Publishing Principles

These steps will take advantage of developments in electronic journal publishing. Because this is a time of rapid change and uncertain future, it is appropriate to explain these steps from the perspective of the principles that guide them.

Maintaining Excellence

The first and overriding principle is to preserve and enhance the standards of academic excellence in publishing the very best work across the broad spectrum of disciplines in the field of the cannabis industry. As an Authorized Training Provider (ATP) in the cannabis industry, our primary responsibility to society and our field so all standards are set by the reviewers and the editors.

Green CulturED has a three-tiered review process, perhaps one of the most stringent among journals, involving Senior Editors, Reviewing Editors, and at least two referees for each paper. Like any system, it is not infallible, but we believe that it ensures checks and balances to achieve toughness and fairness. The key to the process is the collegiality that is at its core, the abiding faith among scientists that we have a common interest in submitting our best work and having it judged by the highest standards.

Publishing Rapidly

The second principle is to make the novel findings that are reported in new issues of new training being released through our Instructional Design (ID) team so they’re quickly available. This requires us to meet the first principle, of scholarly review, in as efficient a manner as possible. Our traditional goal for the review process is two (2) weeks, and our goal for the total time from receipt of the manuscript to notification of the decision is thirty (30) days.

Obviously, much of our success in meeting these goals depends on referees who do their reviews in a timely fashion. Here again one finds collegiality at the core of the process: timeliness involves a willingness to review often complex issues despite other pressures. The fact that our current review process is close to target reflects acceptance by most of our referees of this collegial responsibility.

Online Manuscript Submission & Review

The internet offers the opportunity to speed the review process by replacing paper with electronic handling and mailing of manuscripts. For over a year, a task force of editors and support staff has been working to develop a system for online manuscript submission and review. The extra tier of editors involved in the review process has presented a considerable challenge to ourselves and our Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in fashioning a system that is efficient and fail-proof.

We are nearing the launch of a beta version for testing, and aim to go online within months. This will bring many advantages, including speeding up the review process, eliminating most papers, and allowing authors to track the progress of their manuscripts. We will have more to communicate to our readers at launch time. To prepare for the new system, we are encouraging referees to submit their reviews by e-mail rather than by fax. Referee letters and instructions reflect this. Also, all reviewer reminders are now sent by e-mail.

Online Papers in Press (PIP) Postings

The traditional time for a paper in press is two to three (2 – 3) months. To reduce this time, we introduced it in early 1999 in the all-electronic Rapid Communications section, with publication within 1 month of receipt of the revised manuscript. Since then we have been exploring ways to speed the process for all articles. The opportunity appears to be presented by posting papers in the press on the Green CulturED website as soon as a manuscript has been accepted for publication.

We are planning with our Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and our Instructional Design (ID) team to convert immediately the accepted manuscript into PDF and post them. This has already been instituted by several standards-based organizations that support the cannabis industry, such as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards being developed by Committee D37 on Cannabis. We are working to have this implemented throughout all of our curriculum developed in association with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs).

Brief Communications Transition

With the immediate posting of regular training becoming available in the cannabis industry, the raison d’etre of Rapid Communications as a separate all-electronic part of the Journal will no longer exist. We will therefore continue these short articles under the new title of Brief Communications, which will appear in both the print and electronic versions. Thus, there will be no interruption in providing a venue for brief communications; they will only get faster, along with the regular articles.

Online Article Proofs Handling

There will also be an opportunity to move toward electronic handling of the copyediting and proofing stage of articles in the press. Systems for doing this are becoming available, and we are in discussion with Cadmus on the steps that would be involved. At present the logical sequence is to implement online manuscript submission and review first and then online handling of the proofs. The result will be an all-online handling of the entire editorial process from submission to publication.

Accessibility

With the advent of online publishing, a key desideratum is accessibility since this is in the interest of Green CulturED as the official “most accredited” Responsible Vendor Training (RVT) provider in the cannabis industry, it is our responsibility to disseminate the findings of our authors as widely as possible. Access to the Green CulturED training is facilitated by the following policies:

1. All Green CulturED members get free access to online cannabis industry training on the day the course is posted on the Green CulturED website.
2. All patrons of subscribing libraries similarly get immediate access the same day the issue is published online and access to all online issues.
3. Researchers using Green CulturED get free access to full text and cited references in journals published online in cooperation with our Learning Management System (LMS). The total list of cannabis industry training to which learners have access may be found at https://greencultured.co/shop/ and there are currently 100’s found online at the Green CulturED website.

Free access to all training from Green CulturED is thus a reality today for all members of the cannabis industry and all learners around the world, yet we are continuing to explore outreach programs to libraries and cannabis industry operators in countries with developing regions.

In summary, Green CulturED is working vigorously with our many constituencies – members, authors, libraries, and publishers – as we move to electronic means of reviewing, publishing, and archiving. Each step along the way presents many problems and Green CulturED believes that these problems can be solved most effectively through the principles of maintaining excellence and collegial cooperation.