As we in higher
education and industry are facing the end of first decade in the new
millennium, we must come together to share ideas and resources so we
can plan and create a better future for the next generation of
students, faculty, and researchers. In the competitive and tight
global markets of 21st century, the leading companies in various
industries have embarked on massive reorganizations, mergers,
partnerships, and all sort of collaborative projects with their
like-minded peers—including their rivals—in order to mainly survive
and ultimately grow. Today, we can see many examples of these in
the industrial world, including the creation of a “Sky Team” in
airline industries, and various mergers and partnerships in the
telecommunication industry, among others.
As industry is
changing with time, so must academia. However, academic
organizations, journals, and conferences have been very slow to make
changes. As the founder of two start-up companies, and a major
international journal, I came to realize that academia needs a major
umbrella consortium to bring together groups of journals,
professional organizations, and conferences in order to offer a
global network for all these entities to collaborate, share
recourses, grow, and become more quality-driven.
Beginning in
2004, the editorial board of International Journal of Modern
Engineering (IJME) embarked on groundbreakings and unprecedented
efforts to establish strategic partnerships with other major rival
journals and organizations to share resources and offer authors a
unique opportunity to come to one conference and the publish their
papers in several diverse journals. These efforts resulted in an
innovative joint international conference including a number of
organizations and journals in 2006.
The 2006
IJME-Intertech International conference was a great success. It
brought several journals/conferences together in a joint venue for
the publication of scholarly work in engineering and technology
education, creating excitement in academic communities around the
world. This provided the motivation to found this new organization
called “International Association of Journals and Conferences”
(IAJC).
There are many
conferences held each year around the world offering authors the
opportunity to publish in conference proceedings. However,
unfortunately due to the looming global recession, massive budgets
cuts, and other issues, most of today’s conferences are quantity-
rather than quality-driven. This should not come as any surprise as
it is very expensive to hold a conference these days. As a result,
administrators at a growing list of leading colleges and
universities have noticed the decline of quality in vast majority of
conferences, including well-known conferences today, as they more
and more require journal publication as the primary metric for
faculty scholarship. However, many authors, especially junior
faculty, are not completely familiar with the journal publication
process. The protracted timeline associated with traditional journal
submission is a barrier for many faculty members. They still need
to attend and publish in a quality-driven conference first in route
to journal publication. IAJC, thorough its unique “From Conference
to Journal Publication” concept, offers authors this opportunity.
IAJC is a
first-of-its-kind, pioneering organization. We intend to become a
prestigious and an exclusive global multilayered umbrella consortium
of academic journals, conferences, organizations, and individuals
committed to advancing excellence in all aspects of
technology-related education.
Unlike other
professional organizations that offer few tangible benefits to their
members, IAJC will offer its selected members many—including a
multilayer review process in preparing manuscripts for journal
publication, helping authors in finding the right journal for timely
publication, discounts at its sponsored conferences, and a host of
other benefits. As we build this pioneer organization, we hope
you’ll join us in this exciting endeavor so together we can reshape
and create a better future for the next generation of students,
faculty, and researchers in academia and industry.
Mark Rajai,
Chairman and President, IAJC
