Editorial
Editorial
This is the largest issue of The Cormorant so far produced and it contains the healthy trend of containing articles of increasing length. I plan to produce at least 100 pages a year in 1981 and to do this a steady flow of material is required. Most of the articles and notes received in 1980 were unsolicited; in earlier years nearly everything published was the result of the editor's powers of persuasion.
So it seems that The Cormorant is in quite a good situation: six articles have already been submitted for volume 9 and will be published in June next year. With this issue the date of receipt and acceptance is given. Readers can deduce that The Cormorant offers swift publication (usually within six months). An increasing number of institutions are subscribing to the journal and articles are now being listed in abstracting and reviewing publications. All of this increases the attraction of publishing in The Cormorant.
With the increase in pagination and circulation the journal is becoming more expensive to produce. Next year with the increased subscription a recent ASG committee meeting calculated we would just break even with the current membership and a 100-page volume. So there will be no money in the kitty to spare.
The ASG has decided to start a major membership drive in 1981 to increase the circulation of The Cormorant and to get our finances on a more healthy basis. You can be in the forefront of this membership drive by (1) paying your R5-00 subscription for 1981 promptly, and (2) recruiting a new member. If we get enough articles, and enough members paying to read them The Cormorant in 1981 could be a 144-page volume.
If you think all of the above sounds like a 'sales plug', you're right. It is.
Happy seabirding in 1981.
