A note of appreciation: Brian H. Rudall

Citation

Alex M., A. (2012), "A note of appreciation: Brian H. Rudall", Kybernetes, Vol. 41 No. 10. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2012.06741jaa.005

A note of appreciation: Brian H. Rudall

Article Type: A note of appreciation: Brian H. Rudall From: Kybernetes, Volume 41, Issue 10

In this last issue of Kybernetes to be compiled with Brian Rudall as Gubernator-in-Chief, it is fitting to note what he has achieved during his period in office. It could be argued that detailed comment is unnecessary here and that it should be enough to repeat the inscription for Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul’s Cathedral: “Si monumentum requiris, circumspice”, or “If you would see his monument look around”.

It is however necessary to correct the suggestion of completion and finality associated with the word “monument”. Brian is giving up what has become the Herculean task of editing Kybernetes but he has many other “irons in the fire” as can be seen from his profiles (Editorial note, 1996, 2011). One reason that retirement from the editorship is welcome is that it will allow time to give proper attention to these other academic activities. He is not retiring to a life of mowing the lawn and growing roses, though no doubt he will take advantage of the reduced pressure on his time to spend a little more of it on these activities, around his beautifully-situated home on Anglesey. Meanwhile, the Herculean task will be made less daunting by sharing the work across the new editorial group.

Figure 1 Plot of numbers of pages per volume against volume number

To appreciate the achievement, it is useful to reflect not only on the prestige and impact won for the journal, but also on the volume of work and the intrinsic difficulty of the task. During Brian’s 30 years of editorship, we have seen vast growth in the subject area, particularly in the interdisciplinary nature of cybernetics, from first to second order cybernetics; and the impact of cybernetics in many different fields from engineering to architecture. With the vast and varied changes in the cybernetics, systems and management science fields, Kybernetes has grown to embrace and be inclusive of these changes. This can be seen from Figure 1, which shows how the number of pages in each volume has increased from something in the region of 300 to a peak of 1,880 for volume 38 in 2009. Brian Rudall took over as Editor-in-Chief for volume 17, in 1988, the previous Editor being Professor John Rose who founded the journal in 1972. Brian Rudall was associated with the journal from its beginning, in particular, as Section Editor for the feature “Contemporary Systems and Cybernetics” (Editorial note, 2011).

Figure 2 Plot of numbers of issues per volume against volume number

The growth of the journal, and of the editorial effort needed to produce it, is also reflected in the number of issues per volume, shown in Figure 2. The broken line shows the numbers of separate covers, and hence of mailings, which in many years is less than the number of issues because pairs of the latter have been combined as “double issues”. This has not reduced the editorial effort, since double issues have been roughly twice as big as single ones.

Difficulty of the task

Handling this sheer volume of material to ensure that the journal reflects the ever-changing nature of the subject area and to keep publishing the highest quality of research across all cybernetics disciplines presents an obvious difficulty, and organisational difficulties arise from such causes. The overall steering of a publication concerned with cybernetics must demand exercise of judgement and the making of difficult decisions. Something similar could be said with reference to any journal aiming to be at the forefront of any branch of science, but the interdisciplinary and evolving nature of cybernetics make it specially demanding.

The stated editorial objectives of Kybernetes refer to weeding-out of pseudo-cybernetic claims and the placing of the subject on sound scientific foundations (and something similar appears in publications of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics). However, any formalisation of such foundations must depend on a current “state of the art” and will fairly certainly have the unwanted effect of working against recognition of a true pioneer, or “man who is ahead of his time”.

There is in fact, no simple solution and an editor of a scientific journal, especially one concerned with cybernetics, must walk a tightrope in weeding-out of pseudo-cybernetic claims and in the placing of the subject on sound scientific foundations, publishing the research of true pioneers in the field. The Editor-in-Chief is not working alone in this endeavour, since he has the support of an Editorial Advisory Board and a ghostly but vital squad of anonymous reviewers, as well as the home team at Emerald, but he has overall responsibility for setting the tone. Brian Rudall has to be admired and congratulated on the balance he has struck. It is to be hoped that future editors will follow his example and that the journal will continue to provide the forum it has, and to flourish, and that Brian will enjoy the increased freedom of his change of status.

Alex M. Andrew