Jökull - 01.12.1983, Síða 3

JOKULL
33. ÁR 1983 NO. 33
JÖKLARANNSÓKNAFÉLAG ÍSLANDS JARÐFRÆÐAFÉLAG ÍSLANDS
EDITORIAL NOTE
The task of editing and publishing Jökull dep-
ends mostly on the voluntary efiorts of a few
people. Secreterial and other functions which in
larger journals are performed by skilled oífice staff,
are here squeezed in between other urgent daily
tasks. Little time is generally left for the editors to
organize or systematically encourage contributi-
ons, with the result that subscribers are now used
to receiving the journal a year overdue. The slow-
ness of the editing and publishing process, combin-
ed with the small readership of the journal abroad,
has in turn deterred authors from submitting ma-
jor or urgent scientific results to Jökull. This can
lead to stagnation.
One opportunity to set Jökull on a straight
publication schedule and to increase its circulation
presented itself when Dr. Sigurður Þórarinsson
and others persuaded the local „powers that be“ to
substantially increase the Government’s financial
support of the journal. Or, in Sigurður’s words,
they agreed it would make sense to take some
money from the receiving side of scientific research
in Iceland, and give it to Jökull to help make sure
that the results of this research eventually were
delivered. This support has made it possible to
increase the journal in size without a correspond-
ing price increase.
Another opportunity came with Sigurður Þórar-
insson’s 70th birthday in January 1982, when, as it
was aptly put in one birthday speech, „. . . we
have all been looking for ways to make the most
out of this anniversary, for ourselves“. The present
writers were optimistic enough to assume that
among the more than hundred Icelandic geoscient-
ists, many of whom are collaborators or former
students of Sigurður, the scores of eminent
researchers of Icelandic nature abroad, and the
many gifted members of the Icelandic Glaciologic-
al Society, there was bound to be suíficient
collective writing talent to assemble a substantial
anniversary issue of Jökull.
JÖKULL 33. ÁR 1