About the Journal
Focus and Scope
Canadian Acoustics publishes refereed articles and news items on all aspects of acoustics and vibration. Articles reporting new research or applications, as well as review or tutorial papers and shorter technical notes are welcomed, in English or in French. Submissions should be sent only through the journal online submission system. Complete instructions to authors concerning the required "camera-ready" manuscript are provided within the journal online submission system.
Peer Review Process
All manuscripts submitted to the Canadian Acoustics are peer-reviewed according to the following procedure:
Initial review: The Editor-in-Chief evaluates each manuscript to determine if its topic and content is suitable for consideration by the Canadian Acoustics. Manuscripts that do not meet minimum criteria are returned to the authors within one week of receipt. This is in the best interest of the authors who could then decide to either correct the problems or to submit the manuscript to a more appropriate venue, avoiding delays from a lengthy review process that would nonetheless lead to rejection.
Peer review: Manuscripts that pass the initial review are assigned to an Associate Editor, who selects several referees based on their expertise in that particular field. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees who are kept anonymous. Referees are asked to evaluate the manuscript based on its originality, soundness of methodology, impact to design research, and relevance to design practices. To facilitate timely publication, referees are asked to complete their reviews within 4 weeks. After collecting the referees' reports, the Associate Editor makes a recommendation on the acceptability of the manuscript.
Recommendation: Based on the referees' comments and his own recommendation, the the Associate Editor's makes a final decision on the acceptability of the manuscript and communicates to the Editor-in-chief and to the authors the decision, along with referees' reports. The final decision can be "Accept Submission", "Revisions Required", "Resubmit for Review", "Resubmit Elsewhere", or "Decline Submission." A revised manuscript should be re-submitted within six months of the decision. It will usually be returned to the original referees for evaluation.
Advertising in Canadian Acoustics
Interested to advertise in Canadian Acoustics? Simply follow these 3 simple steps:
Step 1: Create an "Institutional Subscription" associated with the appropriate ad package using the online journal website . The current rates are:
- $350 for full page - ($1200 for 4 issues)
- $200 for 1/2 page - ($700 for 4 issues)
- $150 for 1/4 page - ($500 for 4 issues)
Step 2: Make sure to provide the filename of your ad material under the "Membership" field and send that material directly to the advertisement manager. The mechanical specifications for the graphic file are as follows:
- full page - PNG - 7.0" (w) x9.5" (h) Portrait - 300 DPI min;
- half page - PNG - 7.0" (w) x4.75" Landscape - 300 DPI min.
- quarter page - PNG - 3.5" (w) x4.75" Portrait - 300 DPI min.
Step 3: After 24h, check online that your ad is ready to be published in the next issue of the journal. You will then be kept informed automatically by the system 2 weeks before ad publication, right after ad publication and finally when your ad package is about to expire. The deadline for new advertisement material is minimaly 3 week prior to the month in which the issue is published.
A little online screencast is available to document the whole process. For any question or concerns, simply contact CAA advertisement manager.
Instant-Open Access Option
JCAA has a 12-month delayed open-access policy: during the first 12 months after publication, articles are only accessible to journal subscribers (CAA members). After 12 months, published articles automatically become open-access worldwide.
With the payment of a $300 "Instant open-access" fee, your article will be immediatly open-access upon publication. To proceed, simply make your online payment and key in the exact value of $300, without worrying that the system appears to be for advertisements fees.
Conflict of Interest Policy for Editors of Canadian Acoustics journal
In what follows below, the word Editor(s) applies to the editor-in-chief, the deputy editor and the fifteen associate editors of the Canadian Acoutics journal, as listed in the journal website at jcaa.caa-aca.ca, under Home>About the journal. A paper submitted by one of the Editors will be handled by another Editor who is not at the same institution. The other Editor will select reviewers and make all decisions on the paper. The decision process will be handled in such a way that the submitting Editor does not have access to information or correspondence relating to the submission. In the case where the submitting Editor is the Editor-in-Chief, for technical reasons related to the credential structure of Open Journal System the editorial & publishing software used by Canadian Acoustics, the decision process ensures that the Editor-in-Chief cannot access or modify submission-related information or correspondence.
If an Editor feels that there is likely to be a perception of a conflict of interest in relation to their handling of a submission, they will declare it to the other Editors, and the paper will be handled in the same way as described above.
An Editor will declare a conflict of interest when a paper is submitted by an author whose relationship with this Editor might create the perception of bias (e.g., in terms of close friendship, conflict, or rivalry). Specifically, an Editor will declare a conflict of interest when a paper is submitted by:
- Authors at the Editor’s institution or closely affiliated organizations;
- The Editor’s family members;
- Current or former co-authors, students, or doctoral supervisors of the Editor; or
- Individuals with financial, advisory, or partnership ties to the Editor.
The above list is indicative but not exclusive; other reasons for conflict of interest between Editor and Author may exist. The Editor who has declared a conflict of interest will not be involved in selecting referees or making any decisions on the paper.
