Moving Fingers
This issue of
Palaeontologia Electronica marks the end of our thirteenth volume, our
thirtieth issue, and our one hundred eighty fifth paper. Many thanks to the
authors, sponsors, abstract translators, style and copy editors, and our
managing editor, Jennifer Rumford (to the right, our first cover, a still
from an animated file because we weren't sure you would have the software in
place if we put the animation on the cover).
This issue is also one of our largest ever, with eight papers, one of them a 200+ page monograph. We have an analysis of changing marine habitats in relation to tectonic margins, two papers on ichnology (one on a dinosaur footprint in a Texan university band stand, and one on Lower Jurassic starfish from Italy), a three-dimensional CT analysis of the morphology of a Permian reptile, an analysis of the paleobiogeography of the Caribbean Neogene, a study determining whether mode of digestive physiology can be determined from the structure of ungulate jaws, an investigation of methods for cleaning fossil surfaces to study microwear patterns, and a massive atlas of radiolarian distributions in the modern world.
This issue also brings several other new features. First, we are now offering printed copies of PE instead of CD-ROMs to those readers who want a physical copy of the journal. For several volumes we have been producing an archival printed edition to satisfy the requirements if the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. Because the printed copy also satisfies the requirement of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, toward which we heretofore published CDs, and because non-archival demand for CD copies had fallen to zero, we are dropping production of the CDs altogether. However, we have found a new printer who not only prints our archival copies at the time the issue is released, but who also allows any interested party to purchase a print. Print copies are available at cost in both full-color and grayscale, the former usually costing $40-$50, depending on the exact size of the issue, and the latter costing $10-$15. Print copies are available at publication time, and reprints can be ordered any time thereafter.
Second, we have revived our mailing list. If you would like to receive announcements about the release of issues by e-mail please subscribe under the “Resources” menu at the top of our pages. If you are already on the list and wish to be removed, you may do so using the same electronic form.
Third, we are on FaceBook as Paleontologia Electronica. Announcements of new issues are posted there, in addition to the mailing list and listservers.
And finally, we have also started a blog for the journal which has been active since our last issue, 13.2. The blog includes an RSS feed that allows readers to subscribe to notifications of blog updates automatically. This service allows PE to notify interested parties directly when new issues are published. The blog will also be used to announce other news related to the journal, such as personnel changes or the availability of new styles for electronic reference managers. We currently provide two such styles, one for EndNote and one for Zotero.
However, the main purpose our blog is to post information about articles published in PE written for laypeople and scientists from other fields, intended to expand the concept of our the Plain Language Summaries, which PE has included since our first issue. The Plain Language Summary is limited to the content of the publication, with a bit more context than a normal scientific abstract. Posts on our blog are less restricted, allowing both a broader description of the field and more detailed explanations of the presented science. Additionally, other aspects besides the direct content of the paper can be covered.
These blog posts are written either directly by the authors of the PE publications, or by our editorial staff. To aid them in this task we send authors of papers in upcoming issues a list of questions about their work, the motivations behind pursuing the specific topic covered by their paper, the implications both within and outside their field of science, and about unexpected turns or memorable events during their research. We intend to give the public not only a better understanding of the presented science, but also of the motivations behind and the process and progress of their research. This may include informative insights, funny, thrilling or even dangerous events, reversals of initial opinions – anything that happened during the research and sheds light on how science and scientists work.
We also use this chance to ask for the author’s views on electronic publishing in general and their experience with PE specifically, as well as suggestions for improvements to PE. So far, we are glad to report, the responses have been very positive.