Introducing the mini-review article category and the Journal of Avian Biology review award

Abstract

Journal of Avian Biology (JAB) publishes hypothesis-driven, high-quality research from all parts of the globe that advances our understanding of the ecology, evolution and behaviour of birds. Findings can be disseminated in research articles, short communications, viewpoint articles and reviews. Reviews perform an important function as vehicles to convey critical information in a synthesized way; they not only aggregate information, but also identify current research gaps and pave the way for future investigation. Comprehensive review articles, however, are major undertakings that may quickly go out of date. To address this challenge and to offer a nimbler format to publish overviews of a particular field or aspect in avian biology, JAB introduced the ‘mini-review' article category in December 2022. As the name suggests, mini-reviews are shorter than standard reviews (about 6000 words) and can be used to highlight a sub-topic or ongoing debate within a broader research area. They provide a succinct and clear summary of the research topic and give readers a quick overview of the most recent and significant advances.

Journal of Avian Biology is an important outlet for young researchers. Of all the articles published in 2023, nearly 60% had a corresponding author with no more than 8 years of post-doctorate research experience. Most of the corresponding authors on these papers (close to 50%) were PhD students or early postdocs at the time of publication. To emphasize this and to highlight the mini-review category as a new outlet for early career researchers to synthesize their research, JAB announced the first ‘JAB review award' competition in spring 2023. The award is sponsored by the Nordic Society Oikos (NSO), the umbrella society for the ecological societies in the Nordic countries, who publishes JAB and four other scientific journals (Oikos, Nordic Journal of Botany, Ecography and Wildlife Biology).

The JAB review award is given to an early career research scientist who has an exceptional mini-review manuscript accepted for publication in JAB. The mini-review should focus on new developments and/or emerging concepts in the areas of avian research that fall within the scope of the journal. The winner of the JAB review award receives a 1000€ honorarium and the runner-up receives 500€. If the award is given for a paper with multiple authors (the lead and corresponding author(s) must be early career), those meeting the early career research criteria at the time of publication will share the monetary prize. All accepted papers that are entered in the competition will appear together in an issue in Journal of Avian Biology.

In this first ‘award issue', we briefly reiterate eligibility and submission criteria, and outline the assessment criteria for the award. We wish to be clear and transparent about these criteria as it recently has been highlighted that there is not enough transparency in scientific awards for early- and mid-career researchers in ecology and evolution (Lagisz et al 2023). We briefly highlight the key takeaways from the accepted papers and provide a short evaluation of the winner and runner-up.

To be considered for the JAB review award, authors must submit their manuscript by the submission deadline for the award which is communicated on the journal webpage. Contenders for the award must communicate to the journal that they wish to enter their manuscript in the competition for the JAB review award. This can be done through the cover letter or by directly contacting the editorial office (the contact information can be found on the journal webpage). To be eligible the author(s) must have finished their PhD within 8 years prior to the deadline (MSc students and PhD students are also eligible). JAB realizes that life intervenes occasionally, so this cut-off is meant to be a suggestion and not a hard requirement. However, applicants should provide an explanation if they are requesting an exception (e.g. absence due to family leave, drastic shifts in research area, etc.). JAB particularly encourages submissions coming from underrepresented geographic areas and historically underrepresented groups.

As JAB is a full gold Open Access journal, the NSO charges an Article Processing Charge (APC) for all accepted papers. Although there are more and more funders and institutions that have agreements with our publisher Wiley that cover the APC (i.e. no direct cost to the author), we recognize that the open access costs may prevent some early career researchers from participating in the review competition. JAB participates in the Research4Life initiative, granting authors from over 100 countries worldwide waivers or significant reductions of the APC. In addition, we provide internal waivers to young researchers who cannot cover the APC. These waivers are limited and are given on a first come, first served basis. Waiver requests must be made to the editorial office before submission. This ensures that the decision for a waiver is independent from the editorial process (see below). For the first year of the competition, we received five internal waiver requests and four of those were granted.

Manuscripts that meet the basic criteria for a JAB review award paper go through the normal peer review process. JAB operates with double-blind peer review where the reviewers don't know the identity of the authors and vice versa. Reviewers are not made aware of that the submission is part of the competition. To be considered for the JAB review award a manuscript must be accepted in JAB for publication. Accepted articles are ranked based on two scores: a score based on the subject editor's and the reviewers' assessment (= scientific score) and a score based on the assessment of the award committee (= writing and readability score). The award committee consists of members of the JAB editorial board. Editors who have co-authored a manuscript that was entered in the current competition cannot be members of the award committee.

