Readers will be aware that Professor Arthur Cracknell has signalled his intention to step down as Editor‐in‐Chief after nearly 25 years of excellent and unparalleled service to the journal. No timetable for this event has been defined and we hope that we will be able to benefit from his valued service and experience for some considerable time to come. However, as Professor Cracknell's role tapers down to a well earned retirement, I will increasingly take over his duties. Inevitably a change of personnel, especially after such a long period of service, will result in other changes. There is, however, no plan for major alteration to the journal. Professor Cracknell, ably assisted by an invaluable supporting cast including the editorial team, journal administrators and publishers, has worked to develop the journal into the successful, if rather massive (shelf straining), periodical that it is today. This does not mean that the status quo will be maintained. It means that change will be mainly evolutionary rather than revolutionary, reflecting the world in which we live and the dynamics of our subject.
A small number of changes have already been made and will hopefully begin to have a positive impact on the journal soon. For example, it has become apparent that some articles have progressed slowly to publication. Many reasons for the delay can be identified but it may be helpful to review briefly four of the main problems and outline what we are doing about them.
| 1. | Backlog. The large number of accepted papers awaiting publication inevitably lengthens the publication process for newly submitted papers. One very simple but helpful action has been to increase the journal's page budget temporarily for 2008 to clear some of the backlog of accepted papers awaiting publication. | ||||
| 2. | The allocation of papers to journal issues. Sometimes there is an editorial desire to publish articles on related topics in the same issue. This can sometimes be helpful to readers but means that the rate of publication is determined by the slowest paper in the set. A new production system is being established in which articles will be published online in the order of successful completion of the review, copy‐editing and proof‐reading processes. This should see a rapid route to publication for all accepted papers. A drawback of this system is the limitations it imposes on linking related articles together but as many readers now tend to search rather than browse journals we believe this is small price to pay for a general enhancement. We will, however, maintain and indeed wish to encourage themed special issues, which will be processed separately. We will also continue to treat Letters in a slightly different way from other article types to ensure that they progress to publication very rapidly. | ||||
| 3. | Author delays. Commonly delays are actually caused by authors, especially if revisions are needed to artwork after the article has been recommended for publication. A series of measures are being put in place to try to speed up the publication of articles after successful completion of the review process. Central to this is the appointment of an editorial assistant, Dr Craig Cassells, who will process articles after the scientific review has been completed satisfactorily. This post‐review activity will focus on a range of issues connected with the paper such as the completeness of references, clarity of figures and general conformity to the journal's style. A paper will only be considered to have been fully and finally accepted for publication when issues raised in this process have been satisfactorily addressed by the author(s). | ||||
| 4. | Review delays. Inevitably the review process can be delayed by the actions (or rather the inactions) of editors and reviewers. Editors and reviewers generally provide a fantastic and completely invaluable contribution to the journal for little or no personal benefit. While we owe our editors and reviewers considerable thanks there are, of course, occasional problems. The journal's web based system now provides a wealth of monitoring tools and these are being used to help ensure that problems are identified early and actions taken to minimize delays. | ||||
A number of other changes have been made. Three should be raised here for the benefit of future authors. First, we have dropped the ‘cover article’. The cover image will now be selected from the papers contained in the issue. We will of course be pleased to receive recommendations from authors of candidate cover images. Secondly, we have adopted a new system for review articles. The entire editorial team will now welcome reviews, removing the need for a dedicated reviews editor. We are, however, pleased that the former reviews editor, Michael Collins, will remain a member of the editorial team, and keen to stress that the journal is as committed as ever to including a strong review component. Thirdly, to help author's wishing to benefit from trends in open access publishing, the publisher's have included the journal in their open access initiative. Through this initiative, iOpenAccess, articles may be made freely available online at the point of publication. Further details on this initiative are available at the publisher's web site (http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/).
Finally, we are, of course, open to suggestions from the readership of how to develop the journal, especially from the members of the Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society as this is one of its official publications. The journal is here to provide a service to the community and those involved with its production want to work with that community. Thus, suggestions on how to further enhance the journal in the future are welcomed.