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A curious rumour has arisen regarding Fossils & Strata. The Summer 1996 issue (No. 31) of Palaeontology Newsletter (no, it's not on the web as yet, but I guess we should expect it as usual to the splendid Palaeontological Association web site at URL http://www.nhm.ac.uk/paleonet/PalAss/PalAss.html) contains a review of Fossils & Strata No. 38. This is actually the second review of the same issue in this newsletter, so I should be happy, particularly as both reviewers are very favourable. This last review ends, however, on an alarming note: "I hear from the jungle drums (I don't use Internet a lot) that this is apparently to be one of the last publications that will appear in this excellent series. If this is so, it is a great pity." Now I'm the editor of this series and should know about its imminent demise, but I don't. After No. 38, two issues have been published (both duly announced on Paleonet), perhaps already somewhat giving the lie to No. 38 being "one of the last". Another two issues are in the final throes of production, finances all secured. In addition, there are currently ten (10) monographical manuscripts at different stages of editorial treatment. Contributors, at least. are alive and kicking! I wish I could say all is then well, but there is in fact some ominous writing on the ... screen. First, over the last decades it has been getting more and more difficult to market palaeontological monographs. Libraries redpen their subscription lists, and individual palaeontologists only seem to be able to afford literature that is directly within their line of research. Secondly, even when sales are good, Fossils & Strata is nowhere near being financially self-supporting. The market is too small and too spread out over time. (Heck, some of our readers aren't even born yet!) Thirdly (and this may be the what the jungle drummers have been listening to), the economical situation for scientific publishing in Scandinavia is indeed changing radically. The Swedish Natural Science Research Council, hitherto one of the staunchest supporters of Fossils & Strata, has recently decided to abandon its policy of direct support to scientific publication. This doesn't mean that research grants cannot be used to defray publication costs, and there seems to remain a considerable appreciation of the fact that monographic publications in data-laden sciences like palaeontology cannot bear their immediate economical costs (after all, who asks that fieldwork should carry its own costs?). For the next few years, there may be no immediate danger of support drying up, but with the codified publishing policy gone, who knows whether the enlightened attitudes will prevail? Finally, with Internet and the Web skyrocketing, any publicational system must reconsider its position. What series like Fossils & Strata will look like in the future is far from crystal clear - but we will not learn about it by listening to jungle drums. Stefan Bengtson Editor, Fossils & Strata Production Editor, Lethaia Stefan Bengtson _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ Department of Palaeozoology _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ Swedish Museum of Natural History _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Box 50007 _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ S-104 05 Stockholm _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ Sweden _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ tel. +46-8 666 42 20 +46-18 54 99 06 (home) fax +46-8 666 41 84 e-mail Stefan.Bengtson@nrm.se
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