Summary of activities 2014

1. Summary of activities

It is with some pride that with this editorial the Journal of Maps (JoM) concludes its tenth issue. Having been founded in 2004, with its first issue in 2005, it has now published 10 issues, 415 articles and 4494 pages. This ‘introduction by numbers’ belies the underlying mission of the JoM which is testament to the success of the journal. In 2005 (Smith, 2005) I wrote that we wanted to ‘establish an international, inter-disciplinary, culture of map publication’. Maps became firmly embedded as a research tool within broadly geographical disciplines as they allowed two core goals to be achieved (Smith, Hillier, Otto, & Geilhausen, 2013): (1) the visual communication of spatial information and (2) the storage of spatial data. In particular, geological and geographical researchers in the late 1800s, who often undertook extensive fieldwork, found that they could use maps to store and analyse data before presenting synthesis within a journal publication (MacEachren et al., 2004). What marked these publications out was their explicit use of spatial data, the use of the map as a medium for storage and then subsequent presentation of the results. In short, they either presented entirely new data or added significant value to existing data, allowing the development of new insights. It is this inheritance of geographical investigation that the JoM takes forward – that is, an understanding of the physical world around us, its social construct, and the interaction between the two. To be published in the JoM is to demonstrate a unique line of enquiry which has required the use of maps or spatial diagrams, to have collected new data or added significant value to existing data and to present and communicate the findings adhering to high cartographic standards. Every paper in the JoM might not be about cutting edge cartographic design or the highest impact science, but they are about unique, insightful, visual research communications. What makes working at the JoM so absorbing and exciting is the sheer variety of submissions and exacting standards that many authors work to.

This vision of the JoM, and the importance of spatial outputs in research, has driven a significant rise in the number of submissions to the journal. Indeed, as I write this editorial at the beginning of November we have had over 160 submissions so far this year. This has led to an increase in our backlog of accepted articles and so it is exciting to announce that from 2015 we will move to publishing five issues per year, to a maximum of 800 pages. At the same time we will focus upon the length of articles; we generally accept articles that are between 2000 and 4000 words and may require authors to lengthen or shorten their manuscript where it does not clearly communicate their work. This may also involve a reduction in the number of figures if these are not central to the article. There is strong demand for publishing in the JoM and we want the best work to be published efficiently and effectively.

So why do people want to publish with us? Last year (Smith, 2014) I noted the context with which authors understand the importance of the publication of research. The last of these ‘publication as part of the promotion process’ is particularly pertinent for the career development of individuals. In particular, I noted that authors needed to ‘target readers who want to access [their] research and, more importantly, use and cite it’. And, actually, this is not only important for authors, but also for journals. Citations drive the calculation of the Impact Factor, which remains one of the dominant metrics for ranking journals (and academics). So what advice is there for increasing the citation (and download) of published articles? The following are some pointers which can help improve this (see also Taylor & Francis, 2014):

1. Undertake ‘good’ research: perhaps this is the simplest and hardest advice. Good research is of importance to society and so should see wide consultation and citation.

2. Undertake ‘bad’ research: this is not advice, but highlights the fact that bad research can become highly cited on the basis that it is ‘bad’ and published. Not something that authors should aspire to!

3. Select an appropriate journal: academics will monitor different journals, so publishing in a subject-specific journal should allow your work to be read by those who will most benefit, and cite, you.

4. Select a high ‘impact’ journal: there is a hierarchy of status within journals. Publishing in a higher status journal may lead to better citation. Note that (3) and (4) may not be compatible; some institutions operate a minimum ‘status’ for journal selection.

5. Open Access publication: there is a growing body of research that suggests Open Access publication leads to a greater number of article downloads (but possibly not greater citation) … at a cost to the author.

6. Free Eprints: many subscription articles include a free number of eprints. At Taylor and Francis it is 50 per author and a unique URL allows readers to download them. It would be interesting to see the number of ‘unclaimed’ downloads; however, it is in the interests of authors to advertise this widely. I put free eprints on my blog and email signature.

