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