You hold the fifth issue of Oceanography, the first of the new decade. The inaugural issue, published in July 1988, promised that the magazine would “promote, advance and chronicle all aspects of ocean science and its applications.” We set out on this ambitious voyage with the notion that an international magazine could help unite the diverse disciplines of oceanography and provide a coherent voice for ocean science. We opted at the outset for a high quality magazine, with quarterly publication anticipated in two years. We can now look back with some amusement at our audacity (some would say naiveté) and recognize many of the pitfalls predicted by the nay-sayers.

Brooks, D.A. 1990. Society soundings: Morning’s cold light. Oceanography 3(1):58, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.1990.28.

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