7. Social media: advertise your work! Make your work as widely known as possible through Facebook, Twitter, webpage and blogs.

It is worth noting from this list that downloads and citations are two very different metrics and not necessarily closely linked. Authors want both downloads and citations, but citations are more ‘valuable’ to them. For journals this is more complex; for subscription-based articles, downloads drive income for a journal, whilst citations drive ‘impact’. Both are important, but income represents the ‘bottom line’. For open access (OA) articles, submissions (i.e. author derived revenue) drive income, whilst citations drive ‘impact’. The rationale for an OA article submission is complex and will be a combination of journal impact, cost and financial resources.

With the continued increase in the sheer number of both journals and articles (Ware & Mabe, 2012), authors are competing against one another for both space within journals and for their work to be cited. Just undertaking ‘good research’ is not enough to establish a high profile of citation, rather it is a combination of the factors above which can help.

2. A year in numbers: 2014

With 2014 coming to a close, and planning for the JoM through 2015 is now well underway, it is pleasing to see that this year has continued the trend of increasing submissions, reducing peer review times, and increasing the quality of manuscripts and maps. In 2013 we published 71 articles across 640 pages, whilst this year we published 62 articles across 639 pages (again filling our page budget). Our Impact Factor (2013) increased from 0.769 to 0.895; this is a good performance, again reflecting the continued increase in the number of citations. Overall, total incoming citations increased from 165 to 221. Downloads from the Taylor and Francis website for 2013 totalled 21,601, with 2014 recording 19,125 downloads for the first three quarters of the year (16,022 at the same point last year), again a significant increase.

We also completed publication of the special issue on Mapping environmental risks: Quantitative and spatial modeling approaches edited by Dr Stamatis Kalogirou (Harokopio University) and Dr Christos Chalkias (University of Luxembourg); whilst last year's special issue on Spatial Demography highlighted specific social science application, this special issue bridges the divide between science and social science with a fascinating range of maps covering different world regions and hazards. We are also finalising the publication of the special issue titled Original Structural Mapping in the Mediterranean: Bridging Laboratory to Lithosphere edited by Dr Michele Zucali and Dr Maria Iole Spalla (University degli studi di Milano) – to be published shortly!

In terms of metrics for individual articles, the top four cited (2012–2014) and downloaded (2014) are:

Most cited (2012–2014)

Skokanova et al. (2012), citations: 9. Development of land use and main land use change processes in the period 1836–2006: Case study in the Czech Republic.

Kopackova, Chevrel, Bourguignon, and Rojík (2012), citations: 7. Application of high altitude and ground-based spectroradiometry to mapping hazardous low-pH material derived from the Sokolov open-pit mine.

Raspini, Cigna, and Moretti (2012), citations: 7. Multi-temporal mapping of land subsidence at basin scale exploiting persistent scatterer interferometry: Case study of Gioia Tauro plain (Italy).

Guerriero, et al. (2013), citations: 6. Multi-temporal maps of the Montaguto Earth Flow in Southern Italy from 1954 to 2010.

Most downloads (2014)

Ramos and Pastor (2014), downloads: 1084. Mapping the visual landscape quality in Europe using physical attributes.

Beconytė, Eismontaitė, and Žemaitienė (2014), downloads: 890. Mythical creatures of Europe.

Zuniga, Pueyo, and Calvo (2012), downloads: 778. The Spanish population during the twentieth century and beyond.

Devoto et al. (2013), downloads: 388. Geomorphological map of the NW Coast of the Island of Malta (Mediterranean Sea).

3. Best map award

For 2014 the ‘Best Map'' was judged by the formal awards panel comprised myself, Dr Dick Berg, Professor Keith Clarke, Dr Jeremy Porter, and Mr Mike Shand (and this section reflects our combined comments). Contributions are assessed upon both their academic content and cartographic quality. It is neither the best academic paper nor the best designed map, but a combination of qualities from both areas that is judged the winner. The following 11 maps were shortlisted for the award:

Beconytė, Eismontaitė, and Žemaitienė (2014). Mythical creatures of Europe.

