The 8th Anniversary Editorial.

This Summer 2005 issue is the thirty-second issue of Academic Exchange Quarterly, a journal begun eight years ago at Chattanooga State College in Tennessee. It is now published in New York and has grown significantly. I first joined the editorial staff of AEQ in 1999, two years after its initial publication, and I am proud to be associated with it six years later. I have the Spring 1999 issue before me now, and it was a slender production containing some twenty brief articles within a space of eighty-six pages. The first issue in the Fall of 1997 was even shorter with most of the articles written by individuals from Chattanooga State.

Now the issues of AEQ contain approximately sixty articles within over three hundred pages. Whereas the initial issues contained articles written by authors from only a few institutions, as of last count, there have been authors from 573 colleges and universities around the world. Those figures show a 200% increase in journal content and 248% increase in page numbers.

The readership base has increased significantly also. When AEQ first began, the readership numbered no more than a few hundred. Now there are over 24,000 readers, a figure based on library and individual subscriptions. In fact, this figure increases even more when one takes into account the online versions available on Gale Expanded Academic ASAP, Expanded Academic ASAP International, and Infotrac OneFile. Most of AEQ's readers are teachers in colleges and universities. Many college libraries are paid subscribers, and even the prestigious British Library has a paid sub- scription.

What accounts for this phenomenal growth? It is because of the ingenious combination of Internet and print publication. Aspiring authors submit their articles via MS Word to AEQ's New York office, whereupon the office staff puts the submissions onto an anonymous "track your submission" web page. The members of the journal's editorial staff, consisting of approximately forty academicians from the U.S., Australia, Canada, Israel, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, engage in a double-blind review of the articles. Authors may literally track the progress of their submissions as they are reviewed by checking at the "track your submission" web page. Whereas in traditional print journals news of acceptance or rejection of an article could have taken six months or longer, AEQ accomplishes this process within six to nine weeks. It's transparent and prompt.

The thing that makes me most proud of my association with AEQ, however, is that many of the articles published are by young scholars, those who wish to see themselves in print. According to statistics on the AEQ website, 43% of AEQ's readers are assistant professors. Yet publication in this journal is not easy. This summer issue, for example, contains articles from a 29% acceptance rate (as opposed to the very first issue of AEQ which had a 45% acceptance rate). These scholars have a venue for their research, an activity along with teaching that AEQ encourages. In addition, AEQ's web-based features such as "Monthly Exchange" and "Editor's Choice" offer authors feedback to their articles' usefulness and popularity.

Finally, every three years, the best articles from AEQ are republished in a book format called Sound Instruction: Ready to Use Classroom Practice. Volume One was published in 2002 (ISBN 0-9709895-0-4). Volume Two is scheduled to be published next year. The aim of Volume Two will be similar to the first volume--to become a textbook for graduate-level courses in education and to be a reference book for every teacher interested in improving his or her own teaching.

These young scholars, the assistant professors and associate professors, are the lifeblood of the academic profession. As I am in the final years of my own teaching career, I am impressed by the high quality of research and publication I see them submit to AEQ, and I know the profession will continue in good hands. AEQ is part of a long tradition of academic journals that have started small and have grown in significance and influence. This summer issue is one of the best yet, and AEQ will continue to grow and contribute to the march of mind.

Ben Varner, Ph. D.

Professor of English, University of Northern Colorado