Originally Published: Vol 9, Num 1 (Fall 2016)
Reference Number: 91.001
Aaaaaand…we’re back! With this new Journal of Genetic Genealogy Volume 9, Number 1 (Fall 2021) issue, the JoGG picks up again with a new issue and a new website.
The five years since our last issue have been maturing years for genetic genealogy. Commercial autosomal DNA databases now house well over 40 million tested members; Y-DNA testing has identified nearly two million named SNPs; archeological digs now routinely test DNA from human remains and investigative genetic genealogy has become a permanent tool in forensic analysis. And yet our testing technologies continue to evolve and our ability to use DNA to answer genealogical, anthropological, and forensic questions continues to evolve as well. As a discipline we are certainly not yet mature.
Much paper has been expended by those much more expert than I in describing how scientific and humanities disciplines evolve and change, and I won’t try to say that genetic genealogy is in any particular stage of development or is even at any particular inflection point in our relatively short history. It’s enough to point out that like most disciplines we do evolve, and that the Journal of Genetic Genealogy is here partly to document that evolution and partly as a resource for those new to the field to “catch them up” to how far we’ve come. But we don’t want to be just a passive “best practices” repository – we also want our articles to illuminate the path of our forward evolution for the genetic genealogy community.
This last purpose is then also a challenge to the community: did we get it right? Evolution is not really linear so my metaphor of a “path” is flawed and our evolution is much more complex. What have we missed? What advances have not yet been documented, what methods need more recognition, what stories remain to be told?
The Journal of Genetic Genealogy is a forum for many stories: peer-reviewed scholarly articles, editorials, case studies, and introductions for new members of our community as well. We have examples of all of those in this new issue. An editorial invites us to consider whether a subfield of genetic genealogy should receive the additional focus that a differentiating name can confer. A master’s dissertation originally presented to the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow in 2016 invites us to consider autosomal DNA analysis in new ways. We also have a review of network clustering visualization as a supporting autosomal DNA analysis tool, and another article provides some bridges between methodologies and practical applications of Time-to-Most-Recent-Common-Ancestor timeframe estimations using Y-DNA.
We are also introducing some regular feature series to focus on case studies and “how-to” methodology as a source of practical tips for administrators and other analysts. A feature with a Y-DNA focus starts off in this issue as a series called “Word to the Ys” with an explanation of short tandem repeat analysis through analogy. The mtDNA series will be called “mt Space” and we would welcome any mtDNA leaders to contribute. We also want to showcase your practical examples of genetic genealogy in action especially mixing different methods or different types of DNA testing, and the Miller case study in this issue is a great example of that. We plan other regular series on autosomal, mixed DNA analysis, or any other relevant subfield of genealogy as well; they haven’t been named yet because I couldn’t think of suitable puns so feel free to offer a feature series name suggestion with your first article!
But more importantly, please help us achieve our ongoing challenge to the genetic genealogy community by contributing your examples and critical thoughts on any subject relevant to genetic genealogy as articles for upcoming issues. You can find ideas and templates on our website at https://jogg.info. Or if we can help you translate an idea or case study into an article, please reach out to me at [email protected]. You can help us document, you can help us explain and inform; but perhaps more importantly you can help us illuminate the path (however complex) of the forward evolution of genetic genealogy.
Our new website look also includes an archive of all our past journal articles indexed with article categories and tags so you can more easily find interesting material in our back issues. We hope you find this archive a useful resource in your personal evolution in genetic genealogy as well.