Corresponding author: Stephane Boyer (
Academic editor: Pavel Stoev
Boyer S, Lefort M-C, Winder L (2016) Rethinking Ecology – Challenging Current Thinking in Ecological Research. Rethinking Ecology 1: 1–8.
In 2013, the British Ecological Society published a list of 100 questions of fundamental importance in ecology (
We contend that solutions to such challenges require bold thinking and ideas that are potentially controversial. However, publishing controversial ideas and hypotheses that challenge current thinking and ecological dogma is difficult (
We chose the koru, a spiral-shaped unfurling leaf of a fern, as the logo for
The koru was chosen as the logo of the journal because of its representation of “
In many journals, perspective articles are commissioned and only well-established or renowned scientists have the opportunity to express new ideas. At the core of
To ensure every manuscript is assessed with the complete absence of bias during the peer review process, we chose to use a double-blind process where reviewers do not see the name of the authors. We believe that divulging authors’ identity to reviewers is unnecessary to the peer-review process; only the content of the manuscript is of relevance. In a world with no conflict of interest (declared or undeclared) and no bias (conscious or unconscious), a fully open model where reviewers and authors are named seems like a sensible approach. But, it is known that bias and conflict of interest do exist in science (
In addition to this double-blind review process, reviewers will not be asked for a formal recommendation to publish. Reviewers are asked to comment on and score a set of specific questions (Table
Scoring system used to evaluate a submission
SCORE CATEGORY | CRITERIA | Acceptance cut-off |
Novelty Score | How novel is the idea/hypothesis? | 75% |
Feasibility Score (testability / likelihood / applicability) | Does the idea/hypothesis arise from or is supported by rigorous arguments? Is the idea/hypothesis testable? Is the new term/definition useful? | 50% |
Scholarship Score | Comprehensive knowledge and good use of the current literature | 66% |
Literacy Score | English, grammar, clarity, logical flow etc. | 75% |
For perspective papers, authors cannot be expected to increase the novelty or the feasibility of their idea. Therefore, low Novelty or Feasibility scores will lead to rejection. Low scores in Scholarship or Literacy, however, can be acted on and will therefore likely lead to a revision of the manuscript (Figure
Decision diagram based on scoring for Novelty, Feasibility, Scholarship and Literacy (see Table
Another singularity of
Percentage contribution and the ACI index will be featured on every paper published in
Recent increase in publications focusing on the issue of co-authorship in science papers, based on a search on the ISI Web of Knowledge database using the following command: TITLE: (co-author*) OR TITLE: (coauthor*).
We believe that open access is essential to the global dissemination of scientific research. However, in the current publication model, the relationship between research funds and open access journals only goes in one direction.
We aspire to lead by example and hope that this model will be adopted by many other journals, which could generate significant funds to support the wider scientific community. We have chosen to focus on the South Pacific region for
Citations in the text cross-linked with the reference lists; each citation can be visualized as a full text reference by positioning the cursor on it.
Figure and tables in-text citations, cross-linked with the figures/tables themselves; figures and tables are visualized in a separate bar and can be enlarged for finer detail. They can be downloaded as a full image or in CSV (tables), opened in new window, viewed in the sidebar, and others.
Taxa mentioned in the paper are linked to their dynamic online profiles (Pensoft Taxon Profile,
Data publishing via integration with data repositories (e.g., Dryad, Zenodo, GBIF IPT).
Publishing different kinds of multimedia files - videos, 3D pictures, audios, MicroCite images.
Article-level and sub-article-level usage metrics, including Altmetrics.
Integration with external peer-review registration or handling platforms (Publons, Peerage of Science).
Automated archiving in Zenodo and CLOCKSS.
We invite authors to share their novel ideas and perspectives in all aspects of ecology with the wider scientific community by submitting their manuscript to
Designed and wrote the manuscript: SB, MCL, LW. Prepared the figures: SB, MCL.
Authors | Contribution | ACI |
---|---|---|
SB | 0.40 | 0.12 |
MCL | 0.30 | -0.07 |
LW | 0.30 | -0.07 |