Physical and chemical studies of the earth and planets along with their
sur- roundings are now developing very rapidly. As these studies are of
essentially international character, many international conferences,
symposia, seminars and workshops are held every year. To publish
proceedings of these meetings is of course important for tracing
development of various disciplines of earth and plane- tary sciences
though publishing is fast getting to be an expensive business. It is my
pleasure to learn that the Center for Academic Publications Japan and
the Japan Scientific Societies Press have agreed to undertake the
publication of a series "Advances in Earth and Planetary Sciences" which
should certainly become an important medium for conveying achievements
of various meetings to the aca- demic as well as non-academic scientific
communities. It is planned to publish the series mostly on the basis of
proceedings that appear in the Journal of Geomagnetism and
Geoelectricity edited by the Society 'Of Terrestrial Magnetism and
Electricity of Japan, the Journal of Physics of the Earth by the
Seismological SOCiety of Japan and the Volcanological Society of Japan,
and the Geochemical Journal by the Geochemical Society of Japan,
although occasional volumes of the series will include independent
proceedings. Selection of meetings, of which the proceedings will be
included in the series, will be made by the Editorial Committee for
which I have the honour to work as the General Editor.