Editorial Team

Editors

Editor in Chief: Dr. Grady Roberts, University of Florida, USA, groberts@ufl.edu, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar

Senior Editor: Dr. Amy Harder, University of Connecticut, USA, amy.harder@uconn.edu, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar 

Senior Editor: Dr. Jimmy Lindner, Auburn University, Alabama, USA, jrl0039@auburn.edu, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar 

Editor: Dr. Michael Martin, University of Minnesota Crookston, USA, mart6864@umn.edu, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar

Editor: Dr. Jamie Loizzo, University of Florida, USA, jloizzo@ufl.edu, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar

Editorial Board

Dr. Anna Ball, University of Illinois, USA, aball@illinois.edu, Bio, Google Scholar

Dr. Sarah Cardey, University of Reading, UK, s.p.cardey@reading.ac.uk, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar

Dr. Ataharul Chowdhury, University of Guelph, Canada, ataharul.chowdhury@uoguelph.ca, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar

Dr. Craig Edwards, Oklahoma State University, USA, craig.edwards@okstate.edu, Bio, ORCID

Dr. Jim Kinsella, University College Dublin, Ireland, jim.kinsella@ucd.ie, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar

Dr. Vikram Koundinya, University of California - Davis, USA, vkoundinya@ucdavis.edu, Bio, ORCID, Google Scholar

Dr. Sarahi Morales, Texas Tech University, USA, Sarahi.Morales-Vanegas@ttu.edu, ORCID, Google Scholar

Dr. Mary Rodriguez, The Ohio State University, USA, rodriguez.746@osu.edu, Bio , ORCID

Dr. Carrie Stephens, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA, cfritz@utk.edu, Bio, ORCID

 

Editorial Assistants

Luci Searels, University of Florida, USA, rl.searels@ufl.edu

Kathleen Fahey, University of Florida, USA, kathleenfahey@ufl.edu

Sarah McCord, Texas A&M University, USA, sarah.mccord@ag.tamu.edu

 

Roles and Responsibilities

Editor in Chief

The Editor in Chief serves as the journal's chief academic and editorial leader. Responsibilities include:

  • Establishing and maintaining the journal's editorial vision, policies, and standards.
  • Ensuring adherence to publication ethics and best practices.
  • Conducting initial evaluations of submitted manuscripts for scope, quality, and suitability.
  • Assigning Senior Editors or Editors to specific manuscripts to manage the peer review process.
  • Making final publication decisions on all manuscripts.The Editor in Chief may delegate the publication decision authority to a Senior Editor or Editor on the manuscripts they are assigned to manage, but the Editor in Chief maintains the final decision authority.
  • Oversee Editorial Assistants in the initial screening and post-acceptance production phases.
  • Appoint editors, editorial board members, and editorial assistants as needed.
  • Managing complex manuscript, ethics, or appeals cases.
  • Representing the journal within the scholarly community.

Senior Editors

Senior Editors support the Editor in Chief in managing manuscript review and editorial operations. Responsibilities include:

  • Assisting the Editor in Chief in managing journal operations.
  • Conducting a technical review of assigned manuscripts.
  • Ensuring that manuscripts meet the journal's standards for scholarly quality, methodological rigor, and relevance.
  • Selecting and inviting qualified peer reviewers.
  • Monitoring the peer-review process to ensure timely and rigorous review.
  • Making recommendations regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection of assigned manuscripts. When the Editor in Chief has delegated publication decision authority, the Senior Editor will make the publication decision and communicate this to the corresponding author.
  • Advising the Editor in Chief on policy, ethics, and strategic matters.
  • Assisting with reviewer and editorial board member recruitment.

Editors

Editors manage manuscripts through the peer-review process. Responsibilities include:

  • Conducting a technical review of assigned manuscripts.
  • Ensuring that manuscripts meet the journal's standards for scholarly quality, methodological rigor, and relevance.
  • Selecting and inviting qualified peer reviewers.
  • Monitoring the peer-review process to ensure timely and rigorous review.
  • Making recommendations regarding acceptance, revision, or rejection of assigned manuscripts. When the Editor in Chief has delegated publication decision authority, the Editor will make the publication decision and communicate this to the corresponding author.
  • Identifying potential ethical concerns and referring them to Senior Editors or the Editor in Chief when appropriate.

Editorial Board

The Editorial Board serves in an advisory, scholarly, and accountability capacity. Members advise on journal policy and strategic direction, contribute subject-matter expertise, support peer review, and may participate in the review of appeals or complaints. The board also provides oversight of the Editor in Chief, Senior Editors, and Editors to ensure editorial independence. Complaints involving the Editor in Chief may be directed to a Senior Editor or a member of the Editorial Board. Editorial Board members do not independently make final publication decisions.

Editorial Assistants

Editorial Assistants provide administrative and operational support. Their responsibilities include:

  • Conducting initial submission checks for completeness and compliance with journal requirements.
  • Confirming manuscript anonymization and adherence to double-blind review procedures.
  • Copyediting accepted manuscripts using the journal’s style guide.

Editorial Assistants do not participate in editorial decision-making regarding acceptance or rejection of manuscripts.