is peer reviewed and communicated would be impossible were it not for such unselfish service to the community.”
