Ecology

ISSN 0012-9658 Monthly

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Mission Statement: Ecology publishes articles that report on the basic elements of ecological research. Emphasis is placed on concise, clear articles documenting important ecological phenomena. The journal publishes a broad array of research that includes a rapidly expanding envelope of subject matter, techniques, approaches, and concepts: paleoecology through present-day phenomena; evolutionary, population, physiological, community, and ecosystem ecology, as well as biogeochemistry; inclusive of descriptive, comparative, experimental, mathematical, statistical, and interdisciplinary approaches.

Established in 1920, Ecology publishes research and synthesis papers on all aspects of ecology, with particular emphasis on papers that develop new concepts in ecology, that test ecological theory, or that lead to an increased appreciation for the diversity of ecological phenomena. Theoretical, analytical, experimental, empirical, historical, and descriptive approaches are all appropriate, though preference is given to research and synthesis that leads to generalizations potentially applicable to other species, populations, communities, or ecosystems. Included within the journal are papers on physiological responses of individual organisms to their biotic and abiotic environments, ecological genetics and evolution, the structure and dynamics of populations, interactions among individuals of the same or different species, the behavior of individuals and groups of organisms, the organization of biological communities, landscape ecology, and ecosystems processes. Papers reporting ecological research on all kinds of organisms and ecosystems are welcome. New methodologies with a potential for broad use in ecology are also of interest. Papers that are well grounded in ecological theory and have broad implications for environmental policy or resource management may be well suited for publication in Ecological Applications, but are also welcome in Ecology if they meet the general criteria described above.

Ecology is publishing more concise papers than has been the tradition for this journal. Concise publications yield increased interest, allow a greater number of papers and topics to appear in the journal, and provide greater content per page printed. The number and average length of Articles published in Ecology is decreasing, and the number of Reports is increasing. Many publications conceived in the past as Articles will hence forth be cast as Reports, with an average length of 5-6 printed pages (one printed page equals roughly 3.5 manuscript pages, inclusive of tables and figures). Our goal is to publish Reports within one year of submission. Articles and Concepts and Synthesis papers will continue to be published in Ecology, but these will be shorter than the average Article of the past. Authors will designate portions of their manuscript as digital supplements to appear in the Ecological Archives and be directly linked to the publication in the on-line version of the journal.

Papers must be original and not be work previously published in the primary literature. This does not mean that reanalysis, interpretation, or assessment of published data is in any way excluded from our journals. Some forms of prior gray literature publication are acceptable, and the decision rests with the judgment of the Subject-matter editors. We will consider for review manuscripts that concisely describe interesting science, and we do not discriminate against dissertation or thesis research. However, we do not republish dissertations per se, and most dissertation/thesis chapters require considerable editing and pruning before they are appropriate for our journals. In nearly all cases, dissertations are readily available, and the raw data, methods, and other detail can form a basis for citation. The Subject matter editor makes the judgment about issues of novelty in manuscripts.