The Journal of the Geological Society, and prior to 1971 the Quarterly Journal, has been the flagship journal of the Geological Society of London for over 165 years. The Journal continues its aim to publish the most topical and highest quality papers, summarizing the results of recent research across the full range of the Earth Sciences (provided that it does not conflict with the other Society journals). We offer a variety of formats including Research Articles, Review Articles, Thematic Sets and ‘Specials’, the latter being shorter papers that receive fast-track reviewing leading to a more rapid turnaround time for publication.

The Journal of the Geological Society is a truly international journal, which is reflected by the membership of the Editorial Board and both the author and article geography. Roughly half of the Editorial Board are UK based, with the remainder of the board residing in Europe, North America, the Far East, Australia and elsewhere. Over the past two years 60 to70% of authors publishing in the Journal have been based outside of the UK.

As many of you are aware, science publishers have transformed the way they produce content quite dramatically during the past few years, and it continues to evolve. As a journal we strive to provide services to reflect this. In the past three years the Geological Society as a whole has seen a considerable increase in online usage and article downloads in addition to the readership of the printed journal. In response to an increased use of electronic media, services have been extended to include versions of the Lyell Collection sites for use via mobile technologies. The Society has recently launched the mobile site for the Journal of the Geological Society, which can be found at http://jgs.lyellcollection.org. This added capability has increased ease of access to journal articles and initial reports indicate the general readership is making good use of this new facility.

In addition to this new mobile service, a publish-ahead-of-print site, Online First, is currently being launched for the Journal whereby individual papers will appear online on the Lyell Collection website once they have passed through the production system. This will mean papers accepted for publication will be made available to the reader shortly after proof correction, rather than waiting for the full issue to be assembled. Instructions for citing Online First articles will be launched simultaneously on the Journal and Lyell Collection sites when the first papers appear online.

As some of the readership might be aware, in 2011 a UK Working Group on Expanding Access to Published Research Findings was established. The Working Group reported several key recommendations in June 2012. This was followed by an announcement of a new policy on Open Access to Research Outputs by Research Councils UK (RCUK). All papers arising from RCUK-funded research submitted from 1 April 2013 must be published via Gold or Green Open Access. Analysis of author affiliation for the Journal between 2009 and 2011 indicates that approximately half of authors would fall under this RCUK funded category. The Geological Society’s publications have been Green compliant for some time and the Geological Society Publications Management Committee and the Geological Society Council have recently agreed a policy for optional Gold Open Access publishing. The associated article processing charge (APC) will be decided in due course. Authors who do not require Gold Open Access will not be required to pay any fee.

I look forward to another year as Chief Editor and wish to continue to encourage Fellows and other readers to submit some of your best research and review papers to the Journal.

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