Announcement

Abstract

There is some good (and sad) news to share with authors and readers. The good news is that we can congratulate Lindsay Haddon, our Managing Editor, on being appointed to the position of Senior Managing Editor for the four Journals of the British Ecological Society. The sad news, of course, is that as a consequence we are losing her as Managing Editor for Journal of Ecology, and as the day-to-day contact point for both authors and readers of the Journal. Firstly, some background to Lindsay's new position. The Society has decided that it needs a new structure to manage its portfolio of Journals. Apart from academic editors for each Journal, this structure includes a Managing Editor for each Journal and a Senior Managing Editor (SME) who will be line manager to the Managing Editors. The SME will help the four Journals to develop consistent and best practice in the handling of manuscripts. In addition, the SME will work with the Journals and the publisher on future strategy initiatives designed to maintain, and, if possible, improve the standing of the Journals, and to develop a strategy for the Society in response to current and future changes and challenges in the way that research is published. The position also carries the duty of being Deputy Executive Secretary for the Society. So, this new, very demanding position is a considerable step up in Lindsay's status. Her appointment is testament to her many relevant skills. Lindsay was first appointed as Managing Editor of Journal of Ecology in 1992. She worked for six years for both Jonathan Silvertown and Tony Davy when they were Executive Editors, and has worked for almost two years during Mike Hutchings’ tenure of this position. We are, of course, very sorry to lose her from this position, but at the same time we are delighted that the Society will be putting her skills to such good use in the future. Fortunately, we will not lose touch with her because there will be frequent interactions between Lindsay and all the Journal Editors, and we are sure that she will still appear at many conferences. We will greatly miss Lindsay's unique ability to represent the Journal in a friendly, helpful and approachable way. She, to a much greater extent than any of the editors, has been the public face and image of the Journal, and must be regarded as a major reason for our success and as a prime reason for the respect and loyalty that Journal of Ecology has generated. We are sure you will all want to join us in thanking Lindsay for her work on the Journal, and in wishing her every success in her new role. We are already pleased to be able to announce Lindsay's successor. He is Meran Owen. Meran has relevant experience for the position both as a research scientist working on plants, with a considerable string of publications to his name, and as a former journal editor. We look forward to working with him. The following papers will appear in Journal of Ecology in the near future, many are already available at http://www.Blackwell-Synergy.com.