Review of journal publishing at the Royal Society

The Society is currently undertaking a review of the way it publishes the science journals. There are many reasons for doing so at this time. They include the global move towards e-publishing, electronic handling of manuscripts and the trend towards open access of information, especially when publicly funded. There has also been a gradual but steady decline in the number of papers being submitted by New Zealand authors to some of the journals.

Late last year, the Society established a Consultation Committee to look at this matter and to consult with the research community on possible changes for the future. They reported to the Council of the Royal Society in March this year and suggested a number of changes including moving to online publishing, merging the journals into one publication with subsections to represent the disciplines covered by the current journals and changing the way in which the editing functions would be carried out.

The three documents below provide information about the review. The first document presents the background to the review and the rationale for the changes that were recommended. The next document lists the recommendations made by the Committee and the third document was prepared to give feedback to those who sent submissions.

Before deciding whether to adopt any of the recommended changes, the Council has asked for more information on the implications of making the changes. To help us do that we would like to have further input from those who have an interest in the journals.

We welcome comment on the recommendations in front of the Council. These can be sent to publishingconsultation@rsnz.org or don.smith@rsnz.org The closing date for comment is 25 July 2008.

• Current situation
• Recommendations for change
• Response to 2007 submissions

All the above are in Word.