A change in magazine policy calls for all Oceanography articles, starting with the December 2009 issue, to be made available in PDF format online as soon as final proofing of the entire issue is complete. The new policy lifts the three-month embargo previously imposed on online publication of feature articles. We anticipate that immediate access to the science published in Oceanography will benefit authors and broaden the magazine’s impact.

In another move to improve Oceanography’s impact, we are experimenting with providing online access to an article’s graphics, at the author’s request. For example, anyone can download from the Oceanography Web site (http://www.tos.org/oceanography) a zipped figure file for the December 2009 article by Hansell et al. on “Dissolved Organic Matter In the Ocean: A Controversy Stimulates New Insights.” The figures are available as low-resolution jpg files appropriate for display in a classroom presentation. In the future, we expect to share more graphics, links to additional relevant materials, and other supplemental information via our Web pages.

Also new on the Oceanography Web site is a page that provides information on how to put together a special issue section of the magazine. If you have a topic that you would like to see covered and are possibly interested in being a guest editor, check out http://tos.org/oceanography/special_issues.html.

At the same time we are implementing the above improvements, The Oceanography Society has increased the fees to publish articles not associated with the special issue section after two decades of staying the same. To offset the costs of publishing, instead of charging the small flat fee of $500 for any article, large or small, there is now a graded scale. Starting with the June 2010 issue, the $500 fee will remain for articles 1–5 pages long. Authors of articles that are 6–12 magazine pages will now be charged $1000, and articles that are 13–18 pages will cost $1500. If an article exceeds 18 magazine pages, a $100 charge for each additional page will be added. Authors can request a waiver from TOS (email to [email protected]) for all or part of the publication fee if they document their inability to cover the expense. We do not wish, in any way, to discourage submission of articles whose publication fees cannot be covered by an author’s grant.

We are always interested in readers’ input on how to improve this publication. Please send us your comments and ideas.

– Ellen S. Kappel, Editor

Kappel, E.S. 2010. Quarterdeck: Of note. Oceanography 23(1):7, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2010.99.

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