Letter from the Editor

Welcome to volume 23, issue 2 of the Journal of Orthoptera Research. Regular readers will notice that this issue is a little on the slim side in that it includes only two papers. The reasons for this are complicated but can be boiled down to two important points that I'd like to highlight here.

Firstly, there is the usual problem with finding willing reviewers for manuscripts submitted. This, I think, is an issue faced by most editorial teams at one point or another and is certainly not unique to JOR. Indeed, I have come across this problem in every one of my editorial roles in the past but editors usually manage to overcome this hurdle admirably.

Secondly, and perhaps most significant in the case of JOR, is an unfortunate lack of high-quality submissions. This is something that is much more difficult to overcome and is of course a multifaceted problem. Obviously, JOR suffers from the lack of an impact factor which is an issue that I am trying to address. Crucial to the success of this step is the timeliness of publication which is part of the reason we present a short issue here. Rather than wait until we had more papers we have decided to publish the issue in as timely a manner as possible. However, timeliness means little if there are no papers to include in an issue.

Clearly the lack of an impact factor makes JOR a less attractive venue for publication, particularly for students and early career scientists. So, In discussion with President Samways and Former President Cigliano, I have decided to suspend all page charges from the next volume (24, 2015) on, as an incentive for authors. We hope that this will encourage more researchers to publish in JOR. I am certain that with sufficient high-quality papers and a regular, timely publication schedule, we will secure an impact factor in the very near future. Once again, we look forward to receiving your manuscripts and working with you to publish your research in JOR.