A brief guide to contributing to Biogeography.News, to help fostering a more equitable and sustainable global community for biogeographical research, featuring society journals.
Above: A metaphor: Mill Creek, California, USA. Where the land and sea meet, understanding the puzzle of how large and dynamic forces shape and re-shape landscapes and seascapes is essential for effecting meaningful lasting change.
This blog is maintained to disseminate biogeographical research and publishing news to support authors of articles in society-based journals, to foster more equitable and sustainable, adaptive, natural, and research ecosystems globally. In order to provide more visibility for your publications and to showcase the work of up-and-coming researchers within the global biogeography community, our blog features early career researchers, including PhD students and postdocs.
We invite you to participate in one of our upcoming features. These features provide a way to share your research to a more general audience, communicating it in a way that is accessible, engaging, and with a more relaxed tone compared to that typically used in scientific publications. We recommend perusing the blog for examples of previously published features to gauge the appropriate tone. For example, Rob Smith and Kristen de Graauw.
There are several ways that you can devise a feature for Biogeography.News:
- Question + Answer interview. This is our standard format. We provide a questionnaire (see attachment) and work with you to develop answers to each of the questions. The final set of Q+A responses are then transferred directly to the blog.
- Short essay. This is our alternate format. We recommend this format for individuals who want a creative outlet to communicate science and want to share their individual perspectives and experiences. The nature of the essay would be largely up to you. We would provide guidance but would be less directly involved in helping you develop a response.
- Short video. We also accept 2-3 minute videos. We recommend this option for individuals who prefer a dynamic and visual way of sharing their research or who have compiled a rich media library of their field experiences. Final files may include field images or videos, maps or graphs, and personal videos. We will provide guidance but would not get involved in direct video editing. The video should be accompanied by (1) a ~100 word written abstract and (2) a ≤200 word biography.
- If you are feeling more artistic, express your research through a graphical abstract! The exact format and style are up to you, but we encourage good scientific communication of your work with a personal flair. The graphic should be accompanied by (1) a ~100 word written caption and (2) a ≤200 word biography.
- Significance statement. This short format seeks to highlight the main findings of your paper using few words, similar to the significant statement that you may have provided during the submission process of your article. The length of the text may vary between 100-200 words and should be accompanied by (1) a representative image of the scientific work and (2) a ≤200 word biography.
The attached template contains three components: author’s details, the Q+A interview questions and a metadata table. Providing metadata is optional, but we would appreciate you providing this information because it is important for assessing our commitments to diversity and inclusion. You only need to fill in the Q+A interview questions if that is your preferred format.
We aim to accompany each feature with several photos that will be posted on Biogeography.News’ social media platforms. Ideally, these would be high resolution images and would include: (1) a clear picture of yourself, and (2) several shots of your study organism and/or system, both accompanied with captions. We assume that images belong to you, or that you have permission to use them. Where images do not belong to you, it is important you credit the owner and let us know you have permission.
Why Biogeography.News? See https://journalofbiogeographynews.org/2023/12/10/re-introducing-biogeography-news/
To join the editorial team at Biogeography.News write with a few lines about (1) your areas of expertise/interest, (2) the journal and/or geographic region you’d like to cover, and (3) your publishing history, to:
j b i o g e o g r a p h y @ g m a i l . c o m
The same contact information will work if you have any general questions or if you wish to make comments.
We look forward to hearing from, and working with, you!