TAS is the “general interest” journal of the American Statistical Association.
By the Publication Policy of TAS,
“The American Statistician strives to publish articles of general interest to the statistical profession. Articles should be clearly written, address topics that are important for a broad group of statisticians, and ordinarily not be highly technical.”
In other words, we are looking for articles that will appeal to the broad membership of the American Statistical Association. To be suitable, it should appeal to statisticians with masters and doctoral training in statistics.
General
Statistical Practice
Teacher’s Corner
Statistical Computing and Graphics
History Corner (new in 2003)
Why should you write a TAS article?
Have a good story or message to tell that you think will interest many statisticians.
Have a big audience (most members of ASA receive TAS)
Like to tell a good story. (there is skill in writing a good expository paper)
A TAS article should relate to all statisticians
Statisticians have common training (math/stat, modeling, regression, design, statistical computing) and common interests (applications, statistical literacy, consulting, teaching, software)
A TAS article should relate to these common elements.
Too technical or theoretical
Article has methodological focus – extension of some
previous results
(these articles may be suitable if the problem is of broad interest)
Article is difficult to read
Article is on a nonstatistical topic or a very specialized topic in statistics
Some tips on writing a TAS article
Interesting application or case study
Popular or “hot” statistical topic
Catchy title
Good introduction section
Good take-away message or strong conclusion (reader should have a satisfying feeling at the end)
Have a statistician outside of your area of expertise read the paper.
Work hard on the introduction – this is your opportunity to sell the paper.
Paper should not be too long and be well-packaged.
Be careful about the technical content.
Is my article appropriate for TAS?
The editor is happy to give informal advice on articles or good topics for TAS.
The editorial board (editor and associate editors) will work with the authors in developing good papers for TAS.