Chuman, Gürtlerová, Hruška, and Adamová (2014). Map of geochemical reactivity of rocks in the Czech Republic.

Cook, Quincey, and Brasington, (2014). Geomorphology of the Rees Valley, Otago, New Zealand.

Frodella, Morelli, Fidolini, Pazzi, and Fanti (2014). Geomorphology of the Rotolon landslide (Veneto Region, Italy).

Kienberger (2014). Participatory mapping of flood hazard risk in Munamicua, District of Búzi, Mozambique.

Hennig (2014). Gridded cartograms as a method for visualising earthquake risk at the global scale.

Molina, de Pablo, Hauber, Le Deit, and Fernández-Remolar (2014). Geology of the Ariadnes Basin, NE Eridania quadrangle, Mars – 1:1 Million.

Schweikart, Franke, and Henke (2014). Atlas of health infrastructure for the Mbeya Region in Tanzania – Regional atlases as information source using geoinformation systems.

Smith and Peterson (2014). Quaternary geomorphology of the Siljan area, central Sweden.

Stoiculescu et al. (2014). What is the spatial link between the Roman civilisation and cultural landscape in Romania?

Tucek et al. (2014). Forest vulnerability zones in the Czech Republic.

Zasadni and Klapyta (2014). The Tatra Mountains during the Last Glacial Maximum.

It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce the award of the 2014 ‘Best Map’ to Jerzy Zasadni (AGH University of Science and Technology) and Piotr Klapyta (Jagiellonian University) for their map reviewing the Tatra Mountains during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This reconstructed the extent and surface geometry of all 55 glacier systems that were active during the LGM using existing published evidence as well as incorporating new fieldwork and analysis from remotely sensed data.

The awards committee noted the elegant layout, good design and attractive inset maps. For these reasons it is a deserving winner of this year's award and will be available through the Journal of Maps website (http://www.journalofmaps.com/about.php?helpfile=smartyMapPurchase.html) as a limited print run.

4. With gratitude and thanks

It is with thanks that I extend my gratitude to the commitment of individuals, and the wider community, for making the Journal of Maps a tremendous success. As a community you submit manuscripts to the JoM for publication; you also review it, read it and apply and extend that knowledge.

I am also grateful to the team at JoM which includes the Associate Editors (Table 1) and those at Taylor and Francis (and in particular Lydia Webb, Roseanna Levermore and Siobhan Aldridge). In addition, I am very grateful to the authors for choosing to publish with JoM and the referees (Table 2) for whom the process of review is often a hidden and unseen task, yet so important for the publication process.

Table 1. Referees at the Journal of Maps 2014.

