SIXTY YEARS OF IMAGING SCIENCE AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Imaging science has been a part of the core of The Royal Photographic Society since its inception in 1853, ‘to promote the Art and Science of Photography’. Technical articles have featured in publications since the very beginning, until the forerunner of The Imaging Science Journal was formed in 1953 as a separate publication to the RPS Journal.
This coming year marks our 60th anniversary as a separate publication and I am happy to report that we are attracting more submissions than ever before. This is by no small means due to the dedication of the volunteer staff that support The Imaging Science Journal and authors writing manuscripts, but also the support that we receive from our publishers, Maney. The publishers have helped us provide colour, implement an online reviewing system and were more than supportive when we increased the number of issues from four to six per year.
We now receive far many more good quality papers than we can publish from all around the world and in this anniversary year we find ourselves needing to evolve to keep pace with the changing needs of the scientists, engineers and technologists we serve. To remain relevant to those communities in this global internet age, we need to reduce the delay between the acceptance of a paper and its publication in an issue and to reflect the increasing importance and functionality of online publication (in both HTML and PDF format) to researchers and other readers. Features such as reference hyperlinking, forward and backward citation mapping and the ability to include supplementary material in a wide range of formats are well established and there is a need to be aware of other demands such as data mining that are beginning to emerge. The Imaging Science Journal will in 2013 begin to address these concerns by increasing its frequency of publication from six to eight issues per year; the two additional issues will be published in online-only format, available to all subscribers. The journal will also, on a one-off basis, be publishing an additional 150 pages of papers, to reduce the time between acceptance and publication in an issue. At the same time, members of RPS receiving the Journal are switching from print to online access. All members and subscribers enjoy online access to all material dating back to 2004 and also to those papers to be included in future issues, via the fast track publication route.
These decisions were not taken lightly and we believe they will work to secure the future of The Imaging Science Journal. We do understand the change may not suit all of our readers and have made provision for members to continue to receive printed issues at a small additional cost. Please contact the RPS Membership Department for more information or in the case of missing online access.
Imaging, in all of its many forms, continues to be a very important part of our daily lives, from our morning news, through video calls with loved ones, to recording all aspects of our universe. It is the efforts of engineers and scientists who write for publications such as The Imaging Science Journal that keep pushing these technologies forward to enhance our lives. My sincere hope is that, by making these timely changes, The Imaging Science Journal will continue to be able to serve these communities for many years to come as the official learned journal of The Royal Photographic Society.
Dr Robin Jenkin ASIS FRPS
Chief Editor, The Imaging Science Journal