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Clarivate Announces Winner of the 2022 Eugene Garfield Award for Innovation in Citation Analysis

Clarivate Plc (NYSE: CLVT), a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to accelerate the pace of innovation, has today awarded the Eugene Garfield Award for Innovation in Citation Analysis to the late Dr. Saeed Ul Hassan, senior lecturer in AI/Data Science at Manchester Metropolitan University. The award was announced at the 26th International Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (STI 2022) by Dr. Gali Halevi, Director of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)™ at Clarivate.

Dr. Ul Hassan’s winning proposal was to develop an automated, freely available online tool that would both simplify and summarize text from scientific literature, creating concise and easy-to-read abstracts. The judges felt that the proposal, titled Sustainable & Effective Science Communication: Making Science Accessible for the Public by Generating Simplified Summaries of Scientific Publications, presented an important topic that touches on the real-world challenge of making scientific papers approachable and accessible to the public.

Sadly, Dr. Ul Hassan passed away suddenly before he could be informed of his success.

Dr. Gali Halevi, Director at the Institute for Scientific Information, Clarivate said: “Dr. Ul Hassan’s research and planned online tool could ensure a significant reduction in scientific misinformation especially in times of global challenges such as pandemic, climate change, sustainability and more. This is exactly the kind of innovation we look to recognise with this award, and the judges felt that it was a great example of the kind of work the ISI has pioneered.

“We were shocked and saddened to hear that Dr. Ul Hassan, a rising star in the bibliometrics community, had passed away, and our thoughts are very much with his family, friends, colleagues and students. We know he was passionate about mentoring his students, and we hope that this award will be a small part of continuing his legacy.”

Prior to joining Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr. Ul Hassan spent six years at Information Technology University in Pakistan, where he was the Director of AI Lab and a faculty member. The $25,000 prize fund is being donated to ITU in recognition of his work there.

Dr. Ul Hassan published more than 50 papers in reputed international journals and conference proceedings, and was a lifetime volunteer of Pakistan Hemophilia Patient’s Welfare Society and technical lead of the National Patient Registry of people with a bleeding disorder in Pakistan.

Launched in 2017, the Eugene Garfield Award for Innovation in Citation Analysis recognizes early-career scientists developing innovative approaches to citation analysis that improve how the impact of scientific research is measured. This field of study, also known as scientometrics, was pioneered by Dr. Eugene Garfield, founder of the Institute for Scientific Information.

The ISI focuses on the development of existing and new scientometric approaches. Scientometrics shapes the future of scientific discovery by helping governments, funding bodies and universities assess the impact of their work and investments, enabling them to allocate funding accordingly. It can also provide researchers with insights regarding the impact of their research, and the wider field.

Success of transformative agreement between Springer Nature and Projekt DEAL means 2019 partnership extended for fourth year

TA led to 13% more articles published OA in 2021 than 2020; agreement will now run to at least end 2023 

In 2019 Springer Nature and Germany’s Projekt DEAL signed what was at the time the world’s largest, most comprehensive, transformative agreement (TA). Encompassing 2,500 journals with the expectation of enabling 13,000 articles to be published open access (OA) each year, it reflected the commitment of both parties to the principles of open science and advancing the transition to OA.

The success of the agreement can be seen in that 97% of affiliated authors with eligible universities and institutions in Germany took advantage of the opportunity to publish their articles OA without needing to pay an APC. In addition, in 2021 the agreement saw over 16,000 (+13% on 2020) new research articles in Springer Nature’s fully OA and hybrid journals made freely and openly accessible for scholars everywhere – 60% of all the articles published under DEAL agreements1.

In addition, the agreement led to:

  • Increased visibility and use of German research worldwide. Global downloads of Springer Nature content by German researchers increased 185% in 2021 from 2020;
  • Expanded access to Springer Nature content for German Institutions. 486 institutions are actively participating in the agreement giving their researchers access to the entire Springer Nature portfolio – 12% of which, did not previously have access to Springer Nature’s subscription content; 
  • Greater access for German researchers to non-OA content. Meeting user demand for access to scholarly journal content, 2021 saw a 77% increase in downloads of non-OA articles by researchers at DEAL participating institutions since 2019.