Scientific score: all reviewers who submit a review to JAB are asked to rate the priority for publishing the reviewed article (score 1-10, 1 is the highest priority, 10 is the lowest priority). Every manuscript is reviewed by at least two reviewers and may go through several rounds of revisions, and each review will result in a score. In addition, for the competition we ask the subject editor of the manuscript to rate it in the same format as the reviewers when it is accepted. The average of all reviewer' scores and the subject editor's score makes up the scientific score.

Writing and readability score: the award committee rates the accepted articles based on three criteria: 1) clarity of sentences, 2) flow between sentences and paragraphs, and 3) engagement (is the text engaging; no reader fatigue?). The committee members rate the accepted articles in the same way as the reviewers (score 1-10, 1 is the highest, 10 is the lowest). The average of the committee members' scores makes up the writing and readability score.

The scientific score and the writing and readability score are summed up and the article with the lowest score (i.e. highest rating) is pronounced as the winner, and the article with the second lowest score as the runner-up. Although the two scores are not independent, the reviewers/editors and the committee members have a different focus when rating the manuscripts/articles. Reviewers are not given the authors' names before rating the article and, hence, scoring is part of the double-blind peer review. Editors and committee members are asked not to factor into the evaluation who the authors are or where they are from.

Eleven manuscripts were submitted as part of the competition and five of those were accepted for publication. Needless to say, all manuscripts accepted for publication are valuable contributions to the field of avian biology. The submitted contributions covered a wide range of topics and this breadth is also reflected in the accepted articles. Below we provide short appraisals of the winning article and the runner-up as well as short summaries of all five contributions (the junior authors of the articles are highlighted in bold).

The winner of the 2023 JAB review award is Violeta Caballero-Lopez. Violeta's review on the current state of migration genetics, which she co-authored with Staffan Bensch (Caballero-Lopez and Bensch 2024) recommends a shift in how we study migration moving from searching for specific genes to using gene expression. The paper does an excellent job bringing together different perspectives on migration ontogeny and highlighting the complexities of studying migration while also providing some great examples from the existing literature. The review obtained the highest scientific score of all the five accepted mini-reviews and the same writing and readability score as the runner-up. The article is well balanced, with a good structure and flow, and pointing towards future directions. Moreover, it is impressively engaging for a subject that can be considered a bit of a challenge to communicate to the broad readership of JAB.

Guillaume Dillenseger is the runner-up of the 2023 JAB review award competition. Guillaume's review of brood parasite-host interactions and co-evolutionary trajectories offers a novel perspective on how sex-linked inheritance might contribute to assortative mating in parasitic bird species (Dillenseger 2024). A compendium in and of itself, the manuscript discusses newly identified components of the relationships between hosts and their brood parasites that may act as selective pressures or contexts complementary to those previously outlined in the literature. The sentences, paragraphs and sections flow logically and keep the reader engaged.

The mini-review by Grace Blackburn, Camilla Soravia and Amanda Ridley highlights anthropogenic stressors and the paucity in evaluating such stressors simultaneously (Blackburn et al. 2024). Multiple stressors may exacerbate their effects on wild birds compared to evaluating them alone. By reviewing effects of high temperatures and anthropogenic noise both as single stressors but more importantly how they interact to affect behaviour, reproduction and cognitive ability in birds, Blackburn et al take an important step to address this knowledge gap.

Heather Wolverton and Rindy Anderson discuss challenges and opportunities associated with the definition and study of ‘syntax' in animal communication (Wolverton and Anderson 2024). This analysis includes some important considerations for research into birdsong in particular, as well as other avian vocalizations, summarizing important terminology, perspectives and contexts for ongoing investigations that attempt to understand the structure of animal signals.

Finally, Frank Muzio and Margaret Rubega review almost 100 years of literature on how the structure of feathers affects their ability to repel water (Muzio and Rubega 2024). They discuss how chemical and structural properties affect how feathers interact with water and the complexities involved in understanding what makes feathers repel water. A comprehensive synthesis about the current state of knowledge on the water repellency of feathers.

To sum up, we are very happy to present the first special issue of the JAB review award competition featuring five excellent mini-reviews and emphasizing JAB as an outlet for young researchers. The mini-review competition is intended as a returning feature in JAB and we are looking forward to seeing many excellent mini-reviews published in the journal in the future.