GUEST EDITORIAL

The Industrial Engineering publishing landscape

Looking at the Industrial Engineering publishing landscape through the window of Google Search, an interesting panorama unfolds. The view that I took is actually just a peek and therefore my description of what I saw is not meant to be comprehensive.

The African landscape is empty except for the South African Journal of Industrial Engineering (SAJIE). This is an extraordinary situation if compared to the South American continent where there are Industrial Engineering journals in at least Brazil, Peru, and Chile.

In Australia The Industrial Engineer was published for some 50 years commencing in the 1950s. The Institute of Industrial Engineering Australia's official journal now is the New Engineer which is published in partnership with the Management Engineering and the Maintenance Engineering Societies of Australia. Our rugby arch enemy, New Zealand, does not appear to have a publication in Industrial Engineering. So at least in Industrial Engineering South Africa is the clear winner!

The Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Society (APIEMS) represents Industrial Engineering professionals from Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. APIEMS publishes an official journal - Industrial Engineering and Management Systems (IEMS). Many Asia Pacific countries also publish a national journal which indicates that Industrial Engineering is alive and well in the Asia Pacific. The Journal of the Chinese Institute of Industrial Engineers (JCIIE) is published eight times a year and is available in hard copy as well as online.

In India the Indian Institute of Industrial Engineering publishes the Industrial Engineering Journal.

In the Middle East Iran and Jordan publishes Industrial Engineering journals. At 0.2 the impact factor for the Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering is similar to that of the SAJIE (0.214). It would appear that Israel does not have an independent publication, but makes use of the Industrial Engineer published by the Institute of Industrial Engineers in the USA - the largest such Institute in the world.

The University Library Service at the University of Pittsburgh publishes a list of top journals in Industrial Engineering. In rank order these are:

• Technovation
• IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics
• Journal of Product Innovation Management
• Journal of Materials Processing and Technology
• Reliability Engineering & System Safety
• International Journal of Production Economics
• •omputers & Operations Research
• CIRP Annals - Manufacturing and Technology
• Computers and Industrial Engineering
• Journal of Quality Technology

International Industrial Engineering journals include:

• Journal of Industrial Engineering International
• International Journal of Industrial Engineering
• International Journal of Industrial Engineering Research and Development

The European Journal of Industrial Engineering is published in Europe. Other countries with publications in Industrial Engineering include Canada, Germany, Poland, Spain and Cuba.

SAJIE has been ISI accredited since 2007. The Journal achieved its third impact factor in July 2012. It is one of 43 journals listed on the ISI Web of Knowledge in the category of Industrial Engineering publications. It is one of only a few publications listed for less than five years. At present the impact factor of SAJIE places it in 38^th place out of 43. It is also one of only 37 South African scholarly journals appearing on the list of which only three are in the field of Engineering.

From the peek above it is clear that the SAJIE has a unique position in the world of Industrial Engineering publishing in that it represents a whole continent. I am of the opinion that this position should be nurtured and that the SAJIE should be promoted as the publication of choice for African scholars of Industrial Engineering.

Schalk Claasen

SAJIE Editor from 1999 to 2007

News item

The editorial team of SAJIE has received wonderful news regarding three of our published authors, all members of SAIIE. Marné de Vries, James Bekker and Stephen Matope have completed their respective PhD degrees.

Marné has become only the second female PhD (Industrial Engineering) graduate of the University of Pretoria. Her thesis, A process reuse identification framework using an alignment model, was completed under the supervision of Proff VSS Yadavalli and A van der Merwe.

James has completed a thesis titled Applying the cross-entropy method in multi-objective optimisation of dynamic, stochastic processes under the supervision of Dr A Burger. Stephen was supervised by Prof CJ Fourie. His thesis is titled Application of Van-der-Waals forces in micro-material handling. Both James and Stephen completed their PhD’s at Stellenbosch University. Congratulations to Marné, James and Stephen!