Letter from the Editor

Abstract

Previous articleNext article FreeLetter from the EditorVolker H. W. RudolfVolker H. W. RudolfRice University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreDuring my years as a graduate student, my research ideas were heavily influenced by several key articles in The American Naturalist. These articles served as an inspiration and shaped the way I approach my own science to this day. To me, this is what defines The American Naturalist—it doesn’t just publish science, it also shapes and defines science. This may not seem surprising given that its core mission is to foster the “conceptual unification of the biological sciences.” However, you can unify only if you also publish articles across disciplines and study systems. The American Naturalist continues to be the premier venue to do this. It publishes studies in ecology, evolution, behavior, and many other disciplines and welcomes both theory and empirical work regardless of the approach. The breadth of its scientific content and its push for conceptual unification and innovation is why this journal has always been my favorite and why I am humbled and excited to take on the mantle of the twenty-third editor-in-chief (EIC) of The American Naturalist.We would not be here without the many outstanding individuals who previously managed this journal, many of whom are my own personal scientific heroes and role models. Their hard work and dedication together helped guide the journal through its long history and helped it adapt to changing and often challenging times. I especially want to thank Judie Bronstein and Dan Bolnick for their relentless work and dedication. I first joined as an associate editor when Judie was the EIC and had the honor to work with her again in her role as president of the American Society of Naturalists. When Judie took over as the EIC, she recognized that “the need for conceptual thinking in ecology and evolution is now greater than ever” with the ever-increasing deluge of newly available data. Following her example, I think that we should publish more synthesis and perspective articles to fill in the conceptual gaps and propose new and exciting ideas and approaches. During his tenure as EIC, Dan recognized that with great data comes great responsibility and the need for transparency and accessibility. He recruited Robert Montgomerie, and together they worked very hard to develop new standards for data archiving. These standards are now firmly integrated into the submission and peer review process to ensure the quality of data and code for submitted articles. These efforts have inspired many other journals that are now adopting similar standards, highlighting yet one of the many ways in which The American Naturalist influences how we do science.In the coming years, you will continue to see more improvements at The American Naturalist. I will work together closely with our outstanding editorial board as well as the indispensable Owen Cook and the rest of the University of Chicago Press staff to improve and streamline the entire process from submission to publication to ensure that it stays one of the smoothest and most professional in the publishing world. Publishing a diversity of topics across disciplines also requires a diverse, interdisciplinary board of The American Naturalist. I personally believe that a diversity of perspectives and opinions is fundamental for scientific progress. Increasing the diversity of scholars on our editorial board is an area the society has been working on, but we are not finished and still need to do better.The American Naturalist is a society journal with a nonprofit publisher. This makes it one of the few journals that exist to serve both authors and readers. So it is up to all of us to make the best of this opportunity, and I want to thank all of you for your continued support: the authors for sending us their most inspiring work, the reviewers and especially the associate editors for their insightful and constructive reviews and hard work, and you, the reader, for picking us to learn about new and exciting science. I look forward to serving this community and welcome any ideas and suggestions that help improve this journal. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 201, Number 1January 2023 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/723171 Views: 208Total views on this site © 2023 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.