By Dr. Doug Tozer, Ontario Program Scientist and Avian Conservation and Ecology Journal Management Committee Chair, Bird Studies Canada
Successful conservation of birds is grounded in sound science. Avian Conservation and Ecology (ACE) – an open-access, electronic scientific journal co-sponsored by Bird Studies Canada and the Society of Canadian Ornithologists – is very important in this regard because it publishes results of relevant and timely avian conservation research.
For its first six years, the journal was led by co-editors-in-chief Dr. Tom Nudds and Dr. Marc-André Villard. Then in 2012, Dr. Keith Hobson and Dr. Ryan Norris took the reins. With valuable oversight from these dedicated individuals, the journal has grown tremendously (see graph).
ACE is now ranked 4th out of 28 ornithology journals, according to impact factor, a measure of a journal’s worth based on citations. ACE has now published nearly 300 articles on countless bird conservation topics. To date, ACE articles have been hit by web users an impressive 1.8 million times and have been downloaded almost 600,000 times . It’s humbling to consider the collective reach and ultimate impact of the research contained in ACE, and the large positive benefit for birds it undoubtedly has across Canada and beyond.
Dr. Alex Bond Photo: Mark Dagleish
In summer 2019, Dr. Ryan Norris stepped down as co-editor-in-chief of ACE. His contributions to the growth of the journal are gratefully acknowledged and appreciated on many levels. He will be dearly missed. At the same time, we are excited to welcome Dr. Alex Bond as the new incoming co-editor-in-chief who will join Dr. Hobson to continue guiding and growing ACE. Alex comes to us with a long and impressive list of qualifications for his new appointment, including Senior Curator in Charge, Bird Group at The Natural History Museum at Tring in the UK.
We would also like to highlight the efforts of the journal’s 28 subject editors who work very hard to advance ACE. These dedicated individuals assist the editors-in-chief in reviewing a huge volume of submitted articles each year, and along with peer reviewers, ensure the journal’s success. The subject editors also help the editors-in-chief by widely promoting the journal and soliciting new submissions and special features. We extend a great deal of thanks to the subject editors, as well as to the numerous volunteer peer reviewers.
Interested in checking out the many open-access articles available in the journal? A new issue (Vol. 14, Issue 1) has just been published. If you like, you can subscribe here to receive an email notification twice a year, when each new issue is published.
If you’re an author thinking about submitting an article to the journal, please check out the many reasons for publishing in ACE.
