ISPRS Book Series, Annual Report, December 2006

By Paul Aplin

General progress

2006 has been a quiet year for the ISPRS Book Series, and no new volumes have been published. This is disappointing given than several volumes have been under preparation for a considerable period of time. However, the delays are probably a 'fact of life' for programmes such as this. Too much pressure on volume editors to deliver volumes in a timely manner can lead to tension in working relationships and, importantly, a reduction in the quality of publications. Too little pressure, of course, can lead to severe delays. If anything, volumes have been prepared too hastily this year, with three initial manuscripts being received, none of which were in a publishable state.

Volume manuscripts

Three preliminary volume manuscripts were received, two of which have been edited and re-submitted:

Mobile Mapping Technology	Jonathan Li, Vincent Tao	January 2006 First draft - required significant further editing	August 2006 Second draft - accepted for publication
Advances in Spatio-temporal Analysis	Xinming Tang, Wolfgang Kainz, Yaolin Liu, Jixian Zhang	February 2006 First draft - required significant language editing	December 2006 Second draft - under review
Geo-information in Disaster Management Response	Siyka Zlatanova, Jonathan Li	November 2006 First draft - under review

English language editing

A particular problem arose with the first draft of the 'Advances in Spatio-temporal Analysis' volume in that the quality of written English was very poor, well below an acceptable standard for publication. This is a fairly common problem with ISPRS Book Series volume manuscripts, although the problem is perhaps not usually as severe as this case. An excellent solution to this issue was found in Giffnock Editorial Services, based in Scotland. GES is a scientific publishing editing service run by David Tait, formerly extensively involved in ISPRS activities and the wider discipline. David has carried out a thoroughly professional job in editing the volume in question, and will be available to do so for future volumes. Clearly, a fee is required, and volume editors must factor this into their projects.

Progress with other volumes

The volume focusing on 'Advances in Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Processing for Land Degradation Assessment', edited by Achim Roeder and Joachim Hill, has been delayed, most recently as a result of difficulties with reviewers. The volume editors remain active and communicative, and I remain confident that this volume will be delivered in good order.

The volume related to the 2008 ISPRS Congress, Spatial Information from Images 2008

State-of-the-Art in Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences', has been developing fairly well, with regular discussions between the volume editors, Chen Jun, Li Zhilin and Manos Baltsavias, and with other relevant parties.

Relatively few other volume proposals have been received, but there is ongoing interest from certain ISPRS TCs and WGs, and two proposals are antipicated on topics related to 'Thematic Processing, Modeling and Analysis of Remotely Sensed Data' (to be edited by Andrew Skidmore) and 'Earth Observation Small Satellites for Remote Sensing Applications' (to be edited by Arthur Cracknell). I met and discussed these projects with each of the volume editors this year.

Taylor & Francis

The ISPRS Book Series Editor held a meeting with Taylor & Francis in May in the Netherlands to discuss progress with the series. A marketing strategy was developed, and T&F have become more active in this regard. A dedicated ISPRS Book Series flyer has been produced, and T&F are publicizing the series at various conferences and so on. The need for scientific review of volumes was discussed, and T&F have now begun to send volumes out to journals for review.

Outlook

2007 should prove to be an active year for the ISPRS Book Series. The 'Mobile Mapping Technology' volume is scheduled for publication in January 2007, and it is hoped that the 'Advances in Spatio-temporal Analysis' and 'Geo-information in Disaster Management Response' volumes will follow suit. The 'Advances in Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Processing for Land Degradation Assessment' volume may also be published next year, although much will depend on the quality of the manuscript when it is finally submitted.

Developments with the 2008 Congress volume should begin to increase soon into 2007 to ensure that the volume is published well in time for the Congress the following year. It is expected that the Skidmore and Cracknell volumes will also begin serious development in 2007.

Marketing activities with T&F have improved in 2006, and this should continue in 2007. Similarly, it is encouraging to see T&F becoming more involved in scientific reviewing activities. Hopefully 2007 will see the first full reviews of ISPRS Book Series volumes. Again, these activities will be pursued further throughout the year.