Guide for Authors
DESCRIPTION
The ultimate aim of Ecological Indicators is to integrate the monitoring and assessment of ecological and environmental indicators with management practices. The journal provides a forum for the discussion of the applied scientific development and review of traditional indicator applications as well as for theoretical, modelling and quantitative approaches such as index development. Research into the following areas will be published:
•All aspects of ecological and environmental indicators and indices.
•New indicators, and new approaches and methods for indicator development, testing, and use.Development and modelling of indices, e.g. application of indicator suites across multiple scales and resources.
•Analysis and research of resource, system and scale specific indicators.
•Methods for integration of social and other valuation metrics for the production of scientifically rigorous and politically-relevant assessments using indicator-based monitoring and assessment programs.
•Approaches on how research indicators can be transformed into direct application for management purposes.
•Broader assessment objectives and methods, e.g. biodiversity, biological integrity, and sustainability, through the use of indicators.
•Resource-specific indicators such as landscape, agroecosystems, forest ecosystems, aquatic ecosystems, wetlands, etc.
The journal seeks innovative papers which provide new developmental and methodological steps for environmental indication. Submissions of results from simple monitoring programs or single case studies, resulting in descriptive approaches without any exploration from the theory of indication, from the methodology of indication, or from the management points of view are not considered suitable for publication in Ecological Indicators.
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AUDIENCE
The target readership is scientists, policy-makers, and resource managers investigating or applying ecological and environmental indicators, from the molecular to the ecosystem and landscape level, to the long-term goal of assessing the condition and trends within the environment towards ecological sustainability.
INTRODUCTION
The journal is concerned with the development and application of ecological indicators, from the molecular to the ecosystem and landscape level, in the scope of environmental quality assessment and management towards sustainability.
Human activities and well-being depend on our capability to develop proper tools to evaluate and help acting upon ecosystems ecological conditions and long term trends. Ecological and environmental indicators and indices play an essential role with regard to this endeavour and must have biological, methodological, and social relevance: they are expected to extract information from raw data in a very condensed form that is of significance to scientists, decision makers, resource managers, and general public.
From a management point of view, a good ecological indicator should be a) simple to apply and easily understood by laymen, b) relevant in the context, c) scientifically justifiable, d) quantitative, e) acceptable in terms of costs, f) covering all relevant and actual problems, and g) sensitive to possible changes. On the other hand, from a more scientific perspective, it should have h) handling easiness, i) sensibility to small variations of environmental stress and/or ecological conditions, j) independence of reference states, k) applicability in extensive geographical areas and in the greatest possible number of communities or ecological environments, and l) possible and reliable quantification. Ecological Indicators can be applied to a wide range of topics going from basic ecology to human ecology and socio-ecological systems, and the journal welcomes research articles, review articles, short notes and studies, viewpoint articles, letters to the Editor, and book reviews. The journal also publishes Special Themes Issues.
Types of paper
Types of papers The official language of the journal is English.
The following types of contributions will be accepted:
Original research papers
Review articles
Short notes and studies
Viewpoint articles
Letters to the Editor
Book Reviews
Original research papers are expected to report results of original research, and materials should not have been previously published elsewhere, except in a preliminary form.
Review articles are expected to cover subjects falling within the scope of the journal which are of active current interest. They may be submitted or invited. Review articles are usually up to 12,000 words and must include a Methods section explaining how the literature for review was selected.
Short notes consist of a concise but complete description of a limited or preliminary investigation, which may eventually be included in a later paper. A short note should nevertheless be as completely documented, both by reference to the literature and description of the experimental procedures employed, as a regular paper.
Authors submitting papers focused on the application of existing indicators or indicator systems, on demonstrations, or tests or minor methodological improvements on the basis of regional investigations, as well as condensed articles on new topics concerning ecological indication, are also invited to submit their articles in the form of a short note.
Viewpoint articles provide a forum for authors to present a novel, distinctive or even personal viewpoint on any topic falling within the journal's scope. The article should be well arched in evidence and adequately supported by citations, but may focus on a stimulating and assumed provoking line of arguments representing a significant advance in thinking about indicators problems and solutions.
Letters to the Editor offer a forum for comments or critiques regarding material published in the journal. The decision to publish submitted letters rests purely with the Editor-in-Chief. It is the hope that the publication of such letters will permit an exchange of views beneficial to the journal and its readers.
Book reviews will be solicited by the Editor-in-Chief and will fall upon a range of relevant books no more than 2 years old. Unsolicited reviews will not usually be accepted, but suggestions for appropriate books for review may be sent to the Editor-in-Chief.
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