ISPRS JOURNAL — REVIEW AND PREVIEW 
David A. 
Editor-in-Chief 
> 
Tait 
ISPRS Journal 
Department of Geography and Topographic Science 
University of Glasgow 
Glasgow G12 8QQ - United Kingdom 
ABSTRACT 
The development of the Official Journal of ISPRS - the ISPRS Journal 
of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing - since the change to the current 
1985 
ot subscribers 
format in 
distribution 
is described, with a summary of the geographical 
and 
contributors. The Further 
developments which are planned for next year are outlined and an 
invitation 
is extended to individual members of ISPRS to participate 
in the development of the Journal of the Society. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
In September 1985, the first issue of 
"Photogrammetria' in its current style was 
published, under the direction of the recently 
appointed Editor-in-Chief, Professor Jurgen 
Hothmer. This was the culmination of work started 
at the Hamburg Congress in 1980, when a 
publications policy committee was established to 
address the difficulties experienced by the Journal 
in the preceeding years. The Committee reported at 
the Commission VI Symposium in Mainz in 1982 and 
Professor Hothmer took over as Editor after the Rio 
Congress in 1984, setting about the task of 
revitalizing the Official Journal of ISPRS. 
It takes time to build anything worthwhile, 
end there were set-backs, but gradually over the 
last eight years the Journal has developed into a 
much more useful and attractive publication. To 
reflect more accurately the content of the Journal, 
and the activities of ISPRS, the name of the 
Journal was changed to the "ISPRS Journal of 
Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing" in September 
1989. The News Section, Review Section and Reports 
Section all developed well under their respective 
Section Editors and these have strived to publicise 
the work and interests of ISPRS. 
The Journal has followed the Editorial 
laid out by Hothmer in his paper published in 
(Hothmer, 1985). 
lines of communication which allowed this policy to 
be implimented. The Society owes a great debt of 
gratitude to Jurgen Hothmer for his tireless 
efforts on behalf of the Society and its Journal. 
His untimely and unexpected death last year came 
just as the results of his eight years of effort 
were bearing fruit. 
Policy 
1985 
He put in place the structure and 
2. REVIEW — A LOOK BACK 
In the period 1985-1991 (Volumes 40-46), the 
Journal published 174 scientific/technical papers, 
from 285 different authors making a total of 334 
contributions. Some of these papers were written 
by Figures very well known in photogrammetric and 
remote sensing circles ( leading scientists in 
their fields, Society Officials, etc.); other 
papers have been from younger authors, perhaps 
396 
publishing for the first time. This mix of 
established figures and new-comers is a healthy one 
for a society journal as it reflects the 
composition of the Society. 
The geographical distribution of authors has 
been as follows: 
Europe 67% 
North America 19 
Asia 6 
Oceania S 
Africa 3 
South America 2 
This table obviously indicates a strong bias 
towards Europe. This has not come about through 
any Journal policy, but is a reflection of the 
healthy interest in photogrammetry and remote 
sensing in most European countries, the fact that 
nearly all European counties are members of  ISPRS 
and the perceived advantages of publishing work in 
an international journal. 
There have been papers from authors working in 
33 different countries. Although ISPRS has about 
80 national societies as members, and therefore 
less than half have contributed to the Journal in 
the last seven years, contributions from 33 
countries is still impressive and is an appropriate 
distribution for a journal claiming to be the organ 
for an international society. 
Germany, USA, France and Canada head the lists 
of contributors and contributions, with another 
group containing Australia, Italy, Netherlands, 
Sweden and UK some way behind. This distribution 
is not totally explained by photgrammetric and 
remote sensing activity world-wide; a commitment to 
the ISPRS Journal and a willingness to publish in 
an international, rather than a national journal, 
must also be factors. 
During the same period, ISPRS Journal has 
carried over 100 reports on conferences and 
meetings, written by 83 different reporters. The 
policy of having reports written by authors from 
countries other than the one in which the meeting 
takes place has required considerable extra effort 
on the part of our long serving Reports Section