JASBC welcomes Scott Britton as incoming Editor-in-Chief

New Editor-in-Chief | In June 2023, Inge Russell steps down as Editor-in-Chief of JASBC after five years of impressive service to ASBC's author community. She passes the torch to Scott Britton.

Inge emerged from retirement in September 2017 when ASBC faced the challenge of transitioning JASBC from in-house publishing to a publishing partnership with Taylor & Francis. During these five years, she helped raise the journal’s metrics significantly, widen its subject matter to include areas such as distilling, and encourage young authors to submit by offering a mentorship system for them.

While increasing the number of strong submissions from early-career, international scientists initially posed a challenge, Inge and JASBC reaped enormous success in this endeavor. In fact, JASBC attracted such a large volume of good manuscripts that, for a years' time, the print version of the journal could not accommodate all of them. Relying on the online early view publication system and eliminating set page count restrictions for the print journal have since resolved this.

ASBC and JASBC sincerely thank Inge for guiding the journal toward excellence and leaving it in great shape as she passes the torch to Scott Britton.

New Editor-in-Chief Scott Britton

Scott Britton is Senior Scientist for the Duvel Moortgat Group, where he is primarily responsible for research and development, brewery integration, and corporate quality. He received a B.S. in Biology from Utica University, a M.S. in Biotechnology from The Johns Hopkins University, and an M.B.A from Marist College. Presently, he is working towards the completion of his PhD within the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering from Heriot-Watt University. His research primarily focuses on intercellular communication (quorum sensing), brewing microbiology, and microbial ecology.

Scott has been an extremely active member of ASBC for 15 years, volunteering and eventually serving as Chair for committees such as Program, Publications, and Alternative Beverages. Additionally, he served on the ASBC Board of Directors from 2014 to 2021 and was President of ASBC from 2019 to 2020. He has also been a regular reviewer for JASBC for the past eight years and has served on the editorial board since 2018.

During his tenure on the ASBC Board, Scott worked alongside Inge to develop the renewed vision and strategy for JASBC before the collaboration with Taylor & Francis, and he played a key role in transitioning the journal to its new platform.

As a fervent advocate for accessibility and open communication of science, Scott looks forward to connecting with researchers and supporting their effort to share pioneering research to fellow scientists, engineers, and practitioners within the brewing and allied industries. One area of accessibility that Scott plans to improve addresses the emergence of craft beer, which has radically changed the landscape of the brewing industry in recent years. Scott comments, “I often hear from the craft community that scientific advances, as they are presented in journal articles, can be difficult to digest and place into context. To address this challenge, I plan to put an increased emphasis on soliciting approachable reviews intended for industry practitioners.”