	Boudewijn van Leeuwen	Szeged University
	James S. Aber	Emporia State University
	Pedro Abrantes	PTEG
Mr	Ignacio Aguirre-Ayerbe	IH Cantabria
Dr	Juan Luis Alonso
	Mike Angle	ODNR Division of Geological Survey
Dr	Nasos Argyriou
Dr	Francis Ashland
Mr	Timothy Assal	Fort Collins Science Center
Dr	Nigel Atkinson	Alberta Geological Survey
Dr	Vladimír Bačík	Comenius University in Bratislava
Dr	Hansruedi Baer
Dr	Gianni Balestro	University of Torino
	Amy Ballard	University of New Mexico
	Iestyn Barr
	Tomislav Bašić
Dr	Filipe Batista e Silva	Joint Research Centre
Dr	Martin Batterson	Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Dr	Sara Benetti	University of Ulster
Dr	Mario Bentivenga	Università degli Studi della Basilicata
Dr	Alfons Berger	Universität Bern
	Riccardo Bersezio	University of Milan
Professor	Susanne Bleisch
Dr	Gerardo Bocco Verdinelli
Dr	Simon Brocklehurst
Dr	Kerry Brown	Kingston University
Professor	Chris Brunsdon	University of Leicester
Dr	Joel Cappellan
Dr	Antonina Capra
Dr	Mark Carey
	Eugenio Carminati
Professor	Rodolfo Carosi
	Pilar Carral	Autonomous University of Madrid
Ms	Jennifer Carrell	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr	Geoffrey Caruso	University of Luxembourg
Dr	Daniele Casalbore	Centro Nazionale Ricerche
Dr	Leonardo Casini	University of Sassari
Professor	Doriano Castaldini	Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Dr	Raimondo Catalano
	Vlado Cetl	Joint Research Centre
Dr	Jianquan Cheng	Manchester Metropolitan University
Dr	David Chew	Trinity College Dublin 2, Ireland
Dr	Guangqing Chi
Mr	Peter Chirico	US Geological Survey
Dr	Sriram Chitakrindi	CUNY Graduate Center
Mr	Tomas Chuman	Czech Geological Survey
Professor	Rosolino Cirrincione	University of Catania
Dr	Massimo Conforti	Istituto per Sistemi Agricoli e Forestali del Mediterraneo
Dr	Paolo Conti	University of Siena
Dr	Simon Cook	Manchester Metropolitan University
	Maria Vittoria Corazza	Sapienza, University of Rome
	Gianluca Cornamusini	University of Siena
Dr	Carlos Costa	Universidad Nacional de San Luis, Argentina
Professor	Salvatore Critelli	Università della Calabria
Dr	Fes A. De Scally	University of British Columbia
Dr	Chiara Del Ventisette	University of Firenze
Dr	Chrystel Dezayes	French Geological Survey
Dr	Camilla Dibari	University of Florence
Dr	Frederic Dobruszkes
Dr	Ugo Donatelli	Università di Urbino
	Ronald I. Dorn	Arizona State University
Professor	Francesco Dramis	Roma Tre University
Dr	Elena Druguet
	Dustin Duncan	New York University School of Medicine
Dr	Paul Dunlop	University of Ulster
Dr	Arthur Dyke
Dr	J.B. Edel
Dr	Ian Evans	Durham University
Dr	Riccardo Fanti	University of Florence
Dr	Laura Federico	University of Genova
Dr	Fabrizio Felletti
Dr	Maria Ferentinou	University of KwaZulu Natal
	Jesus Martinez Fernandez	Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria
	Luigi Ferranti	University ‘Federico II’ of Naples
Dr	Francesco Ferrarese	University of Padova
Dr	José Ferrari	Instituto Geológico do Estado de São Paulo
Dr	Andrea Festa	Università degli Studi di Torino
Dr	André Fonseca	University of Lisbon
Dr	Emanuele Fontana	Università degli Studi di Milano
	Antoine Fouquet	CNRS Guyane
Professor	Marcello Franceschelli	Università di Cagliari
	Nikolaus Froitzheim
Dr	Giandomenico Fubelli	Roma Tre University
Dr	Antonio Funedda	Università di Cagliari
	Laurent Godin	Queen's University
Dr	Juan Gómez Barreiro
Dr	Allen Gontz
Dr	Guido Gosso	University of Milan
	Michael Govorov	Vancouver Island University
Dr	F. Javier Gracia	Universidad de Cádiz
Dr	Pierparide Gramigna	University of Padua
Dr	Laure Guerit	University of geneva
Dr	Genaro Gutiérrez	Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur
Dr	Eric Hallot
Dr	Michael Hambrey	Aberystwyth University
Dr	Marco Helbich	Utrecht University
Dr	Jakob Heyman	Stockholm University
Dr	John Hiemstra	Swansea University
Mr	Felix Himmerkus	WAK GmbH
Dr	Silvio Hiruma	Instituto Geológico, São Paulo
Dr	Tom Holt	Aberystwyth University
Professor	Janet Hooke	University of Liverpool
Professor	Jiri Horak	VSB – Technical University of Ostrava
Dr	Donald Houston	University of St Andrews
	Jackelyn Hwang	Harvard University
