Editorial 57(1): March 2019

Abstract

Since taking over as Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Ecology 4 months ago, I have devoted my time to getting to know our team at Wiley, our publisher, colleagues at the East African Wild Life Society which owns the journal, and our authors, reviewers and subject editors. I have been greeted at every step by enthusiasm for this journal and its role in advancing African ecological science and scientists. There is clearly a deep affection for the journal and immense respect for its history of publishing seminal papers on African wildlife and ecosystems. This journal boasts a long series of illustrious Editors-in-Chief before me, including Jon Lovett and Bryan Shorrocks who between them have provided decades of capable management and who continue to help me on the Editorial Board. I am delighted to be leading such a dedicated and inspirational team. There is a huge volume of work done in publishing a journal. As an author, one tends to think only of the paper in hand, but we handle the submission of over 300 manuscripts each year and around 200 of these go into our peer review process. Our hard-working and voluntary Editorial Board take the time to assess manuscripts and assign each to appropriate reviewers. Over 400 researchers worldwide give their time to review for the African Journal of Ecology. I am constantly impressed and delighted by the breadth of their expertise and their willingness to return detailed and constructive comments to authors, perhaps through several versions of an article; selflessly and anonymously helping to craft useful research outputs for everyone’s benefit. Peer review is a highly valuable contribution to the advancement of science globally. Our reviewers are unsung heroes supporting the advancement of African ecology and I give my sincere thanks to all of them. With 200 papers a year to handle, our Editorial Board also works extremely hard. As we numbered only nine people at the end of 2018, I am very pleased to welcome several new Subject Editors to our Board in 2019. The full Board membership is published on the webpage and in the Journal cover. We now have Subject Editors based in 16 countries, including 10 African countries. Our Subject Editors bring an exceptional range of expertise and experience to the table and this is of huge benefit to our authors. The African Journal has always extended encouragement to authors who have limited access to today’s internet and computational tools, online libraries and other privileges. We will continue to provide multiple review rounds, promote constructive reviews, and to mentor authors to get their work into print. Africa is data-poor and it is of vital importance to ensure that hard-won empirical data and observations, if rigorously collected, are properly interpreted and made publicly available. I look forward keenly to my new role. I will do my best to uphold the good reputation of the African Journal of Ecology and will always be pursuing ways to keep our work relevant, interesting and ever better as we go forward.