(Wines&Vines) - The American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) will launch a new online journal in 2016 called Catalyst: Discovery into Practice, designed to showcase new information based on peer-reviewed scientific research that can be readily used by winemakers and grapegrowers. The new journal will be in addition to the ASEV’s longtime publication, the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture (AJEV), which has been issued quarterly since 1950 and publishes peer-reviewed scientific papers about basic and applied research.

ASEV is accepting manuscripts for review for the first issue of Catalyst, with a targeted release of July 1, 2016. The new quarterly journal will be published and accessible online, and Catalyst editors will consider video as well as text-based submissions.

New editors announced

Dr. Linda Bisson, professor at the University of California, Davis, Department of Viticulture and Enology, will serve as the journal’s enology editor. Dr. Matthew Fidelibus, UC Davis Cooperative Extension viticulture specialist, will serve as viticulture editor. Dr. Markus Keller, professor of viticulture at Washington State University in Prosser, will be the science editor.

It was recently announced that Bisson, who has served as chair of the ASEV Publications Committee and as AJEV science editor for 15 years, will be stepping down from those positions in March 2016 and transferring those duties to Keller. Bisson, who will be focusing more on the new journal, discussed the genesis and purpose of Catalyst with Wines & Vines. “This came about because (ASEV) recognized that many of the great scientific articles are not very accessible to all members because they are written by scientists for scientists,” she said. “Catalyst will be totally focused on taking that information and translating it into more readable language to answer what does it really mean to a person in a winery, or in a vineyard, and how can they incorporate this information into their production practices?”

Fidelibus emphasized that Catalyst will have a different type of content, style and format from AJEV. Traditionally, many AJEV articles are more basic and fundamental research, such as information about vine physiology or wine chemistry, that are not necessarily readily applicable to a grapegrower or winemaker. Noting that viticulture and enology is an applied science, Fidelibus said, “The goal is to have a journal that is very user-friendly with information that people can use right away.”