Editorial

In this issue we are pleased to publish six pieces of work reflecting research being carried out in China, India, Germany and Poland.

If you have recently submitted papers for possible publication in Industrial Lubrication and Tribology then you will know that we have now moved to a web-based system for the receipt and progressing of papers. This system is known as JADE (journal article delivery engine, http://jade.emeraldinsight.com), which should make it easier for authors to submit their work which in turn can be handled more easily by the editor and reviewers. It saves authors needing to produce and send by post CDs and journal article record forms. I hope you will find this step forward makes life easier for those submitting papers. It seems only a couple of years ago that all submissions were in hard copy which had to be scanned to get them into an electronic format! Progress in the area of technical publishing has been rapid.

Has it been too fast though in the field of lubrication and tribology?

With the shortages of raw materials, especially base oils, in the US and Europe some old hands in the industry are asking about the relevance of some of our basic lubricant specifications. Some different base oils are now being used,whose performance has not necessarily being evaluated in the longer term. If, as expected, no real field problems arise is it possible that some, for example,engine oil specifications, may be including “nice to have”characteristics? In other words, do current specifications include unnecessary restrictions on formulations which in reality only increase lubricant costs without any benefit to the end-user? It is all to do with modern specifications being designed to prevent problems rather than the old approach where specifications were changed in response to real operating problems.

It really would be interesting for research establishments to look at this issue and see if reality and modern specifications are in conflict.

John Taylor