Commenting, Dagmar Laging, VP Institutional Sales, Europe, Springer Nature, said:

“In 2019 we were delighted to sign with Projekt DEAL what was the largest transformative agreement in the world. Not only has it enabled over 28,000 new research articles to be published immediately OA so far, but it has importantly led to German research output being seen and used by more people worldwide. That this agreement is now being extended clearly demonstrates the value of transformative agreements, the benefits they deliver to researchers and institutions, as well as their ability to accelerate the transition to open access.”

Through its wider commitment to the principles and drive for open science, Springer Nature continues to enable a sustainable transition to OA for all authors regardless of discipline, location or funding. The publisher’s 17 national agreements, which alongside its institutional deals, now support researchers from over 2,650 affiliated institutions to publish OA, enabling an expected 41,400+ OA articles to be published a year, 10% more than any other publisher. Last year, the publisher was the first to immediately publish one million gold open access primary research and review articles, supporting nearly 2.5 million authors in making their research OA. Driving the opening up of research and the development of open science remains Springer Nature’s primary focus in serving the research community. More information on the publisher’s approach can be found here.

Taylor & Francis unveils new resources to aid better understanding of monkeypox

Academic publisher Taylor & Francis today launched a Monkeypox Hub and journal article collection. These new resources will help scientists, practitioners, and members of the public find the trusted, peer-reviewed research they need to understand every aspect of the current outbreak.

The World Health Organization declared the 2022 monkeypox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As of August 29, there have been nearly 49,000 confirmed cases across 99 locations (countries, territories, and areas), the vast majority in locations that haven’t historically reported monkeypox cases. The rapid daily increase in cases, with some resulting in death, is causing understandable concern among the public and spurring on scientists to further improve understanding and treatment of the disease.

The new Taylor & Francis Monkeypox Hub is designed for a broad spectrum of users, including public health workers and the public. Across eight sections, the microsite introduces visitors to articles and book chapters on transmission, treatment, and vaccination. The hub also features useful research on tackling health-related stigma and on effective health communication. This is supported by links to advice from a range of authoritative health organizations.

The monkeypox article collection on Taylor & Francis Online brings together, in one place, over 150 papers covering, monkeypox, smallpox, vaccinia, and related vaccines, as well as historical and broader perspectives. The collection was developed for scientists working in these areas, to help advance research discoveries in the fight against monkeypox.

All the articles and book chapters featured in these resources are free to access, in line with the recent call by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for public access to monkeypox-related research. In addition, Taylor & Francis is working with PubMed Central on plans to deposit journal articles in a dedicated monkeypox section of the repository.

New research articles will continue be added to both resources as they are published, so users are encouraged to bookmark the pages to keep up to date with the latest findings and advice.

For researchers, F1000Research is also running a call for participation in a new collection: Trends and Advances in Counteracting Monkeypox: A Global Public Health Emergency. Its purpose is to bring together research related to any aspect of monkeypox and to make this information readily available for researchers, educators, health officials and the general public.

SSP events to discuss the future of and new directions in scholarly publishing

September is shaping up to be quite a busy month for the future of scholarly publishing. Should we focus on addressing the growing suspicion of science, shrinking funding for universities, critiques of the value of peer review, or the industry’s trend toward market consolidation? Or something else? SSP has several opportunities for discussing these issues and more with your peers this month. Read on for details!

Our next webinar, “The Future of Scholarly Publishing: Three Trends to Be Ready For,” takes place September 15 at 11:00 am ET. Moderated by Shirley Decker-Lucke (Content Director, SSRN, Elsevier
), speakers Ann Gabriel (SVP Global Strategic Networks, Elsevier), Elizabeth Scarpelli (Director, University of Cincinnati Press & CLIPS), and Patrick Shafe (Commercial Director, Deanta) will tell us what they see as the top three challenges facing scholarly publishing and how we can prepare.

From September 21 through 22, SSP’s 2022 New Directions in Scholarly Publishing Seminar, “Creating the New Possible: Shaping the Future from Lessons Learned,” gathers experts in the field to review the latest developments and innovations in our industry and discuss how we can collectively take the best of what we’ve learned over the past few years into the future. Featured presentations will highlight the advancement of new ideas, technologies, and collaborations that are currently shaping the future of academic publishing, including new directions in open access; new agreements and collaborations that could change the course of research and research funding; ethics in peer review; new technologies in scholarly publishing and the importance of adapting to a data-driven future; and much more. See the complete program for speakers and session descriptions.

Don’t miss out on any conversations by registering for both events and save! For a limited time, use promo code SEPT22NDWEB to save 20% off of webinar registration when you register for New Directions*.

