Inter-Research
Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics

News: January 18, 2005

Editor's Annual Report for 2004

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Welcome to a New Year and new opportunities for the expansion of Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics (ESEP). The year 2005 promises to be an exciting one for the journal, with many avenues open for exploration in our efforts to expand ESEP's readership base and attract new authors and manuscripts.

The number of submitted manuscripts continues to rise, but to contribute effectively to current discussion in the field and to achieve our desired growth, we as the Editorial Board must lead the way in this development. Many thanks for your previous and continued efforts in these endeavours. I look forward to meeting this challenge with you!

This report addresses the following points:

1. Editorial Board
2. Inter-Research Developments
3. New Category Introduced: Invited Reviews
4. Directory of Open Access Journals — Indexing Services
5. ESEP Books
6. Journal Submissions
7. ESEP Web Pages

The office terms of Prof. Patricia A. Fleming (Senior Associate Dean, College of Arts and Science, Creighton University, Nebraska) and Prof. Hassan Amin El-Naggar (Vice Chairman of the Radioisotopes Sector with the Atomic Energy Authority of Egypt) drew to an end in 2004. We appreciate the Editors' efforts on behalf of ESEP and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavours.

Inter-Research (IR) is celebrating 25 years under the leadership of IR President Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Otto Kinne. In honour of this occasion Prof. Kinne has published an anniversary text which we invite you to visit at www.int-res.com/ir25.html.

Howard I. Browman has been appointed IR Scientific Director and Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) journal. Howard is the Principal Research Scientist at the Institute of Marine Research in Storebø, Norway. His profile is available online at www.fishlarvae.com/scientists/theguys.asp?SID=2. Welcome aboard, Howard! We are looking forward to a fruitful cooperation with our new Scientific Director in meeting ESEP objectives in 2005.

In mid-year IR President Prof. Otto Kinne introduced a new category entitled Invited Reviews, to be authored by prominent experts. ESEP Editors are kindly requested to nominate possible authors for these selective publications.

In 2004 we began posting all ESEP publications online in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). According to the DOAJ's website (http://www.doaj.org), the aim and scope of the project 'is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly journals thereby promoting their increased usage and impact. The Directory aims to be comprehensive and cover all open access scientific and scholarly journals that use a quality control system to guarantee the content. In short a one stop shop for users to Open Access Journals.' DOAJ's coverage currently includes 1415 journals.

In August ESEP was recommended to the Journal of Citation Reports (JCR) for inclusion in their well-known indexing services. No decision has yet been made.

This year saw the third publication of the ESEP Books series, which highlights the objectives of both ESEP and the Eco-Ethics International Union (EEIU). A collection of previously published articles by scientist John Cairns, Jr., ESEP Book 2 (Part 2): Eco-Ethics and Sustainability Ethics is our most recently available download, and the author reports that initial response has been favourable.

IR welcomes contributions to this budding book series. Interested authors are invited to consult with the Managing Editor.

ESEP continues to attract articles covering a wide scope of related topics — in 2004 a total of 17 manuscripts were published, covering topics including sustainability ethics, resource allocation, EEIU developments, landscape ecology, and natural resource management. Special thanks go to Editors Guy Lanza and David Orvos for their efforts in editing and attracting manuscripts for the journal.

Queries for new manuscripts arrive regularly, and Editors are requested to alert IR when they have a submitted manuscript 'in the pipe'. At present, we are aware of five manuscripts in various stages of preparation. ESEP's rejection rate has increased to 17.5% due to submissions outside our scope, and in two cases, manuscripts of unacceptable quality. The category As I See It, newly introduced for 2004, proved popular, drawing a total of 9 submissions.

Special thanks to Nate Russell, IR Webmaster, for his efforts in developing the newly designed ESEP home page. We're quite happy with the new look and would appreciate feedback on the user-friendliness of the site.

While the above shows continued growth, progress is slower than we had hoped (and indicators had predicted) one year ago. What can we do to improve the journal and attract more manuscripts in 2005? Your ideas and suggestions are most welcome — indeed, as a Member of the Editorial Board, your active involvement is crucial to our success.

Editors are encouraged to consider coordinating Theme Sections (TS) in their fields of expertise and other possible methods of attracting manuscripts. For TS examples, please consider the ESEP 2002 Theme Section on 'Environmental decision making in a technological age', edited by RJ Berry and B Thompson, and visit http://www.int-res.com/journals/meps/themeSections.html, which presents previous and forthcoming TS in the Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) journal. Review Editors can assist by spreading the word. All Board Members are also welcome to submit their own works to the appropriate Editor.

At Headquarters, we will continue to search for avenues and individuals to assist in raising awareness in the field and supporting the Board in its efforts, as well as building our support base for processing the manuscripts in the most effective and efficient manner possible, while maintaining and improving our standards of quality in copy editing and typesetting.

Special thanks to IR typesetters Thorben Gutknecht, Sandra Hammer, Bernhard Fromm and IR Production Editor John Austin for their prompt, professional and courteous assistance on ESEP publications.

Thank you for your support and cooperation in 2004. Please accept our best wishes for the coming year. We look forward to increased communication and activity as we work together to further develop ESEP!

Yours sincerely,

Mary Batson
ESEP Managing Editor

This page was last updated on 16 February 2005.