Dear Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management community:
Recently, our publisher Taylor & Francis took over publication responsibilities for Carbon Management, another scientific journal that covers topics of emissions measurement and management. Following a series of interesting and enriching technical conversations with our new peers in the Taylor & Francis journal portfolio, the Editors of Carbon Management, discussion began to explore the overlap of our aims and scope, and complementary editorial strengths. The conclusion of these discussions was that our two journals may be ‘better together’ and that a new merged title may best serve the climate community. Thanks in no small part to the unwavering support of our publisher, we quickly elaborated this thought exercise into a plan of action and in an impressively short time frame the Senior Editors of both journals had agreed to a merger effective at the start of 2015.
What does a new merged Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management–Carbon Management journal mean for you? First, and most immediately obvious, is a name change. While it is bittersweet to see the retirement of the title Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management, a name to which we have come to deeply identify, we ultimately decided on Carbon Management as it more concisely reflects the journal's scope of coverage. But the title is not just a question of semantics. We jointly decided on Carbon Management to ensure the continuity of the journal's Thomson Reuters Institute for Scientific Information Impact Factor. We are proud to report that the combined title will maintain the Carbon Management’s pre-merger Impact Factor, which for 2013 was 1.722.
While the name on the cover may have changed, the editorial process will largely stay the same. Our new combined title will continue to use Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management's online manuscript management infrastructure and well-developed review practice. Over recent weeks pending paper submissions for both pre-merger journals have been combined into Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management's online system, which has been freshly rebranded to reflect its new name. And on the human end, we have integrated the Editorial Boards of the two journals into a single combined Board. We are happy to announce that the lion's share of members of the two Boards agreed to continue their work for the merged title, and are thankful for the kind words of commitment and support many shared. We are also pleased to announce that we will be expanding the top of the editorial masthead to include Shobhakar Dhakal. Previously a Senior Editor of Carbon Management, Shobhakar will join us (Michael Gillenwater and Tinus Pulles, the Editors-in-Chief of Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management) to take the final editorial responsibility for the journal. We are confident that these changes will enable us to maintain the high-quality review process to which our authors and readers had grown to expect with Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management.
This message is only a brief outline of our newly merged journal, but we hope you can see how we concluded that our journals will be ‘better together.’ For readers, the merged journal provides more comprehensive access to the literature in our field, all in one convenient title. For authors, the merged journal is listed with an impact factor, making it a more attractive venue to publish your original research papers, reviews, short communications, and opinion pieces. And for everyone, the merged journal brings together two parallel communities, which we hope will facilitate the constructive collaboration, review, and inquiry needed to advance understanding of emissions measurement and management.
And, finally, since this will be the final issue of this title, we want to take just a moment to reflect on how our journal's new merged offspring will be expanding by quickly revisiting the new journal's aims and scope. Although the name of the merged journal may seem more restrictive than Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management, the journal will continue to consider papers from the diverse array of disciplines that enhance our understanding of carbon dioxide and all other greenhouse gas (GHG) interactions – from biology, ecology, chemistry, and engineering to law, policy, economics, and sociology – whether or not these GHGs contain carbon. The core aim of Carbon Management is to examine the options and mechanisms for mitigating the causes and impacts of climate change, which includes mechanisms for reducing emissions and enhancing the removal of GHGs from the atmosphere, as well as metrics used to measure performance of options and mechanisms resulting from international treaties, domestic policies, local regulations, environmental markets, technologies, industrial efforts, and consumer choices.
The full aims and scope of the new journal can be found online, along with submission instructions and articles for online viewing, or downloaded at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=tcmt20&. Or you can visit the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute's website (www.ghginstitute.org) and click the journal link. However you navigate to our new title, we look forward to welcoming you to Carbon Management in the opening pages of the new title in 2015.
Regards from your Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management Editors-in-Chief.