Abstract
Keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep your roots.
We have been reviewing our publications in response to feedback from members. The consensus is that members would like a different, more contemporary, style of monthly publication, with a separate provision for serious academic papers. At the same time, we would like to become more accessible to the 20s and 30s age group – the millennials whose natural communication happens via the Internet and social media.
So we are making changes. A new magazine-format publication, Precision, will eventually replace Measurement + Control as the regular journal for members. Precision is intended to be a shop window for our profession and will be in the style of a coffee-table magazine with articles of contemporary interest showing applications of measurement and control technology across a wide range of sectors.
Precision is being piloted during 2017. This year you will receive four trial versions mailed together with your usual copy of Measurement + Control. Then from 2018, Precision will replace Measurement + Control as the magazine that we mail to members. Measurement + Control will continue, but it will be published as an online journal devoted to the technical papers that currently appear in the academic section of the printed version. Institute of Measurement and Control (InstMC) members will have free access to these via a web link. Just for clarification, there are no changes planned to Transactions, our primary learned society journal.
Also during 2017, we will be continuing with our digital platform programme, with the long-term aim of having all our communications and services available online wherever possible. This includes Precision, which from 2018 will be accessible to members online, helping to attract the millennial generation we are keen to welcome into membership.
2017 is our trial year for ironing out teething issues with the production and editorial processes for Precision, but more importantly for making sure we have the style and content right: so please do let us know your views – each copy will include an e-mail address for you to send your feedback. We want to make this a publication that all our members will be proud to show their colleagues, and with your help, we will get this right.