Last year at this time I produced a short Editorial piece to commemorate the 40th volume of this journal which gave a retrospective on the past, together with our hopes for the future. I really thought that there would be no need for another such article for a few years at the very least. However another brief Editorial is clearly warranted as 2017 marks a significant change in the number of issues per year, and their phasing. Specifically, this year, Palynology will move to four parts per year, with a markedly increased page budget of 568; this is up from 426 in 2016.
The significantly larger page budget reflects the relatively high number of papers which were published online during 2015 and throughout 2016. This was a result of especially high submission rates since 2014. We do not wish to have papers awaiting their formal assignment to a part of the journal, with a volume number and page range, for too long. It is our intention to be absolutely the most attractive option for prospective authors who are researching in palynology. Our new 568 page allocation from this year will remove this relatively minor backlog of online papers at a stroke, and allow articles to be paper-published very expediently.
The four parts of Palynology will appear separately on our part of the T&F website (http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tpal20/current), but two parts will be printed together in sequence. This means that all paid-up members of the association will receive hardcopy parts 1–2 and 3–4 each May and November respectively. However, the online publication schedule will be quarterly (i.e. February, May, August and November). This is great news for everyone, not least because this page increase has been achieved without causing the overall cost to AASP - TPS to rise. Hence this will not, in itself, increase our annual membership dues.
Incredibly, the new phasing of issues means that we will have moved from two issues annually to four in just three years! The journal is clearly doing very well, but we will not rest on any laurels. This expansion means that in future we have a large page budget to fill while, at the same time, upholding our traditional very high scientific standards. Thus, I fervently hope that this good news will stimulate even more submissions to Palynology. So may I take this opportunity to request that both members and non-members of AASP - TPS submit their manuscripts to Palynology? We have a broad perspective and take suitable works on all aspects of palynology and palaeobotany, and are willing to consider multidisciplinary papers. I am especially interested in receiving review articles, so would encourage anyone with a good overview on any relevant topic, to consider writing a paper on a summary of the current state of the art. I can guarantee that these articles will be both well-read and well-cited. Furthermore, we will attempt to advertise and showcase them as much as is possible. We will try to place review papers at the front of a part or volume wherever possible.
I undertake to you that all manuscripts submitted to Palynology will be dealt with efficiently, expeditiously and fairly. We have a very good editorial board and use a large body of potential reviewers. If you have any concerns or questions, please contact me directly. My main contacts at T&F are Andrew Kelly, the Managing Editor for Earth and Environment Sciences journals (email: [email protected]) and our Production Editor, Joanna Perry ([email protected]).