ACTA CARSOLOGICA 36/2 – 2007 338 REVIEWS AND REPORTS POROč ILA ANDREJ KRANJC In 1982 Chinese karstologists from the Institute of Karst Geology at Guilin started the quarterly journal CAR- SOLOGICA SINICA (ZHONGGUO yANRONG). The journal is under the aegis of Chinese Academy of Geo- logical Sciences, patronized by the Commission of Karst Geology and by the Committee of Speleology in the frame of Geological Society of China. And not only sponsored but also edited and published by the well known Insti- tute of Karst Geology at Guilin in the heart of world fa- mous tower karst along the river Li. Chinese karstologists not only started but they succeeded to edit the journal through the quarter of a century without interruption. In this year number 1 and 2 of the volume 26 have been published already. The major topics of Carsologica Sinica include basic theories, hydrogeology and engineering, environmental and ecological geology, geography, forestry, agriculture, tourism, and the environment protection. Of course, all the topics are related to karst. According to the topics is 25 y EARS Of CARSOLOGICA SINICA the circle of the readers and users of the journal. Carso- logica Sinica is high ranked among the periodical pub- lications of China and it is included in different foreign (Georef, Pascal, International Union of Speleology, Cur- rent Titles of BCRA and others) and in leading Chinese databases. Of the last mentioned Carsologica Sinica has high input factor (0.54 – 0.84) and it is ranked between 181 – 399 of 1608 Chinese publications. By an interesting and quite unknown indicator, the rate of error lower than 2 o/oo, the journal is ranked very high too. The high ap- preciation of the journal must not surprise regarding the immense and so various Chinese karst and the fact that Carsologica Sinica is the only public academic publica- tion in the field of karstology in China. In 25 volumes of Carsologica Sinica there are more than 1 200 papers. The emphasis is on the fundamental karst research, on development of karst resources and on applied research of karst resources exploitation and pro- tection. If we compare the source of information for the ACTA CARSOLOGICA 36/2 – 2007 339 articles there is quite a big difference between Carsologi- ca Sinica and western journals of the same type: here the source are mainly (80 %) National Natural Science f oun- dation Projects and National Scientific and Technologi- cal Key Projects. It is difficult to estimate journal’s great contribution to the science of karst. f or sure among the authors there are eminent and the most known Chinese karstologists, that means known worldwide. In the first volume (1982) already appeared the names of yang Min- gde and Zhu Dehau, the colleagues which the members of Karst Research Institute from Postojna met often in China or in Slovenia. At that time the article on limestone caves in Guilin area was published by Prof. Zhu x uewen. Looking the contents of the last number (volume 26) there is the article on Wulong karst system by the same author. Among younger authors known to Western kar- stologists I have a pleasure to mention Chen Weihai. f or Western sphere maybe it is easier to imagine importance of the authors by citing Marjorie M. Sweeting and Peter Bull (Great Britain), Claude Drogue (f rance) and Paul Williams (New Zealand) as few examples. In 25 years also the image and technical possibilities developed. f irst numbers measured 18 x 26 cm, while the recent ones are of bigger dimensions (21 x 30 cm). At the beginning the cover was simple in one colour while vol- ume 26 (2007) has a nice full page colour photo of “feng- lin” karst. Likewise can be said for the inner pages where there are colour illustrations now. It is worthy from the point of non-Chinese speaking readers that from the first numbers already most of the papers have an English ab- stract or summary. In the volume 26 there are also key words, texts to the illustrations, and some additional ex- planations in English. It is self-understanding that the pa- pers of foreign authors are in English. But recently there are also papers of Chinese authors, published in English in Carsologica Sinica, for example “Geophysical Pros- pecting of Karst Water in yunnan Province” by Wang yu, yuan Dao-xian and yang Shi-yu. But there are exceptions regarding foreign authors too: in 2006 a Supplement to volume 25 was published with 11 papers of foreign au- thors talking about “tiankengs” – in Chinese. The last but not least the editors have to be men- tioned too. 18 years the post and heavy duty of Editor- in-Chief was held by yuan Dao-xian succeeded by Liu Zai-hua, also very important figure in Chinese karstol- ogy. They were helped for a long time by Assistant Chief- Editor Wei f ucai. To help to and to support the editorial policy foreign karstologists are included into the editorial board, A. N. Palmer, J. M. James, T. Waltham, W . Drey- brodt and the author of this report. By my opinion the “Western” karstologists are us- ing the information and data mainly upon karst in China accumulated in 25 volumes of Carsologica Sinica far too little. The language barrier is very important but it must not be decisive. English abstracts, summaries, key words, together with illustrations can be important source of Chinese examples of karst as well as a window to the thoughts and notion of karst by Chinese research- ers. In spite of bibliographical bases Carsologica Sinica is included it is much less used and appreciated as it should be. It is seen by the citations as well as the use by researchers in libraries. To be honest, the journal is not so wide spread in Europe and so it is not easy to get wanted number or article. I guess that there is no complete issue of 25 volumes in the whole Slovenia, Karst research Insti- tute library included. What kind of good wish to express for this 25th an- niversary? To keep on the work, to keep on the quality of the contents and of the layout of the journal and dissemi- nate it as largely as possible. Andrej Kranjc REVIEWS AND REPORTS / POROč ILA