November 14 2019 OMB Meeting Materials

AOAC OMB MEETING MATERIALS

153

MEMORANDUM 

Date:  To:  From:  Subject: 

November 14, 2019  AOAC INTERNATIONAL Official Methods Board  Deborah McKenzie, Staff Liaison – AOAC Official Methods Board  AOAC Publications Update 

Standards and Official Methods SM is working with the Publications department to streamline processes for the publication of approved methods and manuscripts. This will result in some changes in the process and possibly the requirements for ERP reviews. 1. Currently, method authors are not required to submit methods in AOAC format. This has resulted in the following process steps: • Manuscripts drafted after the ERP meeting resulting in delays in publications • ERP members participate in the Journal peer review process creating a redundancy in effort and the time line contributes to delays • To ensure that the method is the final version that is approved after the manuscript undergoes the peer review process, Publications has been publishing the method only after the manuscript has been accepted for publication. Suggestion: Require manuscripts to be submitted and a require manuscripts to be reviewed for the Journal as part of the methods review process. 2. Also, but more rarely, method authors have been submitting methods that are published in other peer reviewed journals without permission from the other peer reviewed journal to use, distribute, and/or publish such work. However, • When such methods are adopted, they cannot be published by AOAC without expressed written permission; • Although staff tries to include protections on the methods submitted for review, AOAC is distributing these methods to ERP members unknowingly. Suggestion: Include questions to method authors in the method submission application and refuse to accept prepublished methods unless the method author provides in writing that he/she/they have Open Access or otherwise have permission to submit the method and require method authors to submit the signed copyright authorization form.

12/11/2019