Climatic Change: the state of the journal

Abstract

Just over two years ago, the death of our founding editor, Stephen Schneider, sent shockwaves around the global scientific community, and we keenly felt his loss in the Climatic Change office. At the time, the journal only recently had celebrated the publication of volume 100, and it is perhaps fitting that I return to that issue as a springboard to assess what has transpired in the interim, take stock of the current state of the journal, and contemplate its future. The title of Steve’s introductory essay is very revealing about the challenges then facing the journal: “be careful what you wish for!—what if you get it?” Truly, Climatic Change has been a victim of his own success. Steve had invested heavily in nurturing scholars, cultivating the field, and educating an audience. Over the years, the investment paid off handsomely. Starting with humble beginnings in 1975, taking two years to publish the first issue of four articles, the journal has grown to a world-class “journal of record for interdisciplinary analysis of climate change science and policy” (Schneider 2010) due to Steve’s determination and perseverance. A look at the rough numbers over the past decade is revealing. Between 2002 and 2007, the journal received around 200 submissions a year. That number jumped to nearly 300 in 2008 and again to 400 in 2009. We received 225 submissions in the first half of 2010 alone, before Steve passed away. Steve had taken some steps to address the increased numbers of submissions, as he mentioned in his volume 100 essay: