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Disseminating Ecological Knowledge

Since its very beginning, ESA has been a driving force in publishing cutting-edge research in ecology and closely allied fields. Our portfolio of journals represents some of the most prestigious homes for papers on new science, important advances at the intersections of science, policy and society, and syntheses of prior work for new interpretation.

In 2022, our journals published 1,034 new papers; among all articles published over our journals’ history, work in ESA journals was downloaded more than 5.7 million times. Our staff generated 139 press releases based on new articles, which led to 505 story placements in major international media.

Our journals also saw significant changes, with two new editors in chief joining. Jean-Phillippe Lessard from Concordia University took over Ecological Monographs from Aimee Classen, and Madhusudan Katti from North Carolina State University took over the ESA Bulletin following Ed Johnson’s long tenure.

A collage of digital covers of each of ESA's six scientific journals published in 2022

Primary to disseminating that research are our social channels, which continued to attract new followers and grow in influence in 2022. At year’s end, we could boast more than 45,000 Twitter followers, 2,700 on Instagram and 17,000 on Facebook.

Disseminating ecological knowledge isn’t just about publishing, though; it’s also about education. We welcomed a strong presence for ecology education and the Four Dimensional Ecology Education Framework at the Annual Meeting, and again held the REEFS workshop as a pre-conference. Staff and the Education Committee’s 4DEE Subcommittee held five total events, attended by 250 science educators. During the regular cycle of the year, they also continued to hold regular water cooler chats to allow for virtual exploration of important topics in education.