Environ Biol Fish (2009) 85:1–2 DOI 10.1007/s10641-009-9457-8

Growth and development David L. G. Noakes

Received: 4 November 2008 / Accepted: 28 January 2009 / Published online: 17 February 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009

Since I became Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Biology of Fishes (Noakes 2003) we have experienced a series of planned and progressive changes in our operation and content. This has been coordinated with progressive changes by our Publisher, Springer Academic. The most apparent, and significant, of these changes have been the development and implementation of electronic submission and communication procedures. Manuscripts are now accessible online as soon as they are accepted for publication, through Publication First, one of the innovative features of Springer. Authors now have the option of making their manuscripts available through Open Access, another feature available from Springer. I also instituted a regular procedure of rotation and replacement of Advisory Editors. In this regard it is my pleasure to announce the most recent of these changes. Dr. Kathleen S. Cole of the University of Hawaii has joined our Advisory Editorial board. She brings her established international reputation for research on sex change, systematics and evolution of coral reef fishes to Environmental Biology of Fishes. I will continue to rotate Advisory Editors, and continue to appoint new Advisory Editors to support our existing strengths as well as incorporate developing

D. L. G. Noakes (*) Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and Oregon Hatchery Research Center, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-3803, USA e-mail: [email protected]

areas in the fields we cover. One of the important parts of my activities is to attend scientific meetings, to keep informed of active scientists and developing science. I also consult with Advisory Editors for their advice on developments in their areas of expertise, suggestions for potential Advisory Editors, and new initiatives in research as they develop. As a consequence of our editorial policies and procedures, we have continued to experience steady increases in our submission rates, with notably higher quality of submissions. This has significantly increased our international recognition and scientific reputation. An important correlate of this is that our rejection rate for manuscript continues to markedly increase. The impact factor of Environmental Biology of Fishes is now 1.175, a significant increase from 0.975 last year, and the first time we have exceeded an impact factor of 1.00 for the journal. Of course all this involves a careful balance of acceptance and rejection of manuscripts, coordinated with our publication schedule and the time to publish accepted manuscripts. I remind you that acceptance of manuscripts includes immediate publication and availability in electronic format as well as subsequent publication in conventional printed format. In light of this, I think that it is important to emphasize some important points related to our editorial policy, for the benefit of potential contributors. The statements of Editorial Policy and Procedures, Subject Areas and Submission Procedures are available on the Springer website for the journal

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(http://www.springerlink.com). I will repeat some of the most important points about journal coverage and editorial policies here. We very much prefer to receive manuscripts that are experimental in nature, that test specific hypotheses and predictions or that synthesize existing information or provide new interpretations to increase our knowledge and understanding. This distinction is between information and understanding. We do not simply encourage the accumulation of information. We strongly encourage increases in knowledge and broader understanding. Environmental Biology of Fishes does not publish articles on toxicology, fisheries management or applied aspects of fish production. We encourage authors on those subjects to direct their submissions to journals appropriate to those studies. Similarly, we do not place a high priority on purely descriptive manuscripts, or those documenting the circumstances of particular case histories, individual species, or sitespecific studies. We do not encourage submission of manuscripts that apply established or generally accepted principles to one more new species. For example, we do not encourage manuscripts describing food habits, seasonal reproductive patterns, or life history characteristics of individual species unless those manuscripts establish some novel relationship, critically test a significant hypothesis or provide a new synthesis of our understanding of basic science. Our series on Threatened Fishes of the World has proved to be very attractive to authors and to those who read the journal. This series will come to its planned conclusion in 2009, with the publication of an integrated set of invited manuscripts on threatened fishes and fish conservation from a symposium that I

Environ Biol Fish (2009) 85:1–2

have organized on this subject. Consequently we will no longer accept manuscripts on Threatened Fishes of the World. I am currently reviewing a proposal for a new series of one-page manuscripts. Details of that new series will be published in another Editorial when the proposal is accepted. One of my most exciting current projects for the journal is a dedicated volume on Environmental Biology of Fishes in China. I have included Yingqi Zho, a recent addition to our Advisory Editors, as one of the special Co-Editors, along with Aldemaro Romero who was Editor on our earlier special issue on hypogean fishes (Romero 2001), and Yahui Zhao, a Chinese authority on hypogean fishes. This dedicated volume has attracted a very significant increase in manuscripts submissions from China, and will no doubt greatly increase the awareness of everyone to Chinese science and scientists. As always, I want to close with my sincere thanks to the large number of dedicated scientists who continue to serve the journal as eternal reviewers of manuscripts. We list them by name for each volume, but that is faint recognition for their service. They give generously of their time and knowledge to make my editorial duties possible.

References Noakes DLG (2003) Changes and continuity. Environ Biol Fishes 66:1–2. doi:10.1023/A:1023298003325 Romero A (2001) An introduction to the special volume on the biology of hypogean fishes. Environ Biol Fishes 62:7–12. doi:10.1023/A:1011800621073