BETHESDA, MD—Today, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) and the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) announced a joint editorial partnership for the journal CBE–Life Sciences Education (LSE). This partnership adds to GSA's continually expanding efforts to offer a wide array of educational resources and research to its members and the public. LSE is the premier journal for education research in the life sciences and is renowned for its data-driven analysis and evidence-based approach to pedagogical research. By combining forces, the two societies hope to give the journal even more exposure. Writing in a joint editorial published this week in LSE, the executive directors of the two societies, Stefano Bertuzzi, PhD (ASCB), and Adam Fagen, PhD (GSA), say that "ASCB and GSA believe that there is neither time nor room for flag planting and parochialism. Rather than remaining only in our own silos, we will be more effective together, so we must join forces now." Many members of GSA and ASCB are already actively involved with LSE, but with this official partnership the two societies hope that their "collective expertise and energy can have a significant impact on science education across campuses and national boundaries.
In 2002, ASCB began the journal as Cell Biology Education but changed its name to CBE–Life Sciences Education in 2006 to reflect the breadth of its coverage, which spans topics in education across all life science disciplines. GSA will become a full editorial partner, promoting the journal, soliciting manuscripts, and helping to defray, in part, the costs of operation while ASCB will remain the only publisher. The journal will have a joint editorial board drawn from scientists in both societies as well as from other disciplines. The current editor, Erin Dolan, PhD from the University of Georgia, will continue as LSE Editor-In-Chief.
Although the partnership is new, the two societies have a long-standing commitment to education. This partnership expands GSA's science education outreach activities, which include a new and growing Peer-Reviewed Educational resource Database "GSA PREP" and an educational feature series called "Primers" in its flagship journal GENETICS, which brings cutting-edge research into the classroom by making original scientific papers accessible to undergraduates and their instructors. GSA also provides a variety of educational programming at each of its scientific conferences, ranging from pedagogy workshops to an outreach program introducing local community college students to the process of scientific research and exchange. In addition to producing LSE, the ASCB's Education Committee and Minorities Affairs Committee run a variety of educational programs at the ASCB Annual Meeting and year round for science teachers and science students. ASCB is also strengthening its world-renowned iBiology video program, offers enhanced educational webinars year-round, and added a new professional development thread at its annual meeting.
"While several GSA members have served as editors of LSE," added Fagen, "our society is enthusiastic about the opportunity to join with ASCB and more formally engage the entire GSA community in the publication of a leading venue for the dissemination of original research that is improving teaching and learning in the life sciences."
ABOUT GSA: Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional membership organization for scientific researchers, educators, bioengineers, bioinformaticians and others interested in the field of genetics. Its 5,000 members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level. The GSA is dedicated to promoting research in genetics and to facilitating communication among geneticists worldwide through its conferences, including the biennial conference on Model Organisms to Human Biology, an interdisciplinary meeting on current and cutting edge topics in genetics research, as well as annual and biennial meetings that focus on the genetics of particular organisms, including C. elegans, Drosophila, fungi, mice, yeast, and zebrafish. GSA publishes GENETICS, a leading journal in the field since 1916, and G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, an open-access journal launched in 2011. For more information about GSA, please visit http://www.genetics-gsa.org. Also follow GSA on Facebook at facebook.com/GeneticsGSA and on Twitter @GeneticsGSA.
ABOUT ASCB: The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society of basic biomedical researchers and represents about 9,000 scientists in the United States and over 60 countries around the world. The ASCB Annual Meeting, attended by about 8,000 scientists, is the world's largest scientific meeting in the field of cell biology. For more information about ASCB, please visit http://www.ascb.org/. Also follow ASCB on Facebook at facebook.com/AmerSocCellBio and on Twitter @ASCBiology.