Those local to the DC area can join SSP and NISO for a social hour to benefit the Generations Fund that kicks off our New Directions seminar and celebrates NISO’s first-ever NISO Plus Forum on September 20. Hosted by the American Geophysical Union on its rooftop space with breathtaking views of Washington, DC, this event will bring together SSP New Directions attendees, NISO Plus Forum attendees, and scholarly publishing professionals in the DC region for some much-needed time to reconnect.

SSP members are also encouraged to share their thoughts on recent developments in our Member Exchange, a members-only forum for connecting, communicating, and collaborating or posting in our LinkedIn Professionals Group to broaden the conversation. However you choose to participate, we’ll see you there!

Springer Nature joins CiteAb as first publisher partner easing access to high-quality life science data to help researchers with their experiments

Reagents – core components in chemical, biochemical and related lab work – are essential for researchers and academics to be able to plan their experiments and develop their research. However, many experiment reproducibility problems can be tied directly to reagents. It is estimated that up to $28 billion annually is wasted on irreproducibility in pre-clinical research – which has a large global impact on the development of high quality research to tackle medical, environmental problems, due to the time wasted in having to correct the reagents the work is based on.

The partnership between Springer Nature and CiteAb, the first with a publisher for the data company, will see selected journal and book citation data from the publisher integrated into CiteAb’s search engine, helping researchers make more informed decisions when identifying the best reagent for their experiments. With over 3 million citations and 10 million+ reagents  now included in the platform, researchers are provided with a more comprehensive view of the most commonly used products in their research field enabling them to: see how and where they are used and to what effect; search for what they need in one place; and have access to information on the  suppliers of reagents, all which helps to save them time and money when identifying the products that are most appropriate for their own experiments.

Commenting on the partnership, Robin Padilla, Ph.D., Director of Product Management, Digital Life Science Solutions at Springer Nature said:

“We are delighted to be the first publisher to partner with CiteAb, as we look to utilise the expertise of the Springer Nature Data Solutions team alongside CiteAb’s fresh approach to the market, to help find solutions to some of the data and resource challenges that face researchers when conducting experiments.

We know that it is incredibly time intensive for researchers to find not only high quality content, but the most suitable resources  – data and products – that they need for their lab, experiment and research work. This partnership seeks to address that challenge by combining our high quality data and content with CiteAb’s innovative platform and search functionality,  and using state of the art text and data mining APIs  to streamline that search process.”

CiteAb’s CEO, Dr Andrew Chalmers added

“We are extremely excited to be partnering with Springer Nature. Their commitment to publishing research of the highest quality aligns with our commitment to generating the highest quality data. Accessing their content will allow us to generate unique data and use it to inform researchers and suppliers, ultimately helping them to advance science more quickly.”

OUP textbooks to use augmented reality

Oxford University Press (OUP) has today announced that it will license its leading dentistry training manuals to Immersify Education for application in the company’s propriety interactive educational platform – Immersify Dental. The agreement will see OUP’s high-quality training content used to create new learning modules within the interactive platform, enabling dental students and professionals to benefit from both practical and theoretical learning. 

As part of the agreement, Immersify Education will initially license OUP’s leading dentistry titles including The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Dentistry and Pickard’s Manual of Operative Dentistry with the potential for more titles to be licensed in dentistry and additional academic areas in the future. By accessing theoretical training through an interactive platform, dental learners and institutions will be able to prepare for real-world scenarios remotely and to the highest standard.

With its vision to become a digital-first publisher and a mission to create world-class academic and educational resources and to make them available as widely as possible, this commercial licensing deal in the field of immersive education technologies represents an important step in an area of focus for the Press.

Speaking about the agreement Andrew Sandland, Senior Business Development and Strategy Manager at OUP, said: “We are extremely proud to announce our new digital content licensing agreement with Immersify Education, which will help provide the most effective learning experience for students and educators. In line with our mission, we are actively looking for opportunities to translate our gold-standard research and training manuals into higher-impact immersive technologies and our agreement with Immersify Education is a positive step in that direction.”

Chloe Barrett, CEO, Immersify Education, said: “For us at Immersify Education, it’s crucial to establish relationships that enable us to continue building and expanding the Immersify platform. Our agreement with Oxford University Press will help us to continue creating expert content and embedding gamified, personalised experiences for the modern generation of learners”. 

