A Comment from the Editorial Desk

Dear Readers,     

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas. In addition I would like to thank all those that, over the 6+year period that I have been Technical Editor, have contributed to Corrosion Management. A final thank-you must also go to the Publisher, Square One, who I think we would all agree continue to produce a high quality magazine.

This is the first time I have written such an article, and while some of you may think that this is evidence that academics have very little to do, believe me I am not filling out my day. The reasons for this editorial are two-fold; the first is a plea for technical articles, the magazine is desperately short of good articles. After attending the latest AGM, I became aware that there was some criticism that the magazine now only hosts one technical article. You might have noticed that I personally have written several whilst in office; trust me I am not seeking to promote myself, rather filling the gap that would otherwise appear in the magazine.  As Technical Editor I take this criticism somewhat to heart since, while in post, my aim is to promote the Institute and wish only that the magazine and website reflect the professional standards set on a daily basis by its active members. Fortunately it is noticeable that those most critical are coincidently absent in the long list of authors names that have submitted technical articles.

I am appreciative that we are no longer in a world where companies actively promote staff to write articles for magazine’s such as this one. Interestingly however, whilst it is perceived that writing a technical article is not a ‘money-earner’, it is possibly one of the most effective ways of promoting the expertise in a company. So this is a 
“YOUR MAGAZINE NEEDS YOU” plea to submit those technical articles! Remember this is one of the few magazines that offers full colour copy.

Secondly, and not unrelated, I would like to remind you that the ICorr website is nearing reconstruction and will be launched shortly. This is another opportunity for the members to contribute to the Institute and underline the important contribution that ICorr is making to key issues such as sustainability, structural integrity and reliability.  You will see that there is a questionnaire  in the magazine for your comments and we would welcome your thoughts on how we can best use this modern day media. Now that Square One are constructing and maintaining the website we can offer added value to members in that details from the magazine can instantly be loaded onto the web, including details of the contents, company news, branch activities etc. The site will have personal access by members to the full technical article and archived previous issues of the magazine.

Finally I would welcome any comments you have on how you would like to see the magazine develop, particularly if you feel you have something to contribute to its future success. Please feel free to contact me at  r.akid@shu.ac.uk

Happy Christmas

Bob Akid
 - Technical Editor