The year 2010 saw a smooth and successful transition in the position of the chief editor on behalf of the European Mineralogical Union (EMU). After more than eight years of service and some 250 handled manuscripts, Ekkehart Tillmanns requested to be relieved of his duties, and, since June 2010, Sergey Krivovichev has become his successor. As new chief editor on behalf of the EMU, Sergey demonstrated within a few months that his involvement in EJM matters will be proceeding with the same commitment and talent for efficiency as his predecessors, Ekkehart Tillmanns and Ernst Burke. Many thanks to all of them, and, again, our best wishes to Sergey.
This is also the place to recall the recent changes in the editorial board, with the addition in 2010 of Karim Benzerara, Frank Brenker, Klaus Mezger and David Pattison to the team of associate editors, as a clear reflection of the thematic diversity of our journal.
On the technical side, it should be stressed that for more than one year now proofs of accepted articles have been made available online immediately, i.e. uncorrected, on the ‘Fast-Track’ lane of the EJM Ingenta website – apparently to the general satisfaction of both authors and readers. This procedure maximizes exposure time and facilitates rapid diffusion of scientific information. A few weeks later, the uncorrected proof is replaced on the ‘Fast Track’ by the final, though unpaginated article, until final publication of the article. A positive consequence of this procedure is that the time span between first submission and online publication has been further reduced to an average of slightly more than 7 months for articles published in 2010.
Another novelty offered to EJM authors is the possibility to have their article published as an Open Access document, against payment of a one-time fee. Few of us have used this possibility so far, but publishing strategies and economic models are rapidly evolving in this field. The EJM managing committee welcomes your input on these matters, be it as an author or as a reader.
The year 2010 (volume 22) was one with standard profile, after the several special issues that made 2009 a year of record publication in terms of number of pages. Nevertheless volume 22 also hosted two thematic sets of papers linked to conferences: ‘Mineralogy, Environment and Health’ and ‘Natural zeolites: from genesis to applications’. In 2011 again a number of special issues will be published, following two major mineralogical events held in Europe in 2010, namely the Experimental Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry symposium in Toulouse, EMPG 13, in April, and the 20th General Assembly of the International Mineralogical Association in Budapest, in August. The former will provide a collection of experimental papers that should make issue no. 4; the latter will generate at least two thematic issues: ‘Archeometry’ is being handled by guest editors Corina Ionescu, Isabella Memmi and Ulrich Schüβler, and ‘Jadeitites’ by George Harlow, Sorena Sorensen and Tatsuki Tsujimori. Both should appear in later issues of the year.
As announced in the 2010 mid-year editorial, the relentless efforts of the past years – be they in reducing the overall publication time, in offering early online exposure of the accepted articles, in covering international meetings, or in striving for both scientific and formal quality – now seem to be rewarded by the latest impact factor published by the ISI. With a value of 1.45, the 2009 impact factor marks the highest value ever reached by the journal and a 20 % increase after many years of remarkable stability. This ranks the EJM as second among the learned-society journals publishing original papers in the field of Mineralogy. Prospects for the 2010 impact factor are quite favourable as well! Again, it is a good time for authors to submit!
I use this opportunity to thank all persons and institutions that contributed to this success, first and foremost of course our authors and readers for their confidence and continuing support of this European journal. However, thanks are also due to the members of the editorial board, chief and associate editors, Walter Maresch as coordinator of special issues, the many referees (see Acknowledgement in issue no. 6 of each year) who care for the scientific quality of the material published, our Publisher and Hilke Bornholdt at Schweizerbart who care for the formal quality and timely publication of the journal, and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for continued support.