ConTech Pharma 2023 – Call for Speakers

ConTech Pharma 2023 is excited to be returning as a hybrid event and will take place not only in person in London but also online on 2nd March 2023. It continues to focus on how technology and particularly data science is relentlessly transforming the world of content.

Following on from a successful event in 2022 the team are thrilled to be delivering the third  ConTech Pharma event which is focused on assisting organisations in understanding and navigating this ever-changing landscape.

Participants will include the pharma and digital healthcare content pioneers who are already seeing the benefits of using data science; the data science visionaries who are building new content tools and those who understand how to start applying data science to their work. Publishers, scientists and technologists coming together to learn, share and network in a fully hybrid environment. 

ConTech Pharma 2023 is excited to announce three main themes for the conference:

1.         A virtuous circle – from real world data – via pre-clinical data – to analytics – and back to treatments in the clinic (including manufacturing)

2.         Aligning the semantics across clinical and pre-clinical applications

3.         IDMP – Standards – knowledge sharing ahead of standards coming into operation.

If you are a publisher, content strategist or curator, R & D scientist, pharma or digital healthcare professional and this resonates it’s time to get involved with this event, whether it’s as a speaker or delegate. The call for speakers is live and we kindly request all submissions to be with us no later than the 4th November 2022. Please complete the submission form on the website here

Wiley Survey Reveals DE&I and Sustainability as Top Priorities for New Society Members

Learned societies need to prioritize Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) and Sustainability to attract new members, according to a recent survey by Wiley. The global leader in research and education today shared four major findings from its 2022 Society Member Survey. In addition to identifying DE&I and Sustainability as top priorities, the survey revealed an eagerness to return to in-person events and a significant increase in the perceived value of society membership.  

This annual survey, which analyzes insights from more than 1,200 participants, evaluates membership trends for learned societies among academics in the research community. Using this survey’s findings, Wiley aims to better understand trends in society members, leading to better support for customers and data-driven solutions for the academic community.  

The survey uncovered the following four emerging trends in the research ecosystem:

1. DE&I is a driver of membership for learned societies. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of respondents said that it was important for societies to take a lead in DE&I, including in the area of racial and ethnic representation. For instance, satisfaction with the representation of racial or ethnic groups in learned societies has fallen to 50% in 2022, as compared to 57% in 2021. Prospective and new society members scored the importance of societies taking an active role in DE&I significantly higher than members with over 30 years’ research experience, furthering the notion that DE&I values will become increasingly important to membership in the years to come. 

2. Newer members value Sustainability efforts. More than two-thirds (69%) believe that societies should prioritize Sustainability. This belief is especially prominent among students, early-career researchers, and those in developing countries. 

3. Society members still feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and are eager to return to pre-pandemic practices. The pandemic’s effects are long-lasting with 43 percent of respondents saying they’ve felt increased stress and anxiety that impacts their work and productivity. In order to negate all that stress and anxiety, they can resort to goods such as a Disposable Vape.

Members are also looking forward to returning to in-person conferences with over half (53%) reporting that they miss these opportunities. In the last 12 months, 32% of respondents attended an in-person conference compared to 19% reported in the 2021 survey. 

4. The perceived value of society membership among the research community continues to grow. This year, the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which measures willingness to recommend learned society membership, increased to 25, representing a 5-point increase from last year and double the rate in 2020. Society reviews are flourishing, which is promising to the research ecosystem as societies contribute thousands of academic papers each year that are critical to the community’s shared goal of advancing understanding in their respective fields. Being a part of a learned society has reportedly brought value to members in many ways, including access to journal content at no additional cost (82%), professional connections (79%), and support in career advancement (76%). 

“For hundreds of years, learned societies have played an essential role in driving the world forward by training professionals, disseminating knowledge and solving problems. As the world’s largest society publisher, Wiley is extremely proud of our partnerships around the globe and is committed to supporting societies as they deliver on the priorities set by current and future members,” said Jay Flynn, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Research.  

This survey was conducted by Broadview Analytics and included 1,255 respondents from the research community. A combination of analytical techniques was used in the analysis, including Factor Analysis, Regression Trees and Comparison Group Testing. The testing was conducted with 99% confidence. 

To learn more about the survey results, read more here: Society membership is more highly recommended than ever: Initial insights from the latest Wiley Society Survey

WVU Libraries signs agreement to support researchers publishing Open Access

In July, West Virginia University Libraries began a partnership with the Public Library of Science (PLOS) to provide researchers with the opportunity to publish, free of processing charges, in any of their Open Access titles over the next three years.

PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher with a suite of 12 influential Open Access journals across all areas of science and medicine. Open Access refers to free, immediate and permanent online access to digital full-text scientific and scholarly material, primarily research articles published in peer-reviewed journals.

“Investment in open access initiatives is one of the WVU Libraries’ five collection funding priorities. This PLOS agreement is another significant step forward,” said Beth Royall, past-chair of the WVU Libraries Collections Advisory Committee.

Article processing fees (APCs) for Gold Open Access or Hybrid Open Access journals typically range from $1,200-$2,700. PLOS’s least expensive APC is $800 (registered research reports in “PLOS ONE”) and their most expensive is $5,300 (“PLOS Biology” or “PLOS Medicine”).

In 2021, PLOS signed an agreement with the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and NorthEast Research Libraries (NERL) to participate in PLOS’ three innovative publishing models.

This three-year agreement provides CRL- and NERL-affiliated institutions the option to pay a flat fee that gives their researchers unlimited publishing privileges in PLOS journals at no additional cost.

WVU Libraries is a CRL member and has chosen to invest in this Open Access opportunity.

“CRL and NERL are thrilled to partner with PLOS to find innovative models between research libraries and nonprofit publishers to make scholarly publishing and research open and equitable for the benefit of all,” said Thomas Padilla, Senior Director of Collections, Technology, and Partnerships at CRL.

Since the PLOS platform launched in 2006, WVU researchers have published more than 500 articles in its journals, with more than 200 in the last five years alone.

“PLOS ONE” is the first multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal to focus on rigorous research and ethics rather than perceived impact.

A complete list of PLOS publications is available here

WVU authors may submit their research articles to any PLOS journal.  If the article is accepted for publication within the next three years, no article processing charge will be incurred.

A primary advantage for authors who make their articles openly accessible is that their impact is maximized because of a wider audience. Because there are limited copyright and licensing restrictions on open-access articles, anyone with Internet access may read, download, copy, and/or distribute them.

WVU Libraries additionally has a Read & Publish Agreement with Cambridge University Press and reduced APCs for several other journals. You can learn more by visiting this link: library.wvu.edu/initiatives/open-access.

cOAlition S applauds the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy’s OA policy guidance

cOAlition S – an international consortium of research funding and performing organisations working to deliver full and immediate Open Access – welcomes the announcement from the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy mandating that all federally funded research results should be made immediately available and in ways which allow others to build upon and reuse them.

Central to this guidance is the requirement that research articles – and the data underpinning their findings – are made publicly accessible by default in agency-designated repositories without any embargo or delay after publication“.

“This new US policy is a game changer for scholarly publishing“commented Johan Rooryck, Executive Director of cOAlition S“In addition to its emphasis on immediate open access, we welcome the focus on reducing inequities in publishing, especially among individuals from underserved backgrounds and those who are early in their careers. Initiatives such as Rights Retention – supported by both funder and institutional policies – can provide a means for effectively delivering open access“

The OSTP guidance is fully aligned with the open access policies of many forward looking universities and research agencies – including those who have implemented Plan S – and with the recent UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science.

“Such a strong statement, from a country that is leading in many research areas, will greatly advance efforts for global open access“, noted Johan Rooryck. cOAlition S looks forward to working with OSTP and other research organisations worldwide to further align our policies towards delivering full and immediate open access to research results.

Publisher announces fourth transformative agreement for its flagship Nature titles

Springer Nature and the FinELIB consortium have agreed a three year open access (OA) deal for the publishers’ flagship titleNature and the Nature research journals. This marks the latest transformative agreement (TA)  for the publisher’s highly selective titles following agreements with BibsamCDL and MPDL. Added to its 17 other agreements, Springer Nature’s TAs now support over 2,650 institutions and  2.5 million authors to publish OA globally.

Speaking on the agreements Caroline Nevison, Director Open Access Agreements, Open Research Strategy, remarked: 

“We are incredibly proud to have agreed this TA with FinELIB –  one which will support Finnish researchers with OA  publication in a wide selection of high quality global OA journals, and one which drives forwards our shared goal of accelerating the development of science, bringing research into use for everybody, effectively and efficiently.

