Newsletter
Editor: Changying Li
Associate Editors: Xu Jiele, Ming Hu
Aims and Scope of IMPACT
IMPACT is an official newsletter of the Association of Overseas Chinese Agricultural, Biological, and Food Engineers (AOC). As an edited and periodic electronic publication, its aims are to serve AOC as:
1. The official bulletin and archive. It publishes major official AOC documents including, but not limited to, its constitution, organization, annual reports, and board meeting minutes. Its past issues are AOC’s archive;
2. An information exchange channel. It goes with the AOC website to publish news, AOC and its member activities, feature stories, and announcements. It shares student’s experiences in living, studying, and job hunting;
3. A forum. It provides its members a round-table to express opinions over and to discuss and debate issues related to AOC and agricultural, biological, and food engineering.
IMPACT limits its topics and contents closely related to AOC and its active science and engineering fields.
IMPACT serves the AOC members as its primary readers. However, its readership also extends to members of other engineering professional organizations and all further agricultural, biological and food engineers of Chinese origin.
The objective of this instruction is to outline the IMPACT, help contributors and editors to prepare news and reports, uphold the consistency and quality of the newsletter, and improve the efficiency of editorial work.
Title: All news and reports should have a title not exceeding 10 words.
Author: Author name(s) should be included in the news and reports. IMPACT encourages authors to submit an ID photo of the author(s) to be published with the news or reports.
Content: The contents of the news and reports should be directly related to agricultural, biological and food engineering (ABFE) or AOC and its members. Authors are responsible for the correctness of the information in the submitted contribution.
Language: News and reports can be prepared in English, Chinese, or both.
Lengths: Different sections in IMPACT have different desired lengths as described below in Sections. If items longer than the normal length are needed, please contact the editors for advice.
Pictures: If pertinent pictures with sufficient resolution (>200 dpi) are available, they can be either inserted into the news or saved in separate files. Each picture should be followed by a caption or brief description of no more than 50 words.
Copyright material: If the news and reports contain copyright materials, the author(s) should obtain written permission from the copyright holder(s) and indicate it in the contributions.
Submission: Submit news and report contributions via email to the current IMPACT editor.
Sections:
1. Message Board
Message Board publishes communications from the Presidents, Committee Chairs, and the IMPACT editors of AOC.
2. News Brief
Items in this section are for the latest activities related to ABFE, institutional developments, significant new research programs or projects, new research findings, books in ABFE, etc. Maximum length for a news brief is 250 words equivalents without figures.
3. Inside AOC
This section contains reports on AOC-organized activities and publishes official AOC documents, e.g. its constitution, organization, annual reports, and board meeting minutes. Reports about AOC-organized activities should not exceed maximum lengths of two pages (700 words equivalent each page). AOC’s official documents will be published as is with limited editing.
4. Member Activity
This section publishes activities of individual AOC members or member groups, such as their visits, professional development, and inter-institutional and international collaborations. Maximum lengths are 700 words with two photos.
5. Feature Story
Feature Story includes more in-depth reports on People, Spotlight, Important Event, and Tech Field. Each story should focus on a single topic (e.g. one person or one institution) and be less than three print pages plus one to three photos.
5.1. People
People interview will be written by the interviewer (IMPACT editors or AOC members). Interviewees are usually distinguished AOC members, selected by AOC board members.
5.2. Spotlight
Spotlight introduces universities, research institutions, and major industries related to ABFE. The general introduction part should be limited to one or two paragraphs. The main part of the spotlight should be focused on descriptions relevant to ABFE.
5.3. Event
It covers recently happened events such as meetings, competitions, and collaborations not organized by AOC. Up-coming events are published in Announcement.
5.4. Tech Field
Tech Field introduces the development and state-of-the-art of particular technical fields in ABFE, especially the emerging science and technology.
6. Photo Gallery
Photo Gallery only contains photos of events, gathering, people, awards, etc. Each photo should have a caption or brief text explanation of no more than 50 words. Each topic of photo gallery should not exceed 20 pictures.
7. Forum and Letter
Forum contains contributions expected to stimulate further discussion within the IMPACT. Letters to the editor include suggestions, discussion, and opinions on AOC and IMPACT and in the ABFE fields. They are not expected to generate further discussion. Topics of Forum and Letters can be related to current research in ABFE fields, current or proposed science policy, science in general, practices that affect our fields, or AOC as an organization. Do not exceed one print page (700 words equivalent). Figures are considered appropriate only in rare exceptions.
8. Announcement
This section announces upcoming events, meeting, gathering, position opening etc. Length limit: 500 words.
