It has been suggested that if Cave &
Karst Science were 'Nature' magazine,
then Speleology would be 'New Scientist'.

We would particularly like the new journal
to have a role in promoting BCRA's
Special Interest Groups (SIGs), both by
bringing their work to a wider audience
and by commissioning new articles for
publication.

For the smaller SIGs, Speleology will offer
an alternative means of publication of their occasional newsletters, and we hope that by providing a route to publication, we can encourage other specialist groups to be created.

Recipients of BCRA's Research Fund
grants and Ghar Parau expedition grants
will find the new journal suitable for the
publication of their obligatory reports.

Other content will reflect BCRA's broadly
Based approach to cave science and
education, but the precise range of topics
will depend on the plans that the new
national body develops for a successor to
Caves & Caving.
 

Expeditions

As part of the new Publications
strategy, BCRA Council aims to ensure
that a substantial 'occasional publication' is
produced and issued free to members once
per year. The intention is to seek to cover
a different theme in each 'special edition'.

The first of these will focus on expeditions,
and is planned for sometime this year,
edited by Paul Mann. There is, however a
slight backlog of expedition reports that
have been awaiting publication for some
time now, and so the first couple of issues
of Speleology will also contain some
expedition reports. After that, summaries
may be more appropriate, leaving the
detailed publication of surveys, photos and
cave descriptions to the special edition.

 

Speleology and special interest groups