Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology; 2001;
v. 34;
issue.3;
p. 242
© 2001 Geological Society of London
Editorial
Mike Packman
I was please to step into the breach as the new Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, following the resignation of Alan Forster, who felt unable to devote the amount of time and attention the Editorship requires. Alan and his predecessor Chris Clayton did a great deal to improve the reviewing process of papers and expand the area of interest by changing both the title and the format of the Journal. I am therefore extremely grateful to both of them for inheriting a thriving publication.
The decision to accept the editorship was reached only after careful consideration, not least because I am the first hydrogeologist to hold the position. I therefore wish to reassure the readership right from the start that Engineering Geology is, and will always be, the main applied geological interest of the Journal, as it has always been a larger sub-discipline of geology than hydrogeology. This is relfected in the first ymposium in Print, which will be on landslides and will take up much of the first issue next year.
I am pleased that Jane Dottridge, an active member of the existing Editorial Board, has agreed to take my place as Assistant Scientific Editor (Hydrogeology). Jane has extensive experience in academia and consultancy and will be invaluable in maintaining the high standard of hydrogeological papers published.
However the application of geology is changing with much more consideration being given to the impact on the environment. The interaction between geology and human activity now has a much broader base, including such topics as contaminated land, waste disposal and sustainability. Environmental geology is not a new subdiscipline that emerged overnight, but a development of both engineering geology and hydrogeology.
My main aim as Editor must be to maintain the Journal's scientific integrity and status as an international publication and endeavour to improve further its already high reputation. Consideration must also be given to the needs of the Geological Society and its Specialist Groups, especially the Engineering and Hydrogeology Groups. In order to achieve this, the time from submission to publication of papers must be reduced to a maximum of a year, which can hopefully be achieved by further improvements to the reviewing procedure. This should involve careful selection of reviewers by the Assistant Editors, adherence to a strict timescale for both reviewing and amending scripts and the maintenance of communications between the internal reviewer, who is an Editorial Board Member, the specialist external reviewer and the author(s).
However, what of the future? Where does the QJEGH go from here? The answer has to be to build on the changes that the Journal has recently undergone such as:
- Encourage high quality contributions by inviting key papers from recognized experts.
- Persuade organisations such as BGS and the Environment Agency to submit the results of their research work for scientific scrutiny in QJEGH.
- Consider another Symposium in Print in 2003 on a topical subject.
- Streamline the review procedure so that the Editorial Board can concentrate on matters of policy and promotion.
It is important that we don't lose sight of the needs of our readership. We live in a period in which both applied geology and publishing are experiencing change. The QJEGH will therefore endeavour to monitor and reflect the exciting and potentially far-reaching consequence of these new developments.
