Message from the new Editor-in-Chief

Abstract

Starting January 2024, I will be serving as the Editor-in-Chief of Ecological Research (ER) for a 2-year term. The publishing landscape has recently undergone dramatic changes, marked by the emergence of many new journals and an expanding range of options for authors to submit their work. In such a situation, we need to make an even greater effort to become your journal of choice. Building on the accomplishment of the former Editor-in-Chief, Jun-Ichirou Suzuki, I will strive to make ER a more reliable as well as accessible platform for publishing your research than ever before.

I encourage submissions not only from members of the Ecological Society of Japan but also from a broader audience. Our editorial team will continue to publish original papers covering a diverse range of topics in ecology. Last year, we published original papers on population ecology (e.g., Tsumura, 2023; Worth et al., 2023), community ecology (e.g., Chang et al., 2023; Ohkawara & Taijiri, 2023), ecosystem ecology (e.g., Matsumoto et al., 2023), conservation ecology (Hirano et al., 2023; Tsujimoto et al., 2023), plant–animal interactions (e.g., Kawata & Takimoto, 2023; Sánchez-Collazo et al., 2023), behavioral ecology (Bibi et al., 2023), and physiological ecology (e.g., Rooney et al., 2023; Sugimoto & Ishida, 2023), among others. Our papers also cover topics that are of high societal interest, including the analysis of the ongoing invasion of the white-footed ant (Technomyrmex brunneus Forel) in eastern Asia (Putri & Cronin, 2023), recent expansion of a Japanese land leech (Haemadipsa japonica Whitman) associated with the migration of sika deer (Morishima et al., 2023) and future persistence of high-mountain lizards worldwide under climate change (Moreira et al., 2023). When you publish your work in ER, it will be eligible for the ER Paper Award, in which five outstanding papers were selected last year (https://doi.org/10.1111/1440-1703.12418). The Award Ceremony is held during the Annual Meetings of the Ecological Society of Japan. Your work will also be disseminated through TOC alerts as well as social media via X (formerly, Twitter; @EcologicalRes). In terms of Impact Factor (IF), ER ranks 103rd out of 171 journals in ecology according to Clarivate, although we should recognize that IFs are just based on citations in the previous 2 years and are one of many metrics that measure journals' performance.

Last year, three Special Features were published—“Functional biogeography: Lessons from the geographic variations in the most dominant tree species in Japan” in Issue 1; “Listen to the voices of local beech forests: An ecological and evolutionary conception of beech under phylogenetic and environmental constraints” in Issue 2; and “Blue carbon dynamics in coastal habitats: Their role in climate change mitigation and ecosystem function” in Issue 4 (see Hiura, 2023; Kitamura et al., 2023; Sharma et al., 2022 for prefaces, respectively). Your proposals for future Special Features are welcome and should be submitted to [email protected]. Also, you can submit your work as “Data articles” and “Biodiversity in Asia,” the latter of which reports and reviews the patterns and processes of biodiversity in Asian regions (e.g., see Kudo et al., 2024; Miura et al., 2023).

I welcome a new Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Fujio Hyodo; new Associate Editors-in-Chief, Nobuo Imai, Hiroyuki Yokomizo and Saori Fujii; a new Handling Editor, Jifua Wu to our editorial team. I would also like to acknowledge that early career researchers have been contributing to editorial processes in ER, including the initial manuscript assessment and editing of accepted manuscripts, as managing and copy editors. Their expertise and passion are indispensable to the operation of our journal.

I hope this editorial provides comprehensive information about our editorial processes. I also wish to thank our readers, authors, reviewers, and editors for their kind and continued support. Finally, I encourage you to consider submitting your future work to us.