Periodicals Committee Chair

Current Committee Purpose: As stated in NAR By-Laws.

NAR By-Laws Language: Article 11, Section 14: The Periodicals Committee shall have as its duty the editing, publication and distribution of the Association’s regular publications, including, but not limited to, Sport Rocketry and The Model Rocketeer.

Specific Expectations:

1. I will ensure that the Association’s print journal, Sport Rocketry, and its electronic version of the Model Rocketeer, The Electronic Rocketeer, are published promptly, regularly, and the number of times per year that has been directed by the Board of Trustees. I will also ensure that the NAR Member Guidebook is prepared and printed for NAR Headquarters as directed by the President.

2. Working with the NAR President, I will recommend Committee staffing for the following positions and will ensure that all the required duties associated with developing, publishing, and distributing the journal within established financial guidelines are performed by the personnel of this Committee:

a. Sport Rocketry Editor in Chief – responsible for content

b. Publisher – responsible for layout, printing, and distribution services of Sport Rocketry

c. Business Manager – responsible for timely delivery of financial information from printers, advertisers, and distributors to the NAR Treasurer.

2. I will ensure that the print journal content is provided by the editor to the publisher no later than the agreed deadline date for each issue, and will immediately inform the NAR President if this cannot be done.

3. I will ensure that each issue of the print journal contains exactly the number of total pages and color pages approved by the Board of Trustees. I will inform the NAR President in advance if this cannot be done.

4. I will ensure that the print journal is carefully proofread by the publisher, is laid out in a legible and appealing manner, and has an appealing cover.

5. I will ensure that both journals contain only material that complies with the editorial policies established by the Board of Trustees. I will ensure that if the editor is in doubt as to the propriety of any item of editorial content, he consults with the NAR President for approval prior to publishing the material and informs the NAR President of any material that is rejected for non-compliance with these policies.

6. I will ensure that the print journal editor exercises his best efforts to find and encourage authors who will produce articles on subjects that will interest the journal’s readers, and to find and encourage assistant editors and columnists who can assist him in developing high-quality content for the journal that appeals to the broadest possible range of interests in the hobby, within the limits of the NAR Safety Codes.

7. I will ensure that the print journal editor communicates with each author who provides him with an article, acknowledging and thanking the author for the input and informing him (or her) of whether their article is publishable, and if so, roughly how far in the future. I will ensure that if the editor makes substantial changes to an article or accompanying drawings, he will offer the author an opportunity to review the changed version for accuracy before publication.

8. I will negotiate contracts with printers, advertising agencies, e-mail services, and commercial distributors that deliver best value to the NAR in timely delivery of a quality journal with the widest possible public availability, at the lowest possible production and distribution cost, and with the largest possible paid advertising content. I will submit the terms of any such contracts to the NAR Board for approval prior to obligating the NAR, and will evaluate and report annually to the NAR Board the performance of all such contractors.

9. I will ensure that the business manager provides both myself and the NAR Treasurer with bi-monthly financial reports of the print journal’s income and expenses. I will ensure that the business manager also conducts a comprehensive review of overall financial performance with the NAR Treasurer no later than one month before each Board of Trustees meeting, to evaluate and recommend changes to the journal’s dues allocations, retail prices, page count, and advertising rates.

10. I will ensure that annual USPS reports are filed as required to permit use of the most advantageous postal classification for mailing the print journal.