Estuaries and Coasts Enters a New Era

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Jim Cloern

sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/access/wqdata/overview/people/jim.html

James Cloern (jecloern@usgs.gov) is an aquatic ecologist who began working for the USGS in 1976. He has BS (1970) and MS (1973) degrees in zoology from the University of Wisconsin, and Ph.D. in zoology/limnology from Washington State University (1976). Jim has experience conducting research in lakes, streams, and estuaries, using field measurements and numerical modeling to identify the patterns and mechanisms of ecosystem variability. He is leader of the USGS team that collects water quality measurements in San Francisco Bay.
 

 

We are very pleased with the direction Estuaries and Coasts is taking and see signs, such as a recent 10-fold increase in the number of papers downloaded and a 3-fold increase in international manuscript submissions, that our main strategic goals are being met. Our new publishing partner, Springer, is solid and responsive and good team spirit has been built. Springer is the world’s second largest publisher of science, technology and medical scholarly literature.

We have welcomed ten new Editorial Board members (table 1). We thank them and all of the continuing Editorial Board members for their excellent service.

Several changes have been made to expand and improve the journal’s international accessibility, its web page, the web-based manuscript handling platform, the communication and work flow and the instructions for authors. Feedback from authors, editors and reviewers who have used the new features indicates satisfaction with the functions and performance.

A bibliometric study of Estuaries and Coasts led by Jim Fourqurean has been accepted for publication in the journal. It includes updated and complementary key data on the journal’s performance. This paper is freely available on the journal’s web page. The data in this paper represents a benchmark against which success of journal management and performance can be gauged.

We will evaluate the journal’s scope, contents and production annually. The foundation for these annual evaluations was laid in January 2008 at the first editorial strategy meeting attended by representatives of the Federation and Springer.  In general, participants felt that the process of moving the journal’s production to Springer was proceeding smoothly. This first strategic meeting was instrumental in launching the journal on a steady course.  A number of strategic goals were created including: expanding the Editorial Board to under-represented regions such as Asia; the sequencing of papers and issues; further engaging the Associate Editors in recruiting outstanding papers; plans for issues on special topics and clusters of related papers; among others.  These directions are being followed. 

We are confident that the improvements in manuscript handling and the speed of editorial decisions will lead to an increase in submitted manuscripts. The time from submittal to first decision is quite reasonable, at 47.2 days, showing a good performance of all those involved the editorial process. We extend our gratitude to all reviewers who send in their reviews quickly! Once a manuscript is accepted authors typically receive proofs within two weeks. Their papers are posted on line within two weeks of reception of the corrected proofs at Springer. This is much faster than previously achieved and has pleasantly surprised all involved.

Table 1. Estuaries and Coasts Editorial Board

Ten new Associate Editors have been recruited since November 2007. Five of the 10 new Associate Editors are based at US institutions and 5 are outside the US with 4 in Europe and 1 in Asia).

Editor’s Name Location Country Topics of Expertise
Alberto V. Borges Liège Belgium Carbon and carbonate cycling in coastal ecosystems, including estuaries, seagrass beds, mangroves and continental margins, with particular emphasis on air-sea exchange of CO2 and on the coupling between inorganic carbon dynamics and biological processes
Jacob Carstensen NERI, Denmark Denmark Statistics, Eutrophication, Hypoxia, Regime shifts, Management
Holly Greening Tampa, FL USA Management and policy; coordinates TBEP’s bay research projects and oversees its intergovernmental Technical Advisory Committee; development of habitat restoration strategies, restoration of low-salinity tidal streams; hurricanes
Ed Houde Solomons, MD USA Fisheries science and management, larval fish ecology, and fisheries oceanography, zooplankton, resource management
Noah Knowles USGS, Menlo Park, CA USA Climate, hydrology, watersheds, modeling
Mark Stacey Berkeley, CA USA Environmental fluid mechanics; transport and mixing in stratified flows; estuarine, lake and coastal ocean circulation; coupled physical-biological modeling; inverse modeling and parameter estimation
Liana Talaue-McManus Miami, FL USA Integrated Coastal Management; typology of watersheds; impact of economic activities on biogeochemical cycling; LOICZ; coastal development in Bolinao, Philippines; Growth, mortality and recruitment pattern of the brown mussel
Jose Manuel Zaldivar ISPRA, Italy Italy Modeling, Contaminants
Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi University of Pisa Italy Organization and dynamics of natural communities; manipulative field experiments in marine shoreline communities to examine how patterns in natural communities are generated and maintained; marine biodiversity and ecosystem function. Experimental design. Statistics.
Wen Wang Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Hong Kong Metals, pollutants in coastal waters and their biota

One of our key strategic goals is to increase journal accessibility and usage beyond the ceiling that had been imposed by the Federation's own resources. Since the journal has been accessible on the Springer platform in January 2008, data on articles downloaded (figure 1) shows a very fast increase in usage, with the number of downloads in January already exceeding those in previous years by about 10 times. Downloads in February doubled again.

Figure 1. The number of times that Estuaries and Coasts manuscripts were downloaded from 2001 through January 2008. The number of downloads in February 2008 increased to 7,000.

We are happy to report some extremely interesting and significant upcoming papers. These include three excellent papers for the annual Odum Synthesis Essay series, 11 new Perspectives papers, and two sets of thematic papers to be bundled into single issues. A special issue will be published in 2009 and two interesting ideas for special issues have been reviewed with us, although formal proposals have not yet been submitted. 

In a future issue of this Newsletter, we will report additional news about the upcoming special issues and clusters of papers.

We invite all Federation members, their colleagues and students to consider Estuaries and Coasts first as the publishing outlet for manuscripts reporting on your excellent work. We offer you rapid response to manuscript submittals and an increasingly large and international audience of readers.

This article is adapted from the Co-Editors in Chief’s April 2008 report to the CERF Governing Board. Taylor Bowen, Editorial coordinator, Janet Slobodien, Editor, Life Sciences, Springer, and Joy Bartholomew, CERF, all contributed to the earlier document.