Publications

The Challenger Society publishes two outputs, including our monthly newsletter Challenger Wave and a biannual journal Ocean Challenge. If you would like to contribute to either periodical, please view the instructions for contributors on the relevant pages.

Publications are available as opensource documents to all members of the public.

Challenger Wave

Challenger Wave is the regular monthly newsletter of the Challenger Society for Marine Science. It brings together a wide range of material such as news items, meeting announcements, funding opportunities, meeting and cruise reports and contains an extensive listing of events and links to other regular newsletters and websites of interest. Each edition can be sponsored by a single organisation, for example providing an opportunity for the sponsor to advertise a new product or conference to the UK marine science community.

The latest edition of Challenger Wave is only available to Challenger Society members but past issues are freely available to all via the archive on this site.

If you are interested in contributing material to Challenger Wave or wish to explore the sponsorship/advertising opportunity it provides please contact the Challenger Wave Editor, Dr John Allen (john@myocean.co.uk)
Download editions of Challenger Wave here.

Ocean Challenge

Scope and aims

Ocean Challenge aims to keep its readers up to date with what is happening in oceanography in the UK and the rest of Europe.  By covering the whole range of marine-related sciences in an accessible style it should be valuable both to specialist oceanographers who wish to broaden their knowledge of marine sciences, and to informed laypersons who are concerned about the oceanic environment.

Would you like to contribute?

Ocean Challenge welcomes articles and news items on any aspect of oceanography.  Contributions should be in an accessible style with a minimum of jargon and avoiding the use of references.  If at all possible, they should be well illustrated.

Instructions for authors can be downloaded as a pdf here.

Subscriptions

• Ocean Challenge is automatically sent electronically to members of the Challenger Society.
• Subscription to the printed version (including postage by surface mail) is £80.00 per year for libraries and other institutions.
• New subscriptions, renewals and information about changes of address should be sent to the Challenger Society Honorary Secretary (Council Officers) 

Editorial Board

Editor
Angela Colling, formerly Open University

Editorial Board Chair
Stephen Dye, Cefas & University of East Anglia website

Members
Laura Grange, Bangor University website
Emma Cavan, Imperial College London
Gillian Damerell, University of East Anglia
Megan Baker, Durham University
Kelvin Boot, Freelance Science Communicator

Guidance for contributors to Ocean Challenge

• The aim of Ocean Challenge is to communicate.
• We assume that all readers are interested in the science of the ocean.
• We cannot assume that they are experts in all disciplines of marine science.

There are broadly four types of contributions:

Short news items

Ocean Challenge is always pleased to receive news of events, projects and initiatives relating to marine science. ‘Letters to the Editor‘ are also very welcome, either on a topic covered in a previous issue of Ocean Challenge, or on any subject of interest to Ocean Challenge readers.

• Long news items 500–2000 words, preferrably with illustration(s).
• Meeting reports 500–2000 words, preferrably with illustration(s).
• Feature articles 3000–5000 words, generally 3–6 figures.
• Book reviews 750–1000 words (see also below).

Feature articles

These have the following format:

Feature articles can go into the science in more detail than news items. They begin with a short introduction. This is not an abstract as such – its role is to engage the reader’s attention, and convey what the article is about.

Figures have a formal caption and a margin caption. Authors are encouraged to provide margin captions, but these are often added at a later stage, depending on the layout.

Ocean Challenge does not have references.
Articles may have a Further Reading list at the end. If possible, the Further Reading list should refer to publications that are easily obtainable, and are not too obscure or specialist; they should be useful for someone whose interest has been stimulated by the article and would like to know more.

Authors should always bear in mind the Ocean Challenge readership.

We aim to be a version of New Scientist for Marine Science.