Journal of the American Statistical Association

The Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA) is the first serial publication of the American [Page 500]Statistical Association (ASA), founded in 1839, and it remains the flagship publication of the association.

JASA began as Publications of the American Statistical Association, a series of tracts on statistical topics. The first appeared in March 1888 and contained only one 44-page article, “Statistics of Water Power Employed in Manufacturing in the United States,” by George F. Swain. The next issue (vol. 1, nos. 2–3, June and September 1888) became more journal-like in character: It contained two articles by different authors, the second one a history of the U.S. Census, including an extensive bibliography and a key to U.S. Census publications. Subsequent issues grew rapidly in terms of the numbers of articles (most considerably shorter) and the scope of topics considered. The series continued through 16 volumes comprising 128 issues from 1888 to 1919. At that point, the series was renamed Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association, but only one volume (vol. 17, 1920–1921) was published under that title.

Volume 18 (1922–1923, issues 137–144) is the first that bears the title Journal of the American Statistical Association. That volume contained 70 full-length articles, 30 short notes, 63 book reviews, and 28 reviews of reports. Beginning in 1924, various supplements began to appear sporadically: proceedings of meetings and ASA handbooks that contained the constitution and bylaws, membership directory, and an index of past issues of JASA.

Francis A. Walker, the ASA president in the late 1880s, is credited with providing the impetus to publish a journal. The early volumes were edited by ASA secretary Davis R. Dewey, who served until 1908. The next ASA secretary was Carroll W. Doten, who apparently also edited the journal. Subsequent editors were William F. Ogburn (1920–1925), Frank A. Ross (1926–1934), Frederick W. Stephan (1935–1940), again Ross (1941–1945), and William G. Cochran (1945–1950). Starting in 1968, separate editors were appointed for applications and methodology papers (in addition to the review editor), and beginning in 1970 (vol. 65), the research articles were divided into two sections, titled “Applications” (later “Applications and Case Studies”) and “Theory and Methods.” The same basic organization remains to the present day: three editors and separate boards of associate editors.

Today, JASA is universally considered to be one of the top nonspecialized journals in statistics. In terms of total citations in the science literature through 2003, the ISI Web of Knowledge ranks JASA at the top of all journals in the mathematical sciences. When journals in behavioral sciences, psychology, and education are included, JASA's total citations rank behind those of Psychological Bulletin and Animal Behavior and about equal with Psychological Review's.