Dear David
I am heartened that others care as much about HM as we do, and we are working hard to
position it more firmly at the forefront of the discipline. I haven't checked on the figures since
a couple of issues ago, but at that point, the origin of the principal authors of published
articles in the previous three years was:
35 papers :
20 from UK, 6 from France, 4 from USA, 1 from Canada, 1 from Russia, 1 from
Germany, 1 from Italy and 1 from South Africa.
so, even then, it was certainly not as 'parochial' as it hadbeen and all recent meetings have
had several international attendees (not all necessarily members - we encourage
participation from those working in the field who are not necessarily sufficiently full-time in
archaeometallurgy to be able to prioritise joining) . I thoroughly believe the society is on a
very positive trajectory - and the imminent changes to the production/distribution of the
journal are part of that. Both the diversity of origin and the total number of papers are, I hope,
on a positive curve.
You are correct that the production of a major journal by a very small body of people is a
severe challenge and the involvement of more people at the heart of the society would be
very welcome!
We are in the middle of the process of determining the precise route for future publication
and any partnerships that may involve, but thanks for the suggestion of that model.
The membership of HMS is changing rapidly too (they are no longer male, from the Midlands
in boots and worn tweed either!!) - though we have to remember our founding fathers and we
must still embrace the non-professional historical/archaeo-metallurgists, as well as the
growing proportion of professional specialists (particularly in the younger generation).
Personally, I think things are looking good for the future, but not all changes can/will happen
overnight. None the less, the 50th anniversary is a great excuse to push for those changes
that are needed in order to bring the positive benefits for the coming decades. The changes
are of course not limited to the journal - but affect most other aspects of the society, its
activites and ouputs too.
Tim
