Guidelines for Developing an Issues in Ecology
Steps in the Production of an Issues in Ecology
- A request for topics for Issues in Ecology (individual or a set of related topics that bundle together as a theme) will be announced in April of each year, with topics due each June. These should include a title, a half page idea synopsis that emphasizes audience and potential impact, and a sentence or two describing the organizer(s) and their team’s interest and qualifications.
- Topics are reviewed by the Board of Advisors in August (at the ESA annual meeting), and requests for full proposals are announced shortly thereafter for selected topics.
- Editor-in-Chief works with ESA offices, Advisory Board, and Author teams to secure funding for meetings, editorial and production costs.
- Author teams meet and/or write manuscript, maintain contact with Editor-in-Chief or her designee.
- Manuscript is submitted for external technical review no later than eight months from acceptance of prospectus.
- Reviewers ask: Is the topic adequately and objectively covered? If appropriate, are policy or management suggestions reasonable, balanced, and feasible? Review comments are returned to Editor after 2 weeks.
- Technical comments addressed by author team within one month of receipt.
- Revised manuscript returned to Editor, sent to science writer.
- Science writer works with author team to clarify text, figures.
- Final text layout sent to publisher.
- Publication and press release.
Guidelines for Submission of Proposals (on topics pre-selected by Board of Advisors)
We invite a short proposal (2-4 pages) for selected topics that describes:
- What is the need or opportunity for this topic
to be presented to a diverse audience? Examples that illustrate criteria for defining
need or opportunity include:
- Upcoming policy debates that can be informed by elucidation of ecological principles and knowledge;
- Potential for approaching or crossing an ecological threshold, with consequences for ecosystems or society;
- The topic needs more attention than it has received because of importance to societal well-being;
- The state of knowledge is such that topic is ready for summary and synthesis.
- Is there a sufficient published body of knowledge that can be drawn upon to develop the the Issues in Ecology?
- How will diverse interpretations of the science (if any) associated with the topic be addressed?
- Does the
list of contributing authors represent the breadth of interpretation for the
given topic?
- Contributors should represent a range of expertise and disciplines, and suggestions may be made by the Advisory Board of additional authors to include.The Ecological Society encourages consideration of gender, ethnicity, and age balance in the author mix.
- Can the manuscript be ready for publication within 12
months of proposal acceptance?
- Contributing authors will synthesize existing information to provide a balanced representation of the state of knowledge and its importance to society. The synthesis could, but need not, produce a scholarly publication separate from Issues in Ecology, and can be the result of workshops, working groups, professional symposia, or even classroom activities.
- Is there a
possibility for financial support for the genesis and production of the
manuscript?
- ESA will make every effort to provide financial resources for each Issues in Ecology, but welcomes additional support from agencies and organizations with interest in the topic. Contributing authors, reviewers, and the Advisory Board maintain sole responsibility for the content of each Issue.
