Lutra 51(1)_Editorial_2008

Looking to the next 50 Volumes

The production of a peer-reviewed scientific journal is a considerable undertaking, particularly for a small organisation, largely reliant on voluntary contributions. The route from a submitted draft to a published paper is a time-consuming trajectory that requires considerable work from authors, editors and referees. The result can be very satisfactory, and the feeling of seeing your own paper in print is almost indescribable. The difference between a peer-reviewed and other “journals” is the review process: submitted drafts are not simply edited and sent to print, but are anonymously scrutinised first by external experts, revised by the authors to include suggestions made by the referees and finally accepted or rejected by the editor. Not everyone is prepared to accept rejections or even a critical review, and find that it’s a bridge too far to get a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. That is a great pity, for these people may certainly have interesting material to present and stories to tell. With the number of journals and other communication channels continuing to grow it can become increasingly difficult