Inaugural Address 25:1

Abstract

After the four years of excellent services provided by Makoto Ito and Susumu Umino, we have taken over the duties of Editor-in-Chief of Island Arc for a further discrete advance in the coming 4 years. On behalf of the new editorial board, we now would like to express sincere gratitude to the 2012–2015 editorial board members (Editors-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Editorial Advisory Board, Editorial Office secretaries), reviewers, authors, readers and all other persons who contributed to raising the academic quality of Island Arc. As many of our readers will know, the year 2016 is the silver anniversary of Island Arc to celebrate publication of its 25th volume. Since Island Arc's first publication in August 1992, it has produced as many as 768 original articles (45% in thematic sections), leaving a distinct footprint in the modern history of geoscience journals. However, it also looks to us that Island Arc still has some way to go on being recognized as a top-rated journal, as shown by the fact that the journal's impact factor in 2014 (2015) was 1.148, and 125th ranked out of 175 in the category “Geosciences, Multidisciplinary” in 2014. These figures have not significantly changed during the past several years. Nevertheless, we are confident that Island Arc can steadily progress toward a brighter future. It is worth mentioning the good news that Island Arc has at last changed from a quarterly to a bimonthly journal in 2016, which will significantly aid quick publication of accepted papers. Looking back on what happened with the journal in 2013, it became a “complete” electronic journal, i.e. free from print medium and thus no limit to including color figures and tables in the papers. As soon as page proofing of an accepted paper is completed, it can be viewed in the webpage of Island Arc as an “enhanced article” (HTML) with a given DOI code whereby the paper can be cited. Furthermore, figure diagrams in the accepted articles of recent issues are available in the form of Power Point slides. Island Arc primarily focused on the science of plate-convergent margins, reflecting a fundamental and key concern for the geology of Asia and pan-Pacific regions particularly. This topic characterized much of the original scope of the journal in the early 1990s, but thereafter has been only a part of what Island Arc really deals with. In fact, the topics of recently published articles in Island Arc include carbonate sedimentation (vol. 24), biogeographical patterns (vol. 23), Late Triassic ammonoid (vol. 22), zircon multichronology (vol. 22), sediment transport process to deep water (vol. 22), tephrostratigraphy (vol. 21), and fluvial denudation history (vol. 21), in addition to “hard rock geology” that is typically related to plate tectonics. Furthermore, Island Arc has no preference regarding the methodology of geoscience but welcomes experimental (both analogue and numerical) and theoretical research, as well as field-based analyses. For Island Arc to proceed on its challenging way toward a much higher international status, we would like to encourage authors to consider submitting an exciting paper, such as reporting innovative findings and current new views or trends on their way to major breakthrough. We also ask readers to send constructive feedback to the editorial board. We are always open to criticism and suggestions as to the scientific content and editorial processes of the journal, as well as proposals for novel thematic sections. It is our greatest pleasure to provide fine papers to the world community of geosciences. We will do our best.