Professor	Ólafur Ingólfsson	University of Iceland
Dr	Stewart Jamieson	Durham University
Dr	Krister Jansson	Stockholm University
Dr	Chunrong Jia	University of Memphis
Dr	Jan Kanuk
Dr	Ivo Karmann	Institutto de Geociências, Universidade de São Paulo
Dr	Joachim Kemski
Dr	Stanislav Kutuzov
Professor	Frank Lehmkuhl	Department of Geography, RWTH Aachen
	Jing Li	Denver University
	Sergio Longhitano	Università della Basilicata
Dr	María Eugenia López	Universidad Politécnica de madrid
Dr	Leo Lymburner
	John Maclachlan	McMaster University
Dr	Miles Macmillan-Lawler
	Giorgos Mallinis	Democritus University of Thrace
	Paul Mann	University of Texas at Austin (UT)
Professor	Leszek Marks
Dr	Phil Marren
Dr	Ángel Martín Serrano	Instituto Geológico y Minero de España
Dr	Ivan Martini	Università di Siena
Dr	Stephen McCarron	National University of Ireland Maynooth
	Beata Medyńska-Gulij
Dr	Jose Emilio Meroño	University of Cordoba
Dr	Golbahar Mirhosseini
Dr	Nico Mölg
Dr	Carmelo Monaco	University of Catania
Dr	Francesco Muto	Università della Calabria
Dr	Lindsey Nicholson
Dr	Jakub Novak	Tartu University
Dr	Emilio Ortega	Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
	Geraint Owen	Swansea University
	Marta Pappalardo
Professor	Jay Pasachoff
Dr	Alessandro Pasuto
	Manuel Peinado	University of Alcalà, Spain
Dr	Ramon Pellitero	University of Aberdeen
Dr	Mark Pendras	University of Washington
Professor	Luigi Pennetta	Università degli Studi di Bari
Dr	Paulo Pereira
Dr	Gabriella Petaccia
Dr	Tommaso Piacentini	University of Chieti Pescara
Dr	Gabriel Pinto	Universidad Polítécnica de Madrid
Dr	Vincenzo Piscopo	UNITUS
Professor	Giacomo Prosser	Università della Basilicata
Dr	Stefano Pucci	INGV
	Kelvin Ramsey	Delaware Geological Survey
Dr	Gisella Rebay	Università degli Studi di Pavia
	Mirko Reguzzoni	Politecnico di Milano
	Domenico Ridente	CNR
	Ulrich Riller	McMaster University
Mr	Jesus Rivera	IEO
Dr	Manuel Roda	Universiteit Utrecht
	Theodora Rondoyanni – Tsiampaou	National Technical University of Athens
Dr	David Rossiter
Dr	Alessio Rovere
Dr	Andrea Rustichelli	University of Camerino
	Marco Sacchi	IAMC-CNR
	Dimitris Sakellariou	Hellenic Centre for Marine Research
	Francesco Salvini	Università Roma Tre
Professor	Antonio Santo	Università di Napoli Federico II
	Paolo Scandone	University of Pisa
Dr	Fabio Scarciglia	University of Calabria
Dr	Renata Schmitt	UFRJ
Dr	John Shaw	Geological Survey of Canada
Dr	Gerald Shoultz	Grand Valley State University
Dr	Gianni Siletto	Regione Piemonte
	Hana Skokanova′	Public Research Institute
Dr	Aidan Slingsby	City University
Dr	Fabio Speranza
Dr	Silvia Stanchi	University of Turin
Dr	Dimitris Stathakis	University of Thessaly
Dr	Gordon Stokes
Dr	Alexandra Suhogusoff
Dr	Vito Summa	National Research Council of Italy
Professor	Paola Tartarotti	University of Milan (Italy)
	Alexandre Tavares
	Enrico Tavarnelli	University of Siena
Dr	José Teixeira	University of Aveiro
Dr	Christian Thine	University of Nairobi
	Mike Thomas	Wyvern Energy Ltd.
Dr	Platon Tinios	University of Piraeus
	Alicia Torregrosa	United States Geological Survey
Dr	Giovanni Toscani	Università di Pavia
Dr	João Trabucho-Alexandre	Durham University
Dr	Marcello Tropeano	Universita degli Studi di Bari ‘Aldo Moro’
Dr	Robert Tucker	USGS
Dr	Drazen Tutic
Dr	Tullio Urbano	Università ‘G. d'Annunzio’ di Chieti Pescara
	Tom van Loon	Adam Mickiewicz University
Dr	Srini Vasan	University of New Mexico
Dr	Guido Ventura	Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia
Dr	Gianluca Vignaroli	Università degli Studi Roma Tre
Dr	Kirsten von Elverfeldt	Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt
Mrs	Alena Vondráková	Palacký University Olomouc
Professor	Vít Voženílek	Palacký University Olomouc
	Boris Vrbanac	INA Industry of Oil Plc.
Professor	Peter Vujakovic	Canterbury Christ Church University
Dr	Lucas Warren	Instituto de Geociências, USP
Dr	Brendan Whyte
Professor	Steve Young
Dr	Giovanni Zanchetta	Università di Pisa
Dr	Paul Zandbergen	University of New Mexico
Dr	Paulo Zannin
	Vitalijs Zelchs	University of Latvia
Dr	Haifeng Zhang	University of Louisville
Dr	Tingting Zhao	Florida State University