When submitting a manuscript, a corresponding author may indicate potential conflicts of interest with specific reviewers. These conflicts must be supported by a clear and concise explanation, provided using the "Comments for the Editors" dialogue box, of the perceived bias or relationship that could affect the review's impartiality. Examples include:
- Professional or personal rivalry;
- Close collaboration within the past five years;
- Financial or advisory relationships; or
- Other documented instances of bias-inducing interactions.
The Editors will carefully review these concerns and exercise their discretion when assigning reviewers. While authors' recommendations will be considered, the final decision on reviewer selection rests with the Editors to ensure a balanced and unbiased evaluation process
Editors will exercise their discretion in assigning referees to ensure that all reviewers are "at arm's length" to the authors.
Publication Frequency
Canadian Acoustics is published four times a year - in March, June, September and December. Since 2024, Canadian Acoustics will predominantly be available online (see announcement).
Indexing and Impact Factor
Canadian Acoustics, the journal of the Canadian Acoustical Association, has been around for more than 40 years. It is referenced and indexed by major scientific and technical bibliographic databases, including Inspec (published by the Institution of Engineering and Technology) and Compendex (now published by Elsevier). Canadian Acoustics is also comprehensively covered by recent citation indexes such as Google Scholar, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and complies with the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), the standard framework for interoperability among e-publishing providers. Canadian Acoustics is indexed by all major databases, including Scopus, Google Scholar, and many more. It also has an impact factor, but the Canadian Acoustical Association signed the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) as it recognizes the need to improve the ways in which the outputs of scholarly research are evaluated.
Citation statistics can be retrieved from Google Scholar by tools like Publish or Perish software. In 2013, Canadian Acoustics h5-index was 9, and its h5-median was 11, making it a respectable journal in acoustics.
Sources of Support
Subscriptions to Canadian Acoustics are available to companies and institutions at the regular price for individual members. Many organizations choose to become benefactors of the CAA by contributing as Sustaining Subscribers in order to assist CAA financially. The list of Sustaining Subscribers is published in each issue of Canadian Acoustics and on the CAA website.
Journal History
Canadian Acoustics developed from a news letter called “Acoustics and Noise Control in Canada” (ANCC). ANCC was started in 1973 with Tony Embleton as the first Editor. This was a simple production with photocopied pages hand stapled together, but it did include technical papers as well as news material. Tony Embleton was replaced by Gary Faulkner in 1975 and by Daryl May in 1977. During the years up to 1982, ANCC developed as a useful way for Canadian acousticians to communicate and keep in touch with acoustical activities in Canada. In 1981 Dee Benwell took over as Editor with plans for ANCC to become a real printed journal that was renamed Canadian Acoustics in 1982. Technical papers were encouraged and reviewed for acceptance for publication in Canadian Acoustics and the current schedule of 4 issues per year was set. Dee Benwell also initiated the format of the front page of Canadian Acoustics with the unique cover art by Simon Tuckett below the table of contents. After 3 years of being editor she was followed by John Bradley for another 3 years (Jan 1984 to Jan 1987). He built on Dee Benwell’s pioneering efforts and encouraged refereed technical publications, book reviews and news about international acoustical events. Being employed at NRC he was able to ‘encourage’ colleagues to contribute papers to Canadian Acoustics. He also carried out a survey of Canadian acoustical consultants and their areas of expertise which was published in the July 1986 issue. He was followed by Raymond Hétu who did much to continue efforts to strengthen the French content in Canadian Acoustics. He also introduced in 1988 in the blue title on white paper as the cover format that was used for many years. In 1990, Hétu was followed by Murray Hodgson, the second longest serving editor. He served for 9 years giving Canadian Acoustics a period of stable growth. He was followed by Ramani Ramakrishnan who has served as Editor for 15 years. During his long reign as editor, Canadian Acoustics has flourished, with improved printing quality, glossy covers, and coloured pictures. There have been special issues of conference papers, invited papers and many other new ventures. Canadian acoustics is now in its 40th year and can look forward to continuing growth in its quality and the material that it publishes. During the editorship position of Frank Russo, from 2011 to 2014, and as an initiative led by Jérémie Voix, all back issues of Canadian Acoustics have been scanned, recognized and indexed. All 161 issues, 2149 articles, and over 15,000 pages have been put online just before Christmas 2012 suing Open Journal System. This huge effort was made possible thanks to the relentless scanning, coding and scripting work of Dr. Eugen Popovici (more than 100 hours of PC crunching time and 350 hours of hard work) and the personal hard-copies archives kindly lend -in chronological issue order- by Dr. John Bradley, Dr. David Quirt, Dr. Ramani Ramakrishnan, Dr. Christian Giguere and Dr. Chantal Laroche. Jérémie Voix then moved from the position of Journal Manager to Editor-in-Chief and hold the position from 2014 to 2017. Umberto Berardi was the Editor-in-Chief from 2017 to 2023, and Jérémie Voix has been appointed back to this position in October 2023. During our last October 2023 AGM, a pivotal decision was made regarding the distribution of our journal. Since 2024, Canadian Acoustics has been distributed electronicaly, through a fully-browsable responsive email, and made immediatly available online, marking a significant shift from our traditional hardcopy distribution method.
