Summer at Stephenson Way

August has traditionally been a quiet month for the Royal Asiatic Society. There are no meetings, lectures, or events but the library is as active as ever, as is the Journal.

Journal editor Charlotte de Blois hard at work!

Readers of the print version of the Journal may not be aware of the significant changes which it has undergone recently. Since the time of Caxton producing a journal or book meant agreeing what should go into the publication, sending all contributions to a typesetter, who would typeset the text and, when all was perfect, would pass the typeset material to a printer to be printed onto paper, folded into pages and finally bound into a cover.  This method is no longer being used by us exclusively; another stage has been introduced.

Once we accept an article or review for publication, we copy edit it and email it to India where it is typeset. A volley of emails will ping to and fro, until the contribution is perfect and ready for publication. It is then immediately published on Cambridge University Press’s site ; here it can be read, used and referred to in advance of  being gathered in into a group with other articles and then neatly  slotted into a printed copy of the Journal. This method has made it possible for us to develop our series of special issues without compromising the speed with which we can publish individual non-themed articles. 

Equipped with new and more efficient computers we are looking forward to publishing with ever increasing speed, while Fellows will also be able to opt for electronic only JRAS, if they so wish. For those of you who enjoy the printed version of the Journal, however, there is no need to worry; under no circumstances will it be usurped by its e- equivalent.

Charlotte de Blois