THE EDITORS of Science, People & Politics (ISSN 1751-598x), Helen Gavaghan and Fred Pearce, have jointly concluded that the magazine does not currently need an editor in chief.

The editorial structure returns to Helen Gavaghan as editor and Fred Pearce as deputy editor and editorial advisor.

The magazine is now a quarterly humanities title.

The magazine still aims to take advantage of the opportunity for voluntary legal deposit with the British Library.

At an editorial advisors' meeting held in London on 23rd November 2010 it was decided that the editor needs to further clarify what constitutes the title's unique voice.

THE DEVELOPING VOICE
If publishing is about empowering the publication's audience, which is what I as editor think, then Science, People & Politics aspires to publish material that would be relevant beyond general interest alone and beyond news about one particular location or country alone and to publish material relevant to an audience from more than one country and to more than one industrial or commercial sector. In this aspiration the title is an inter and transnational humanities title, but it also wishes to situate science among the humanities by publishing material that would speak to the scientific community internationally, not necessarily by writing about science per se. So the audience we have in mind would be scientists and politicians and a general public who, from different national political systems or traditions, might find what the title publishes to be relevant or interesting.

We are not an academic title but we aspire to academic rigour, which might simply in some circumstances be good journalism, and as editor I think we need to find some type of revenue generating open access model. One option might be to sell a prepublication issue to subscribers, perhaps a month in advance of publication. This means that the January to March 2011 issue could have been available to subscribers at the end of November 2010, giving subscribers a month's access before the title became open access.

Science, People and Politics Ltd. Co. No. 0590-1911 owns the magazine Science, People & Politics (ISSN 1751-598X). The company held a short board meeting immediately after the editorial advisors' meeting. Both Helen Gavaghan and Fred Pearce were present. The board passed three resolutions.
The resolutions, written up and distributed on 24.11.10 and now signed by both directors, were:

1. That the company open a bank account.
2. That Helen Gavaghan be asked to make a clearer separation between the magazine and her soletradership website. The magazine has a home page on a one page website -- www.sciencepeopleandpolitics.com -- owned by Helen Gavaghan. The magazine's files are currently the guest of www.gavaghancommunications.com, which is Helen Gavaghan's personal website.
3. That Helen Gavaghan prepare a business plan.

The company's records are currently being reviewed by the shareholders with the intent of opening a bank account. An EGM, to be held in Halifax, is planned and proxies agreed on the understanding that Helen Gavaghan is not the sole shareholder present. The aim of the EGM is to consider and possibly change the company's articles of association.

During an informal conversation on 1st February, 2011 Helen Gavaghan and Fred Pearce agreed that the titles of managing and finance director are no longer needed. Instead they have agreed to be co-equal directors but that only Helen Gavaghan will undertake any tasks in that capacity and that those tasks will be those which only an officer of the company can undertake.

My initial thinking about the business plan is that the company continue the path I set initially of being dormant with respect to HMRC but active with respect to Companys House because of the title's continued acquisition of copyright. This is a simple matter of appropriate invoicing and declaration of real income. I think the company also needs to continue my initial policy of remaining unregisterd for VAT, a policy set by me with the intent of giving flexibility to a potential purchaser.

I think the eventual aim ought to be that the company, minimally, breaks even from sales of advertising related to its property. The publisher might, externally to the company, make money from subscriptions and from retail of other published products related to any of the company's property published by the publisher. The advertising sales and publishing offices do not need to be co-located.

Given the potential for interrelated invoicing I do not yet know what financial relationship to recommend between publisher and the company which owns the material the publisher publishes.

Registered address of owning company and publisher - two separate business entities - 165 Longfellow Court, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, HX7 5LG.

www.gavaghancommunications.com.
This press release was published 4.2.11. HTML checked 12th February, 2012.