AB Editors-in-Chief: 2nd Annual Report

The Editors-in-Chief of AB, O. Kinne, M. Seaman and H.H. Janssen, have prepared their Annual Report to the members of the editorial board. A summary is provided below.

"Aquatic Biology" (AB) is well on its way to becoming a leading journal

AB is surpassing our expectations. It has all the requirements for quickly becoming a top international journal in aquatic science. We have published 7 volumes and are well into the 8th volume. AB received its first Impact Factor (IF) in June 2009 — a year earlier than we had expected. This IF is very high for a new journal; it is based only on the first 21 articles published in late 2007 and cited in 2008. The IF and the number of downloads of AB articles from our website (115 downloads per paper per year) indicate that AB is likely to attain an IF of 2 to 3 within 1 or 2 years.

Over 500 manuscripts (mss) have been submitted so far. Submissions are stable at 10 to 20 per month. In 2009 the rejection rate remained at 45%. Average time from submission to first decision was 60 days (10 days less than in 2008), and average time from final decision to publication was 59 days (15 days more than in 2008). A total of 200 articles has been published.

Theme Sections

AB has published 3 Theme Sections in 2009:

(2) The role of mysids in lake food webs (eds. Rudstam, Johannsson)

(3) Directions in bivalve feeding (ed. Beninger)

(4) Primary production in seagrasses and macroalgae (eds. Berman, Berman-Frank)

The next TS is in preparation and should be published in mid-2010: Ecophysiology and biomechanics in diving seabirds (eds. Miyazaki, Stewart, Watanuki, Wilson)

Feature Articles

AB has published 2 Feature Articles in 2009, on metabolism in Daphnia (Tan & Wang, AB 5/1) and on motile bryozoans (O'Dea, AB 7/1). Contributing Editors (CEs) are invited to single out exceptional mss for potential publication as Feature Articles; they should provide a brief recommendation.

Open Access policy

AB still has few subscriptions, presumably due to our initial policy of publishing all articles with free Open Access (OA). This policy will be phased out during 2010: beginning with Vol. 9, only articles submitted before Sep. 1, 2009, will be published with free OA. Authors of articles submitted later will be able to purchase OA for 700 Euro per article. Color printing will remain free for the time being.

Papers authored or co-authored by a CE will continue to be published with free OA.

Review process and editorial board

Referee appointments continue to be difficult: an increasing number of experts invited to review mss cannot afford the time to do so. Nevertheless, our standard of using 3–4 reviews stays in effect. We must again urge CEs to select Review Editors (REs) as referees more frequently; REs usually provide better and more timely reviews than other referees. Their names are listed at www.int-res.com/journals/ab/editors/. When a ms cannot be handled promptly, the Editors-in-Chief (EiCs) will attempt to help, e.g. by selecting referees.

Three CEs retired over the past year: David Fields, Anne Hershey, and Serge Poulet. We are very grateful for their effective assistance in starting AB.