As time goes by: Polar Biology over the years 1982–2008

Abstract

The year 2008 marks a major caesura in the history of Polar Biology. In 1982, on invitation by Springer Verlag, Gotthilf and Irmtraut Hempel have founded this journal to create an internationally recognized publication platform for the rapidly growing number of scientists working in diVerent Welds of biological and environmental research in polar regions. Since then, for almost 27 years, Gotthilf Hempel has served as managing editor and his wife Irma as technical editor of Polar Biology has processed about 2,500 manuscripts submitted for publication. Now both wished to retire from their posts which they had Wlled for almost three decades. On this occasion, the editorial responsibility has been re-uniWed in one editor-in-chief’s hand again, as Rolf Gradinger and Bodil Bluhm (Fairbanks, USA) stepped down from their posts as managing and technical editor, respectively, who since 2004 had been in-charge for all manuscripts dealing with research in Arctic regions (Hempel et al. 2004). Over the 27 years of its existence, Polar Biology successfully met the challenge every scientiWc journal faces— to increase readership, scientiWc reputation and overall quality of publication. This was achieved by applying an attractive combination of a Wne-balanced trade-oV between a broad thematic scope and a well deWned journal focus. Strict quality control through peer-reviewing, rapid manuscript handling, and a close contact with the geographically expanding polar science community made Polar Biology a major medium of conveying novel results and scholarly reviews of biological and ecological research in polar regions. Without doubt, this success can be primarily credited to the outgoing editors. I am sure that I can speak on behalf of the Polar Biology community as a whole— readers, authors, referees, editors and publisher alike— when I express my sincere thanks to Gotthilf Hempel for the leadership and direction he has provided for the journal, as well as to Irma Hempel for all the eVort she has put into the tedious editorial work, without which the success of the journal would have not been possible. Our thanks also go to Rolf Gradinger and his wife Bodil Bluhm for their Wne work over the past 5 years in editing a growing number of Arctic contributions. On 1 October 2008, I have started working as new editor-in-chief of Polar Biology and took over the responsibilities of Gotthilf Hempel and Rolf Gradinger. I know my predecessors have set the bar very high and it will thus not be easy to live up to the expectations. I will do my best to continue the success story of Polar Biology and to consolidate—and, if possible, to expand—its reputation as a premier scientiWc communication channel providing timely, rigorous and insightful content for biologists working in the Arctic and Antarctic. The new editorship is accompanied by a number of technical innovations, the most important of which is that since 1 October 2008, online submission and processing of manuscripts is obligatory. Consequently, the ‘Instructions for authors’ and the ‘Instruction for reviewers’ have been modiWed in some points. Now, a web-based integrated software, featuring greater technical support provided by the publisher for the editor, will lead through all stages from manuscript submission over peer-reviewing to eventual publication. We are conWdent that this change will even D. Piepenburg (&) Mainz Academy of Sciences, The Humanities and Literature, c/o Institute for Polar Ecology, University of Kiel, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, Geb. 12, 24148 Kiel, Germany e-mail: dpiepenburg@ipoe.uni-kiel.de URL: http://www.uni-kiel.de/ipoe