Editorial

After the extensive changes we have made to Journal of Petrology in recent years, 1998 seemed like a year of relative stability. It was a year in which we celebrated some personal successes: Jon Davidson was recently (July 1998) awarded the IAVCEI Wager Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of petrology and I was made a Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science & Letters (May 1998). Sadly, 1998 was also marred by the tragic death, by drowning, of Keith Cox of Oxford University (August 1998). Keith was an Editor and Associate Editor of the Journal for almost a quarter of a century and his wit and wisdom will be greatly missed. His obituary follows this editorial.

Recently released 1997 ISI Impact Factors for journal citations have confirmed that Journal of Petrology remains the premier journal in the field of petrology (Journal of Petrology - 2.733; Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta - 2.696; Earth & Planetary Science Letters - 2.654; Contributions to Mineralogy & Petrology - 2.084; Lithos - 1.631). Throughout 1998 we achieved our goal of ensuring that papers were published within six to eight months of receipt of the final revised version of the manuscript. Submission of manuscripts to the Journal remains buoyant and far in excess of the number of papers we can actually publish each year. Inevitably this means disappointment for some authors.

Electronic publishing, via the Internet, continues to advance at a remarkable pace. Our World Wide Web site is now fully operational, giving readers whose institutions subscribe to the Journal unlimited access to electronic text versions of Journal articles, downloadable to their PC in both PDF and HTML formats. Additionally, we are encouraging authors to publish their complete data sets electronically in downloadable spreadsheet format (Excel). Whether OUP will eventually be able to offer a form of low-cost (electronic only) personal subscription to Journal of Petrology is still under review.

In our continuing attempt to encourage authors to publish colour figures we have retained our page charge costs for colour at the lowest rate of any Earth Science journal (currently £100 per page). In addition, authors can publish full colour photomicrographs and figures on the Journal of Petrology WWW site to accompany the electronic text version of their paper at no additional cost.

From January 1999 Jon Davidson will be taking a one year sabbatical leave from his editorial role with the Journal. Authors are therefore requested not to send new manuscripts to Jon until further notice. I cannot thank him enough for all the hard work he has put in over the past few years and very much hope that he can be persuaded to rejoin the Editorial Board in the year 2000. By way of balance, Kurt Bucher rejoins the Editorial Board from January 1999 after his year long sabbatical in the USA.

Finally, on behalf of the Editorial Board, I would like to thank all of those unsung heroes and heroines who reviewed manuscripts for the Journal in 1998. This is an onerous task, given the size of a typical JOP manuscript, but a vital one if we are to maintain the quality of peer review.

Marjorie Wilson Executive Editor