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2009 CONSERVATION BIOLOGY EDITOR'S REPORT

Gary K. Meffe, Editor

Overview

In 2008, six issues of Conservation Biology were published on time. The number of manuscripts submitted in 2008 (704) was nearly the same as that submitted in 2007 (711). A total of 1686 pages was published (six more than 2007), including one special section: A Synthesis of Climate-change Effects on Aquatic Invasive Species (75 pages, and published to coincide with SCB's 2008 annual meeting in Tennessee), and one Conservation Focus: Economic Growth and Biodiversity Conservation (36 pages). The impact factor for 2007 was 4.705, by far the highest ever for the journal, and a substantial jump from 3.93 in 2007.

Submissions

The submission rate for this journal year (704) barely decreased from 2007 (711), so it appears to have leveled off in the short term. We have repeatedly requested that authors do more self-selecting before submitting to Conservation Biology and it seems to be working in 2007 and 2008.

We also received and processed 142 preliminary manuscript inquiries, down from the previous year's total of 172. These consist of an abstract and an inquiry as to the manuscript's suitability for the journal. These inquiries typically are responded to within one to three days of receipt.

We used 77 ad hoc Assigning Editors this year. These are individuals who handle one or more manuscripts but are not on the editorial board. Ad hoc editors were used when a manuscript did not fall within the expertise of existing editors, when they had special expertise in the area, or if the appropriate Assigning Editor was particularly busy with other manuscripts. This also provides broader journal input and participation than using only Editorial Board members. Ad hoc editors are acknowledged in the December issue of each year and are an integral part of Conservation Biology's review process; I thank them for their contributions.

Decisions and Rejection Rates

Of the 704 papers received in 2008, 258 (37.0%) were rejected by the Editor without review, usually within three days of submittal and usually due to inappropriateness of subject matter or low quality; 446 (63.0%) were sent for review, most through Assigning Editors and a few directly by the Editor. These percentages are nearly identical to those in 2007.

Of the 446 manuscripts sent for review, 243 (54.5%) were rejected, 165 (37.0%) were accepted, and no decision had yet been reached as of late May 2008 on 38 (8.5%), which are still in review or in revision with authors. Of the total number of papers submitted (704), 501 (71.1%) were rejected, 165 (23.4%) were accepted, and no decision was yet reached on 38 (5.4%). Of the 666 papers for which decisions have been made, 501 (75.2%) were rejected. Overall, these numbers and percentages are remarkably similar to those in 2007.

Turnaround Time

See the 2003 report for a discussion of how turnaround statistics are calculated (i.e., these are relative but not absolute times because they are right-truncated due to manuscripts still in process).

Mean turnaround time for manuscript review decreased by one day in 2008, from 66 to 65 days. As always, we try to reduce this figure but ultimately are at the mercy of volunteer reviewers and Assigning Editors. Time from acceptance to publication increased in 2008, from 181 to 215 days. Total time from submission to publication increased from 312 to 333 days. These increases likely are due to a small publication backlog, which tends to ebb and flow over time. Note in the figures that for the first time we have data for times to electronic publication, which are substantially shorter than to print publication.

Region of Authorship

Region of authorship is determined by the address of the first author at the time the work was done and only partially reflects sovereignty of contributions. International participation in authorship is actually higher than indicated by these statistics due to secondary authorships. Of the 165 papers submitted and accepted in 2008, the proportion of first authors from the U.S. increased to 41.8% to 48.8%, exactly where it was in 2006. Other regional changes from 2007 to 2008 include increases in accepted papers from Australia (8.1% to 8.5%) and Europe (25.6% to 26.2%), and decreases in accepted papers from Africa (4.6% to 3.7%), Asia (9.3% to 4.3%), Canada (5.4% to 4.3%), and Central/South America (5.7% to 4.3%).

Editorial Transition

As of mid-2009 the planned transition of Editorship to Erica Fleishman and her team is proceeding and should be completed as planned. She will become Editor in Chief as of 1 January 2010 (Happy New Year Erica!) More details will appear in the November newsletter.

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