date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 13:45:18 +0000
from: Climate Policy <climatepolicy@imperial.ac.uk>
subject: 2 messages from Michael Grubb and Ray Purdy
to: jpershing@wri.org,naki@iiasa.ac.at,hadi@sdri.ubc.ca,inoble@woldbank.org, Jorgen.Wettestad@fni.no,schellnhuber@pik-potsdam.de, h.j.schellnhuber@uea.ac.uk,cdegouvello@worldbank.org, shs@leland.stanford.edu,RKinley@unfccc.int,Sylvie.Faucheux@c3ed.uvsq.fr, m.hulme@uea.ac.uk,ZhangZ@EastWestCenter.org,pretel@chmi.cz, zkundze@man.poznan.pl,jae@pnl.gov,ogunlade@energetic.uct.ac.za, Eberhard.Jochem@isi.fhg.de,hoesung@unitel.co.kr,naki@iiasa.ac.at, kchomitz@worldbank.org,dlashof@nrdc.org,Tom.Jacob@USA.dupont.com, snishiok@nies.go.jp,pachauri@teri.res.in,mack.mcfarland@usa.dupont.com, jake.werksman@undp.org,ArroyoV@pewclimate.org,tom.downing@sei.se, enikitina@mtu-net.ru,EHaites@netcom.ca,michael.grubb@imperial.ac.uk, t.jackson@surrey.ac.uk,sujatag@teri.res.in,a-michaelowa@hwwa.de, Emilio@ppe.ufrj.br,yamagata@nies.go.jp,nkete@wri.org

   Message from Michael Grubb
   Dear Climate Policy Board member
   Further to my last email to the Board, I can now let you all know the following.
   At the Editorial Board meeting last week I announced my resignation as Editor-in-Chief of
   Climate Policy. If you have been reading previous emails, and the Annual Report from the
   beginning of this year, you will know the main reasons. I eventually came to the conclusion
   that with Elsevier it would be fundamentally impossible to fulfill the stated Aims and
   Objectives upon which the journal had been founded, specifically that: 'a primary aim of
   the journal is make complex, policy-related analysis of climate change issues accessible to
   a wide policy audience, and to facilitate debate between the diverse constituencies now
   involved in the development of climate policy.'
   I have been approached by the newly merged Earthscan/James & James company who intend to
   launch a new international research journal, as their flagship venture, which would address
   these aims (and which as part of this would be priced at a level intended to secure large
   subscription and bearing some relationship to cost, ie. A small fraction of the Elsevier
   price and strategy which focused on the academic library
   and ScienceDirect markets). This new venture would also carry various sections additional
   to the core of academic research papers. After my
   contract with Elsevier terminates (at the end of this calendar year) I will engage in more
   detailed discussions with Earthscan/James and James.
   At present, I cannot tell you anything about the future of Climate Policy. The current
   Publishing Editor at Elsevier has indicated over
   the past few months that in response to my concerns they have been looking to move CP to a
   new division - Materials Science was their
   initial suggestion, more recently and appropriately, social sciences and geography.
   However, I was told that the relevant Publishing editor did
   not wish to discuss anything with me. The day after I confirmed my resignation to the Board
   meeting, I at last received an email from the
   Publisher editor of Social Science and Geography asking if she could meet me in January to
   discuss the possible future of Climate Policy.
   Apart from that I have no idea whether Elsevier intend to continue the journal.
   Those present at the Board meeting in Milan expressed understanding and interest in leaving
   Climate Policy to join the new venture proposed by Earthscan/James and James. I consulted
   with a number of other Board members during the week in Milan, and for those whom I did not
   see
   there, I would be interested in your initial views. For the present, we are contacting
   authors and informing them of the situation. I will contact you again early in January when
   things are
   clearer.
   With best wishes and Seasons Greetings
   Michael
   Message from Ray Purdy
   I am also leaving Climate Policy and this will be my last day working for the journal. I
   will continue as a senior fellow in environmental law at University College London and I
   will not be involved in any new climate journal published by Earthscan/James and James. I
   would like to take this opportunity to thank the board for all their support over the last
   three and a half years and particularly for all the refereeing you have done. I hope you
   have a good Christmas/Holiday break and would like to wish you all the very best for
   2004.
   Cheers and good wishes - Ray