A NEW EDITOR HAS BEEN APPOINTED TO MANAGE NIJOTECH
Dear All,
Following my election as Dean of Engineering on July 08, 2020, I have assumed office on August 1, 2020. I have managed all the editorial works of this journal since 2010 while combining the job as Faculty PG Rep, Director of our Equipment Maintenance and Development Center, Director of Computer Communications Center, Head of my base Department and even as Associate Dean. It has been really tasking over the years but this is a job I accepted with all my heart and I have given it my all.
I have denied myself, my family and friends a lot of time and pleasure for the purpose of making this journal better. The experience has been enriching too; I know many people today because of my role in NIJOTECH. It is really hard to let go of the editorial work, yet the day-to-day tasking demands of the office of the Dean will not allow me.
A few hours ago, I published the OCtober 2020 issue, making it 40th issue that I have edited and successfully published both online and in print, including creating the journal website and adding all previous issues published since 1970.
Now, it has become necessary that a younger colleague who has a matured dynamic response, is clear-headed, understands OJS software and the principles of editing a journal take over the editorial job. So after very wide consultations, I nominated Engr. Dr. Howard Okezie Njoku as the new Editor of Nigerian Journal of Technology and his appointment was approved by the Faculty board of Engineering with effect from August 1, 2020.
Dr. Njoku is presently the Head of Mechanical Engineering Department and is not new to NIJOTECH. While working on his Ph.D between 2012 and 2014, he supported me in typesetting and scheduling articles and only stepped aside when his doctoral studies became more tasking.
I have sent him the complete contact details and areas of specialization of our highly esteemed reviewers who are the important, yet invisible, drivers of this journal. In fact, Howard will hit the web in the first week of January 2021 with the first issue of Volume 40.
He promised some new changes to the journal:
- Publication of six issues in a year instead of our usual four: So NIJOTECH will now have January, March, May, July, September and November issues. This will make publishing very flexible and easier for authors. This is a laudable development.
- Continuous publication: This implies he will be publishing articles online as they become ready, aggregating them into issues only at the end of a period.
- New typeset format using LaTex: He believes this is more elegant but it not constitute any additional difficulty to the authors as he will continue to accept manuscripts on MS Word.
- Full online article processing: Howard has already started this as he took over the portal on August 1, so all submissions and reviews will now have to be fully online on the web-portal. This will allow authors check the status of their articles at any time on the portal instead of having to call the editor or write an email and await a response.
But, I will not be far from NIJOTECH as I remain the Editor-in-Chief, directing and supporting Howard, the editorial team and the support staff in all possible ways. So I am still available.
Dr. Njoku can be reached by:
Phone: +234 – 809 – 148 – 9064
email: [email protected]
Thanks for your continued interest in NIJOTECH.
Nsukka, October, 2020
Engr. Prof. Emeka S. Obe,
Editor-in-Chief and Journal Manager
