Journal of Petrology | Volume 45 | Number 1 | Pages 1 | 2004
© Oxford University Press 2004; all rights reserved
Editorial 2004
I am pleased to confirm that Journal of Petrology continues to be widely acknowledged as the premier journal in the field of igneous, metamorphic and experimental petrology. Although in 2002 (the most recent year for which data are available) our ISI Impact Factor was slightly lower at 2.903 (ranking 3rd out of 51 titles in the Geochemistry and Geophysics category) compared to 3.283 (2 out of 47 titles) in 2001, Journal of Petrology maintains its place as the highest rated journal in the subject area [Journal of Petrology – 2.903; Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta – 2.756; Earth & Planetary Science Letters – 2.716; Chemical Geology – 2.437; Contributions to Mineralogy & Petrology – 2.433; Journal of Metamorphic Geology – 2.283; Lithos – 2.198]. It should be borne in mind that Impact Factors can vary quite widely due to the influence of just one or two papers. Impact Factor for 2002 is calculated based on the number of citations in 2002 to papers published in 2000 and 2001, divided by the total number of papers published in 2001 and 2002.
We are currently in the process of setting up an on-line manuscript submission and editorial management system, which many of our competitor journals already operate. This should be operational by Spring 2004 and will provide authors with the option to submit their manuscripts electronically and also to track the progress of their manuscript through the system. Whilst many authors will welcome such a system, others may not. For the foreseeable future we will continue to allow submission of paper copies of manuscripts, although our ultimate goal is for electronic submission only. Those authors intending to submit electronically will need to pay unusually careful attention to the instructions for doing so, as we will in formulating them. When the system becomes available, details will be given on the Journal of Petrology web site.
The number of high quality manuscripts submitted to Journal of Petrology continues at a very healthy rate. This has been largely responsible for a slight increase in the time between acceptance and appearance in the Journal. Earlier in 2003 this interval was down to five months, but is currently closer to six-seven months. If necessary, in 2004 additional pages per issue will be used to ensure that the delay between acceptance and publication does not exceed our target of 6 months.
In August 2003 we published a highly topical thematic issue on Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat. I am most grateful to Ray Macdonald who, as Guest Editor, took editorial responsibility for all of the Montserrat submissions. In February 2004 we will publish a thematic issue on Orogenic Lherzolites which contains a selection of papers presented at the Fourth International Workshop on Orogenic Lherzolites and Mantle Processes, held in Samani, Hokkaido, Japan in August/September, 2002.
I express my personal thanks to the members of the Editorial and Advisory Boards for all their hard work on behalf of the Journal. Pamela Kempton is moving on to a new post and is reluctantly standing down from the Editorial Board. She joined the editorial team in 1994, at the same time as I became Executive Editor, and her incisive and careful editorial skills will be greatly missed. Fortunately, she has agreed to become a member of the Advisory Board for the next few years.
I also thank my Editorial Assistant, Alastair Lumsden, our Copy Editor, Joyce Weddell, Production Editor Saraswathy Rajagopalan and the Senior Editor in the Journals Division at OUP Cathy Kennedy for all their help behind the scenes. My task as Executive Editor would be impossible without their support, which is much appreciated.
Finally, on behalf of the Editorial Board, I thank all those of you who reviewed manuscripts for the Journal in 2003. There has been a great deal of debate in the columns of Nature and EOS recently about the role of peer review system in the publication of the results of scientific research. In my opinion, it remains the best way of identifying high-quality science. Peer review, consequently requires a considerable degree of altruism on the part of all of us in the Geoscience community. If authors wish to see their work published in high profile international journals, such as Journal of Petrology, they must also be prepared to review the work of others – to the same exacting standards to which they would expect their own work to be subjected. Reviewing is a demanding task, given the size of a typical Journal of Petrology manuscript, but a vital one if we are to maintain the quality of published manuscripts.
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