Transformative agreements are not a one size fits all approach – they take time, and with the Nature and Nature Research Journals, can be more complicated due the selectivity of the portfolio, the uniqueness of the non-primary research content, and the level of publishing in different institutions and countries. Yet as one lever in the drive to open research, TA’s are playing a crucial role in making publicly funded research immediately and openly accessible to all on publication, enabling entire countries’ research output to flip to OA.”

The agreement, a three year deal to  December 2024, will enable Finish researchers from over 30 eligible institutions to publish Gold OA across the entire Nature portfolio. It also includes subscription access to the Nature Review, Nature protocols and Research portfolio. The agreement is at no cost to the individual researchers, as OA costs are covered by the consortium deal. 

The volume of OA articles achieved with this  Nature TA, combined with the fact that OA articles are downloaded on average six times more than non-OA articles and cited 1.6 times more, means even greater reach and impact for Finnish researchers and Finnish-funded research. By year end the publisher expects to have several additional Nature OA  agreements in place globally to support OA publication for its flagship title.

Springer Nature continues to support all authors regardless of discipline, location or funding, to publish OA. The publisher’s 17 national agreements, which alongside its institutional deals, now support researchers from over 2,650 affiliated institutions to publish OA, enabling an expected 41,400+ OA articles to be published a year, 10% more than any other publisher. Earlier this month the publisher released a report which demonstrated the impact that publishing in its OA portfolio can have for authors, with research receiving higher usage, downloads and citations than any other fully OA publisher.

IOP Publishing’s open access Environmental Research journal series expands with the opening of the first issue of Environmental Research: Ecology  

IOP Publishing (IOPP) has published the first articles in the open access journal, Environmental Research: Ecology featuring research from a number of world-renowned ecologists. The journal represents one of three new interdisciplinary titles opening in 2022 that will extend IOPP’s Environmental Research series to six open access journals. The full suite of environmental journals provide universally accessible publishing options covering the most critical areas of environmental science and sustainability in support of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals

Environmental Research: Ecology is devoted to addressing the interface of environmental science, large-scale ecology, biodiversity and conservation. The journal publishes full-length research papers, without word restriction, alongside other content including authoritative reviews, perspectives and opinion pieces. It builds on the established reputation of Environmental Research Letters and shares the same modern publishing principles as part of IOPP’s expanding Environmental Research series.  

IOPP’s Environmental Research series of journals combine outstanding levels of author service, inclusive editorial policies, strict quality assurance and have open science principles at their core. In the spirit of transparency and reproducibility, authors publishing in the journal are encouraged to share data and code where appropriate for the benefit of the research community. Authors also have the option to submit their papers for double anonymous and transparent peer review.  

In support of the community and the journal’s first authors, the open access Article Publication Charges (APCs) are being covered by IOPP for all articles submitted to Environmental Research: Ecology through to the end of 2023. 

Environmental Research: Ecology Editor-in-Chief Professor Scott Goetz, Northern Arizona University, USA says: “Ecosystems across the globe are undergoing enormous changes brought about by alteration of the climate system and related transformations associated with human activity. The need to both mitigate and adapt to these changes has been recognised by international policy agreements, yet policies need to be better informed by ecological research. Environmental Research: Ecology provides a platform for incorporating fundamental and applied ecological research using a diverse range of approaches to address realistic science-based policy solutions.” 

Published in the first issue is an impactful study that examines the effects of past and current climate variability on global forest productivity. The work highlights sensitive regions where forests may be most at risk as the planet warms and temperatures become more extreme. Dr Winslow Hansen, from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, New York, lead author of the study comments: “Forests influence a number of ecological factors. Trees sequester carbon emissions that would otherwise cause climate warming, support much of the planet’s biodiversity, and provide essential services such as fuel, food, and clean water and air. Human-caused shifts in mean climate and climate variability could fundamentally alter 21st-century forests with profound consequences for our planet and its ecosystem. The new Environmental Research: Ecology journal provides a platform for climate scientists to further develop, explore, and discover new policies to protect our ecosystem and combat climate change.” 

Dr Tim Smith, Associate Director at IOPP says: “This further expansion of our Environmental Research series builds upon the established reputation and publishing values of Environmental Research Letters and enhances the role we want IOP Publishing to have in serving a multidisciplinary field of great importance. The first articles in Environmental Research: Ecology as the latest addition to the portfolio provide an early glimpse of the quality and breadth of science that the ecology community can expect from a journal aimed at delivering a combination of outstanding publishing services and content for researchers worldwide.”