Philippine Journal Of Crop Science – Remember 2003-2008? Remember Me? Frank A Hilario, The Wunderkind Digital Editor In Chief?

I'm sorry my country’s technical journal Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS) is late by 4 issues. The latest issue is April 2021 (vol 46 no 1) as of 12 Dec 2022. Which means the journal is late by 5 issues: Aug 2021, Dec 2021, April 2022, Aug 2022 – and Dec 2022. This is sad news to me, Crop Science Society of the Philippines (CSSP), the journal’s old publisher. Remember me? This is your 2003-2008 PJCS Wunderkind Editor In Chief speaking.

According to the website Philippine Journal of Crop Science (philippjcropsci.com), the PJCS is now co-published by the Federation of Crop Science Societies of the Philippines (FCSSP). CSSP and FCSSP: You have not been watching over the progress of your journal?

This UP Los Baños-based technical journal became very dear to my mind and heart when in 2003 the CSSP leadership was looking for an extraordinary Editor In Chief because the PJCS had long been late in coming out with its issues; at that time, the journal was 3 years late, no 2001 issues yet!

I applied, knowing that with my rich expertise in working with MS Office editing up to desktop publishing (DTP) – that is, formatting words, paragraphs, columns, sections & pages; layouting tables, figures & images, etc, to produce digital pages – this one-man band was equal to the challenge. With prior knowledge of the outlines, contents and expectations of technical papers published, for PJCS, I was the lone editorial cum DTP expert. I'm telling you, this is what happened.

I started with the issue of April 2001 (very important note: the year was 2003). To cut the story short, with me working as a one-man band digital editor and desktop publisher (the person), I made the journal up-to-date in 2006, that is, from 2003 to 2006, working double-time, I produced & got published the following issues:

2003, 6 issues published: April 2001, August 2001, December 2001; and
April 2002, August 2002, December 2002

2004, 6 issues published: April 2003, August 2003, December 2003; and
April 2004, August 2004, December 2004

2005, 3 issues published: April 2005, August 2005, December 2005.

With international-quality editing and the issues now up-to-date, the PJCS applied to be included in the prestigious international list called “ISI” (now “Web of Science”)

Cutting the story short: Single-handedly with the personal computer desktop setup of the CSSP, room courtesy of PhilRice Los Baños, I made the PJCS from being late 3 years to up-to-date in 3 years, meaning my digital expertise helped me work double time – and I not only made it up-to-date but made it included in the ISI list, already listed in January 2007.

I was already 63 years old when I started my combined digital editorial & desktop publishing work with that technical journal. Digital victory!

In this Digital Age, there is no reason for your technical publication to be late when it comes out only 3 times a year! Want high-quality editing too? Hire a one-man band wunderkind Editor In Chief!@517