Newsletter
Editor: Zhuping Sheng
Associate Editors: Di Long, Zuyi Wang and Xia Zheng
Aims and Scope of IMPACT
IMPACT is an official newsletter of the Association of Overseas Chinese
Agricultural, Biological, and Food Engineers (AOCABFE, short as
AOC). As an edited and periodic electronic publication, its aims
are to serve AOCABFE as:
1. The official bulletin and archive. It publishes major official AOC documents
including, but not limited to, its constitution/bylaws, 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 members' activities, feature stories, and announcements.
It shares student's experiences in living, studying and job hunting.
3. A forum. It provides the AOC members a round-table to express opinions
over and to discuss and debate issues related to AOC and agricultural,
biological, and food engineering fields.
IMPACT limits its topics and contents closely related to the AOC mission
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 the agricultural, biological and food engineers of Chinese
origin as well as stakeholders.
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 designed to cover the latest activities
related to ABFE, institutional developments, significant new research
programs or projects, new research findings, books in ABFE, etc.
The maximum length for a news brief is 250 words or word-equivalents
without figures.
3. Inside AOC
This section archives reports on AOC-organized activities and
official AOC documents, e.g. its constitution, organization, annual
reports, and board meeting minutes. Reports about AOC-organized
activities should not exceed the maximum length of two pages (700
word-equivalents). AOC's official documents will be published
as is with limited editing.
4. Member Activity
This section reports activities of individual AOC members or member
groups, such as their visits, professional development, and inter-institutional
and international collaborations. The maximum length is 700 words
with a limit of 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 with a limit of three photos.
5.1. People
People interview will be written by the interviewer (IMPACT editors
or AOC members). Interviewees are the AOC members or non-AOC members
who are selected by the Editorial team or recommended by the 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
Recent events are covered in this session, including 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. 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,
which are not expected to generate further discussion. Topics
of Forum and Letter 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. The
maximum length for each article should not exceed two pages (700
word-equivalents). Figures are considered appropriate only in
rare exceptions.
7. Announcement
This section announces upcoming events, meeting, gathering, position
opening etc. Each announcement should not exceed 500 words.
8. 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.
