Editorial: online and on time

Abstract

‘Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis’ With this December 2002 Issue, the Journal of Biogeography truly enters the Third Millennium and cyberspace. From now on, it is hoped that all author submissions and referees' reports will be made electronically online employing our new, sophisticated and dedicated Web Site (http://jbi.manuscriptcentral.com) established for us using Manuscript Central™ by ScholarOne, Inc. As Editor, I am deeply grateful to Blackwell Publishing for facilitating and supporting this exciting development. A full guide to electronic submission is provided in the New Instructions for Authors which are located at the back of this Issue, and which will, as a matter of course, appear in all future Issues, with updates, as and when required. The Instructions are also available at our general Journal of Biogeography Web Site: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/jbi Figure 1 illustrates the Homepage of the new Journal of Biogeography submission site (http://jbi.manuscriptcentral.com), which gives immediate ‘Help’ facilities, a guide to ‘Instructions and Forms’, and, most importantly, your private JBI Login. On your first visit to the Site, it will thus be vital to create a Personal Account using the special Create A New Account Button provided on the left of the screen. This allows you to format your account details and password, and we would recommend that you alter your password from time to time to safeguard your private details. Homepage of the new Journal of Biogeography submission site: http://jbi.manuscriptcentral.com Beyond this, using the Site should be easy and intuitive when employed alongside our Instructions for Authors. There are many helpful online prompts to ensure that your manuscript, or referee's report, is correctly submitted. The potential advantages of this form of submission are legion: both authors and referees will have immediate knowledge that their submission has been safely received; authors will be able to track the editorial process, which should reduce immensely the need for correspondence and worry; authors will be able to submit all elements of their manuscript electronically, including large tables and figures (the Site can deal with many different electronic formats), and this will, on final acceptance of a submission, greatly facilitate the accurate and safe production of the paper in print; all correspondence will be by e-mail and via the Site which should avoid those unnecessary and frustrating delays caused by the use of air/sea mail and courier; the Site will ensure that manuscripts are correctly submitted, with all necessary elements, such as structured abstracts, biosketches and addresses. The onsite process includes various prompts to make sure that this happens; the whole process of submission, refereeing, editorial decision, revision and re-submission should be greatly facilitated and made much quicker and safer for all, but especially for overseas authors and referees. We hope very much that you will enjoy and appreciate this significant improvement to the Journal of Biogeography. The Journal of Biogeography has a long record of innovation in publishing and we aim to try to keep the journal at the forefront of both biogeography and science journal publishing in general. We are further striving hard to ensure that the journal is published every month on time and within its Issue month. In this respect, I should like to thank personally Dr Stephen Jones, our Production Editor, for his outstanding efforts to make this goal a reality. Undoubtedly, electronic online submission and refereeing will make his task all that much easier. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome to the Journal of Biogeography team our new Editorial Assistant, Kevin Wright, who has been appointed to run the journal from the Oxford Office following the recent closure of the old London Office. Kevin's e-mail is kevin.wright@oxon.black wellpublishing.com. I look forward greatly to meeting you all in cyberspace in the near future. PROFESSOR EMERITUS PHILIP Stott Editor, Journal of Biogeography, December, 2002