Back to 2002 ANNUAL MEETING: CALL FOR SYMPOSIUM, WORKSHOP, AND DISCUSSION PROPOSALS

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to 2001 SCB STUDENT AWARDS

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY EDITOR'S REPORT

Gary K. Meffe, Editor
with input from Margaret Flagg, Editorial Assistant, and Ellen Main, Managing Editor

Highlights

The journal continued to thrive in 2000, with six issues coming out on time. In August 2000 the main editorial office moved from the University of Florida campus to a remote locality that is more spacious and has large windows rather than cinder block walls! The move was prompted by a potential space crunch on campus, and everyone is very happy with the new office. The cost to SCB is essentially unchanged and the mailing address remains at the university.

The number of manuscripts submitted in 2000 almost exactly matched the number received in 1999, indicating some stability in growth for now. Four Special Sections appeared in 2000, a new record for the journal. This boosted the number of pages published to 1948, again a record. Despite the volume of material published, the price of the journal remained constant. The new feature Conservation Forum continued in 2000 and was successful in stimulating discussion within the journal.

Conservation Biology received a great deal of press coverage in 2000 thanks to our media consultant, Robin Meadows, who provides news tips of selected articles one week before each journal issue is mailed. These are picked up by the media, and numerous inquiries are made and stories written. News tips also are available on-line through the science news service EurekAlert! (www.eurekalert.org). We had coverage this year in outlets such as the New York Times, National Public Radio, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Parade magazine.

Our new Editorial Assistant, Margaret Flagg, started last June and has fit in beautifully with the journal; she is doing a smashing job, as is Ellen Main, who has been with the journal longer than anyone.

Finally, our Science Citation Index for 1999 (the latest year available) is the highest ever (3.24), and we are the 11th ranked journal of all ecological journals, again the highest ever. When you consider that the top five journals are all reviews and monographs, which will always lead the way, we are effectively ranked sixth among all ecological journals in the world.

Submissions

The submission rate for this journal year (January-December 2000) was indistinguishable from 1999. We received 580 manuscripts, a 0.17% drop from the 581 submitted in 1999. We also received and processed 89 preliminary manuscript inquiries, a slight decrease from the previous year's total of 99. Most of these consisted of an abstract and an inquiry as to its suitability for the journal. The trend in submittal rate is as follows:

Year # manuscripts % change
1993-94 302
1994-95 378 25.2
1995-96 434 14.8
1996-97 540 24.4
1997-98 579 7.2
1998 614 6.0
1999 581 -5.3
2000 580 -0.17

The trend so far in 2001 is above the pace for 2000 (currently on track for 647 manuscripts), but this is subject to change in either direction.

This year we used 39 ad hoc Assigning Editors, individuals who handled one or more manuscripts but are not on the Editorial Board. Ad hoc Editors were used when a manuscript did not fall within the expertise of existing Editors, when they had special expertise in the area, or if the appropriate Assigning Editor was particularly busy with other manuscripts. This system has worked very well and will continue to be employed. Ad hoc Editors are acknowledged in the December issue of each year, and are an integral part of this journal; I thank them for their contributions.

Decisions and Rejection Rates

Of the 580 papers submitted in 2000, 191 (32.9%) were rejected by the Editor without review (up from 27.5% in 1999), usually within three days of submittal, and usually due to inappropriateness of subject matter or low quality; 389 (67.1%) were sent for review, most through Assigning Editors and a few directly by the Editor.

Of the 389 manuscripts sent for review, 152 (39.1%) were rejected, 145 (37.2%) were accepted, and no decision had yet been reached on 92 (23.7%), which are still in review or in revision with authors. Of the total number of papers submitted (580), 343 (59.1%) were rejected, 145 (25.0%) were accepted, and no decision was reached on 92 (15.9%) as of 20 June 2001. Of the 488 papers for which decisions were made, 343 (70.3%) were rejected. However, some of the "no decision" papers are being revised and likely to be accepted, so the actual rejection rate will be lower than this, probably near 65%.

Turnaround Time

As for last year, this is a "good news-bad news" story. The bad news first. Mean turnaround time for manuscript review increased from 83 days in 1999 to nearly 87 days in 2000 (min = 5; max = 295). We have an ongoing struggle with busy reviewers completing the task in a reasonable amount of time; this was addressed in my April 2001 journal Editorial. We have "downloaded" some Assigning Editors who were consistently slow. But as we add more overseas Assigning Editors (a positive trend) the time will increase somewhat. However, the really good news is that time from acceptance to publication decreased from 255 to 229 days (min = 138; max = 362); this is by far the lowest in the journal's history. Total time from submission to publication decreased from 477 days to 406 days(!) (min = 158; max = 629), also the lowest in journal history. Thus, average time from submittal to publication is now about 13.5 months, down from 15.5 months in 1999 and more than 17 months in 1998. The Editorial Office has made a more concerted effort to get authors to revise their papers quickly, which may account for some of this decrease. Consequently, even though the initial review period continued to increase slightly, the overall time to publication has decreased markedly in two years, by over 20%!

Region of Authorship

Region of authorship is determined by the address of the first author at the time the work was done, and only partially reflects sovereignty of contributions. International participation in authorship is actually higher than indicated by these statistics. Of the 149 papers submitted and accepted in 2000, the proportion written by U.S. authors was 64.6%, a slight increase from last year's 59%. This was surprising, as we have made a conscious effort to publish more non-U.S. papers. However, this is probably not a statistically significant shift, and is still below the figure of 72% from 1998. Other regional changes from 1999 are Asia (4% to 2.7%), Australia (11 to 6.8%), and Europe (13% to 11.5%).

Miscellaneous Information

The page budget for the journal remains the same at 1632 pages; 1948 pages were actually published in 2000, but at no extra cost to the journal or SCB because special sections are funded externally. These sections represent a bonus for the readers. The cost for a non-student, U.S. membership was U.S. 3.85 cents per page. By comparison, the publishing industry considers a book inexpensive if it is under 10 to 12 cents per page.

Efforts toward better internationalization of Conservation Biology continue. The highest priority for new Editorial Board members is always non-U.S. scientists. Presently, 13 of 48 board members are from outside the U.S. (27.1%) and we hope for that to increase; last year the number was eight. New features for 2001 include a new Associate Editor for Education (Carol Brewer) who will pursue and promote the most cutting-edge advances in conservation education, and movement of David Orr to a new position as Associate Editor for Conservation in Context. This provocative new feature will address in a bold and candid way a broad range of topics that impinge upon conservation in the broadest sense.

Finally, Editorials continue to be one of the more challenging aspects of journal production. I welcome submissions of potential Editorials, or discussion of ideas for such. Email me at the journal's address with your thoughts and ideas.

Back to 2002 ANNUAL MEETING: CALL FOR SYMPOSIUM, WORKSHOP, AND DISCUSSION PROPOSALS

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to 2001 SCB STUDENT AWARDS