Table 2. Academic and cartographic editors.

Academic Editors
Prof	Keith Clarke	University of California, Santa Barbara
Prof	Menno-Jan Kraak	University of Twente
Dr	Mike Wood	University of Aberdeen
Dr	Richard Berg	Illinois State Geological Survey
Dr	Doreen Boyd	University of Nottingham
Prof	James Brasington	Queeny Mary
Dr	Gina Cavan	Manchester Metropolitan
Prof	Chris Clark	University of Sheffield
Dr	Jon Clarke	Geoscience Australia
Dr	Félix González	Sevilla
Dr	Bastiaan Notebaert	Leuven
Dr	Randall Orndorff	USGS
Dr	Jan-Christoph Otto	University of Salzburg
Dr	Colin Pain	Universidad de Sevilla
Dr	Paolo Paron	UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education
Prof	Claudio Riccomini	Universidade de São Paulo
Dr	Wayne Stephenson	University of Otago
Dr	Chris Stokes	Durham University
Dr	Ken Tanaka	USGS
Dr	Brent Ward	Simon Fraser University
Dr	Simon Batterbury	University of Melbourne
Dr	Ronald Cossman	Mississippi State
Dr	Wes James	University of Memphis
Prof	Dave Martin	University of Southampton
Dr	Jeremy Porter	City University of New York
Cartographic Editors
Mr	John Abraham	Plymouth University
Mrs	Heike Apps	Geoscience Australia
Dr	Giedrė Beconytė	Vilnius University
Ms	Jennifer Carrell	Illinois State Geological Survey
Ms	Juliane Cron	ETH Zurich
Dr	Amy Griffin	University of New South Wales
Ms	Chandra Jayasuriya	University of Melbourne
Dr	Bernhard Jenny	University of Oregon
Dr	Patrick Kennelly	Long Island University
Dr	Barry Kronenfeld	Eastern Illinois University
Dr	Ian Muehlenhaus	University of Wisconsin La Crosse
Mr	Makram Murad	Esri Inc
Mr	Chris Orton	Durham University
Dr	Matt Peljo	Geoscience Australia
Dr	Thomas Pingel	Northern Illinois
Dr	Rob Roth	University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mr	Mike Shand	University of Glasgow
Mr	Mike Siegel	Rutgers University
Dr	Corné van Elzakker	University of Twente
Mr	Martin von Wyss	vW Maps
Ms	Gayle Young