Ian Beecroft Loves His Work As an Edi- Processes of Journal Review, Production, Ian Beecroft: Tor
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Other Than Editing by Rita M Washko Ian Beecroft loves his work as an edi- processes of journal review, production, Ian Beecroft: tor. As managing editor of the European and finance. “I oversee all aspects, from Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (based receipt of new manuscripts to publication Editor and in Switzerland), Beecroft deals with many both in print and online. This involves types of people, gets to travel, and feels a managing our Bench Press manuscript White-Water sense of satisfaction when each issue is processing system—coordinating with completed and distributed to the journal’s authors, reviewers, associate editors, and Kayaker readers. “This is a fascinating but challeng- the editor-in-chief—and then working ing time to be working in the science-pub- with the desk editors, typesetters, printers, lishing industry”, Beecroft says. He also distributors, and online journal facilita- loves white-water kayaking. tors.” He likes the fact that his journal Beecroft was born in Aston-under-Lyne, activities bring him into contact with “all an industrial town east of Manchester, sorts of people”. And he gets to travel as United Kingdom, in 1959. His introduc- well. Beecroft says that he travels all over tion to kayaking was in the Boy Scouts. Europe and often to the United States. In When he was 13, he and fellow scouts April 2005, between conferences, he went built a fleet of kayaks to navigate the local kayak surfing in Santa Cruz, California, waterways. Shortly thereafter, he joined the “and learned some colorful language from Manchester Canoe Club, which is involved the local board surfers”. in river canoeing and kayaking. Beecroft got Outdoor sports provide a refreshing con- involved in competitive slalom kayaking trast to his daytime role as editor, Beecroft (paddling a kayak between gates suspended says. “I’ve kept an active interest in the over the river) around the age of 14 and glaciers. The glaciers in the Alps are taking later represented Britain in international a bashing [these days]”, he says. Although competitions. “I’ve been enjoying kayaking he no longer studies glacier activity for for more than 30 years”, he says. a living, he still gets into the mountains Beecroft’s love for the outdoors influenced quite often. He also kayaks often, usually his choice of majors in college. After com- four or five times a week in the Alps and pleting a degree in geology at the University other EU locations during the warmer of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, he did months. “There is a fantastic river surf- research at the University of Southampton, ing spot on the River Rhone” only 30 km also in the United Kingdom. Initially, from his house from which he launches his he worked as a geologist studying glacier kayak at the end of his workday. He calls activity in the mountains of Switzerland. the Rhone’s temperature of about 8°C But that was before the worldwide concern “refreshing”. about global warming and its environmen- Given that Beecroft has not only a full- tal impact, and funding was scarce. After 3 time job but also a wife and family, his years of glacier work, he landed a position excursions to places farther away are less with the publisher Elsevier; he worked ini- frequent. The family does not join him tially in Lausanne, Switzerland, and then in on his excursions, but it does “all sorts of Ireland. His position in Ireland involved other things together”, and all are involved coordinating the transfer of production of in the outdoors—his 18-year-old daughter Elsevier’s European Union (EU) clinical- recently returned from climbing Island Peak medicine list of about 30 medical journals in Nepal. Every year or so, Beecroft and a from Amsterdam to Shannon. “I didn’t group of trusted friends select an exotic, think I’d last for more than 5 minutes” in remote location for white-water kayak- an editorial role, he says, because he had ing. Each location is discovered by “bush such passion for the outdoors. But he stayed telegraph” (word of mouth). On average, with Elsevier for 11 years and then went to 15 to 20 people go on the 8- to 10-day work for his current employer as managing excursions. Occasionally, Beecroft brings editor. his 2.42-m, 15-kg kayak along, depending In his current role, Beecroft manages the on the airline’s rules and the regulations 26 • Science Editor • January – February 2006 • Vol 29 • No 1 Other Than Editing continued of the country of destination. Although he the rivers are entered at elevations as high and his friends never use a guide, they do as 4000 m (about 13,000 ft). Typically, occasionally hire “raft support” from local Beecroft arrives a day or so early so he can river-rafting companies to transport their acclimate and thus avoid acute mountain food and gear. sickness. He has kayaked in the Sun Kosi, a Many of the places Beecroft travels to river in Nepal that originates in the world’s are extremely cold. For example, in August highest mountain range, the Himalayas. The 2005, he kayaked the Zanskar River in Sun Kosi has challenging rapids with names Northern India, an excursion he describes like Meat Grinder, High Anxiety, and Dead as an “amazing trip down the Grand Man’s Eddy, according to kayaking travel Canyon of Asia. Zanskar is a fantastic and sites. Downstream, the river is joined by the wild place, a desert in the Himalayas at Dudh Kosi, a river that begins near the base 3500 m [over 11,000 ft] altitude with a huge of Mt. Everest and whose perils were cap- icy river running through it.” The Zanskar tured in a film called “First Descent of Dudh River is accessible only a few months of the Kosi—Relentless River of Everest”. year. The rest of the time, the river is frozen The experiences over time pay off, and and serves as the major thoroughfare for the one learns from them, Beecroft says. “You local people and their animals; yaks and learn to read the signs that show you the their owners can be seen journeying along best and safest line down the river.” There Ian Beecroft it. But despite the region’s harsh climate, it have been times, though, when he has is a “magical” place, he says. The area is part capsized and has saved himself with an of the Tibetan plateau and is next to Tibet adept “Eskimo roll” to right himself and and Kashmir; there is chaos all around, but the kayak. the place itself is peaceful, he says. Beecroft says he has not brushed up Looks can sometimes be deceiving. One against other hazards, such as dangerous must plan ahead, read the guidebooks, and animals or life-threatening storms. Usually, talk to others about the proposed route, on the large rivers, a short downpour doesn’t Beecroft says. Danger can be just around change the level of the river much. And, the corner, literally. Once, for example, although his excursions involve bivouack- during a kayaking trip on a river in Turkey, ing along the river and he has slept on a huge rockfall preceded his group’s arrival beaches inhabited by spiders and snakes, he to a spot on the river. The rockfall created has never had a threatening encounter with new rapids, and there were "horrible, nasty one. For kayakers who venture into Africa, rocks” all around. Beecroft and his friends though, it’s a different story, he said; hippos were faced with an “obligatory passage” and crocodiles can pose real danger. The because there was nowhere else to go. closest he’s come to such encounters was There have been other misadventures but finding bear tracks on a sandy beach. none that were life-threatening. In 1991, Thus far, Beecroft’s kayaking excursions he was on a kayaking trip to Kyrgyzstan have taken him all over Europe and to the just in time to experience the chaos of the United States, Canada, Turkey, Russia, disintegration of the Soviet Union. “You Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and India. could not find gas or transport, and people “It does make a very nice contrast with were standing up on a 5-hour flight from editorial work”, he says. Tashkent to Moscow”, he says; “then, we had to unload the plane ourselves. One RITA M WASHKO is a staff physician and guy got onto the flight by bartering a Swiss medical resource for biomedical research at Army knife with the pilot.” With “lots of Arizona State University. She prepared this patience and a bit of baksheesh”, Beecroft profile while a Science Editor intern. got back home. High altitudes can also present a problem during these kayaking trips, in that many of Science Editor • January – February 2006 • Vol 29 • No 1 • 27.