Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald named founding editor-in-chief of new ESA journal, Earth Stewardship
August 4, 2023
For immediate release
Contact: Alison Mize, gro.asenull@nosila
The Ecological Society of America has named Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald, Ph.D., as the editor-in-chief of the newest title in its portfolio of journals. The international open-access journal, Earth Stewardship, will focus on facilitating collaborations between scientists and society to shape a sustainable future for nature and people. It will be ESA’s first publication focused on integrating the natural and social sciences; the humanities; and technical, local and Indigenous Knowledges.
Earth Stewardship will highlight perspectives from the southern hemisphere and other underrepresented regions and peoples, and will feature interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary socio-ecological research. The journal will cover thematic areas including biocultural conservation, policy, community-based participatory approaches, sustainability education, and intercultural dialogues and collaborations.
“There are many exciting new developments happening in trans-disciplinary ecological research, and Earth Stewardship will be a unique forum for authors pursuing this vital work,” said ESA President Sharon Collinge. “Dr. Huber-Sannwald brings a strong vision and significant accomplishments within scientific publishing, and I am very pleased that she has agreed to become the journal’s founding editor-in-chief.”
Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald began her three-year term as editor-in-chief of Earth Stewardship on July 1. Huber-Sannwald is an ecosystem ecologist who completed her Ph.D. in range ecology at Utah State University and is currently a research professor in ecology and global environmental change as well as the department head of the Division of Environmental Sciences at Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (IPICYT) in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
Huber-Sannwald received her master’s degree in geobotany from the University of Innsbruck in Austria. In 2001, she joined the newly founded multidisciplinary IPICYT and co-developed the Division of Environmental Sciences and a novel graduate program in Environmental Sciences. Her research interests are in dryland stewardship and sustainable development, and she has coordinated close to 20 nationally and internationally funded inter- and transdisciplinary research projects and collaborated with Mexican and international research partners from Europe, Latin America and North Africa. She is the lead founder and coordinator of the International Network for Dryland Sustainability, and the joint founder and coordinator of the national network of participatory socio-ecological observatories in Mexico.
Huber-Sannwald will be responsible for the journal’s editorial content in coordination with a team of associate editors. Aligned with the aims and scope of the new journal, the editorial board of Earth Stewardship will be transdisciplinary and will include non-academic experts such as Indigenous leaders, artists and science policy advocates. As Earth Stewardship’s first editor-in-chief, Huber-Sannwald sees the journal as a bridge between theory and action, and between the sciences, humanities, society, policy and art.
“There is enormous interest and need among ecologists in supporting community-based initiatives and broader participation in Earth stewardship,” said Huber-Sannwald. “Earth Stewardship will expand the scope of ESA’s publishing portfolio to directly address how novel partnerships can propel nature resilience and integrated well-being. I look forward to establishing a platform where scientists from literally all disciplines of the natural and social sciences and humanities, practitioners, members of diverse ethnic groups, artists, theologists, and anthropologists all have a seat and equally strong voice at the table.”
Huber-Sannwald is the immediate past chair of ESA’s Publications Committee and serves on the editorial boards for both Ecological Applications and Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. She previously formed part of the editorial board of Rangeland Ecology and Management, the leading journal the Society of Range Management.
Earth Stewardship will be an online-only, open-access publication. The journal will become the second fully open-access and sixth overall title within the ESA suite of peer-reviewed journals. All articles published in the new journal will be immediately free to read, and readers anywhere in the world may reuse the content according to the terms of a Creative Commons license.
ESA members who publish in Earth Stewardship will be eligible for a discount on their article processing charge (APC). Earth Stewardship will also be available through the Research4Life program that provides institutions in low-and middle-income countries with free online access to academic and professional peer-reviewed content and waives APCs associated with Open Access journals for researchers in these countries. Earth Stewardship will also be covered by Wiley’s Transformational Agreements (TAs), which means that researchers at institutions with a current Wiley TA will have their APC waived. More info on Wiley TAs here, including details of individual agreements specifying coverage details.
Earth Stewardship will open for submissions in late summer 2023, with the aim of publishing its first papers in the winter of 2023-2024. More information about Earth Stewardship is available on the Wiley Online Library.
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The Ecological Society of America, founded in 1915, is the world’s largest community of professional ecologists and a trusted source of ecological knowledge, committed to advancing the understanding of life on Earth. The 9,000 member Society publishes five journals and a membership bulletin and broadly shares ecological information through policy, media outreach, and education initiatives. The Society’s Annual Meeting attracts 4,000 attendees and features the most recent advances in ecological science. Visit the ESA website at https://www.esa.org.