Journal of Environmental Biology

Journal of Environmental Biology: Current credibility and acceptance

Editorial by Divakar Dalela and Sumati Gaumat

Journal of Environmental Biology, Lucknow-226 022, India

Abstract

Let us first express our respectful thanks to the founder of Journal Dr. R. C. Dalela, who has entrusted us the responsibility to look after the Processing and Editing of research papers submitted to the Journal of Environmental Biology. We have humbly accepted the responsibility and are committed to follow his footsteps to further enhance the scientific quality and popularity of the Journal of Environmental Biology.

Journal's launching: In 1975, there were only a few research Journals available in India to the researchers of Biological Sciences. To cater to the needs of Environmental Biologists, Dr. Dalela mooted the idea of introducing research Journal in 1975 & after a pan India consultation launched the title “Journal of Environmental Biology ” after due registration with the Government of India. The International Editorial Board of Journal was constituted, the Editorial Policy and Guidelines for authors were prepared and the first issue was released on 7th October 1978 in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India.

    Since then, the Journal is being published uninterruptedly in-spite of varied problems and difficulties faced time to time. In the beginning most of the research papers received were from Indian researchers but with passage of time overseas research papers started pouring. Gradually, Journal became a favored choice of the International Scientific Community. From 1978 to 1997, the periodicity of Journal was quarterly and currently, it is bimonthly i.e. six issues in a year.

    The Journal is sponsored by Dalela Educational Foundation (DEF) - a charitable educational trust. The Journal neither receives any financial grant from Government nor from Non-government organizations. The Journal is independent and financially depends largely upon subscriptions and the publication fees.  .

Growth and Progress: In 1997, the Registered Office and the secretariat of the Journal was shifted from Muzaffarnagar to Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. The worldwide acceptance of our Journal grew exponentially because of its scientific merit, print quality and its double-blind peer review system. Peer-review system and editing of research papers became more intense and recommendations of reviewers became the sole criterion for publication of research papers.

    The Marketing & Distribution of the Journal was given to Triveni Enterprises - an educational setup, to make this important task efficient.

    As the Journal's credibility grew over a period of time, new policies were promulgated to meet the increasing needs of International Scientific community. These are as follows:

1)  Website: In 2001, Journal developed its website (www.jeb.co.in), where in all relevant information of the Journal and the published papers were uploaded. Open Access of research papers was made available.

2)  R & D Division: In 2008, Journal established its own Research & Development (R & D) division under the guidance of a consultant and scientists to scrutinize all submitted manuscripts for unethical practices and recommend ways to improve quality and scientific merit. Looking to its relevance, the reviewer selection and monitoring of the review process were also handed over to this division. Our reviewers, Editorial Board members and R & D experts voluntarily and generously contribute their expertise to upscale the Journal. We highly value their role. The contributions of the reviewers are appropriately acknowledged by publishing their names in the Reviewer's Panel of the Journal.

3)  Digital Object Identifier: Journal took the membership of Crossref in 2016, so as to allot the DOI number to each paper published in the Journal of Environmental Biology. 

4)  JEB International Awards: In 2018, the Journal introduced “JEB - International Award (IA)” for the best paper published in a calendar year to recognize and appreciate the outstanding research paper published in the Journal. In 2019, the Journal introduced, “Young Researcher Award (YRA)” – another International Award for innovative research paper published by a young research scholar. The papers are evaluated by an International Scientific Committee and the awardees are given “Certificate of Excellence” and cash prizes of USD 500 to IA and USD 200 to YRA, respectively.

Scientific Leadership: In September 2020, the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad organized an online training program and the JEB editor was invited as an expert in a panel discussion on "Science of Writing Good Research Papers". Dr. Sumati Gaumat, Editor-JEB based on her vast experience highlighted many short comings normally committed by the young research scholars while writing research papers and what should they do to avoid rejection.

COPE Membership: In December - 2020, we have applied for the registration of Journal for the membership of “Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)” to follow the highest standards of   ethics for scholarly publication.

            Year 2020, has been the most challenging and disruptive year for the entire world due to Covid-19 global pandemic. The pandemic and various regulations of the Government to curtail the pandemic have affected the normal working of secretariat. The secretariat is slowly resuming the regular functioning.

            Our priority now is to enhance efficiency of Editorial office and to clear the backlog of accumulated research papers. Further, we are keen to work with more enthusiasm to attract high level, innovative and impactful researches for publication in the Journal.

Future Strategies: We are pleased to share that our current research credibility & acceptance has made the Journal one of the most acceptable International Research Journal for publication of scientific research related to Environmental Sciences and Toxicology. We wish to concentrate on the following in 2021:

1.    To seek more active participation of Editors of JEB.

2.    To attract more authentic and transparent research for publication.

3.    To follow the best publication practices and ethics laid down by COPE for scholarly publication.

4.    To accord priority to innovative research.

5.    To adopt stricter review and editing systems of papers.

            We acknowledge the efforts of all the contributors, readers, researchers, scientists and subscribers of the Journal - Libraries, organizations and laboratories for their continued cooperation and support. We also thank the members of the Editorial Board, for rendering their expertise voluntarily to the Journal and also the reviewers for their robust and critical review of papers. The services of Information System Consultant are sincerely acknowledged for supervising the designing and for managing Journal's website. The reputation and popularity of Journal is due to hard and sincere working of the secretariat staff. At last but not the least, we express our highest gratitude to the Managing Editor of the Journal for her constant support and encouragement.

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