Felix Müller Discusses the Impact of Ecological Indicators
Journal Interview, July 2010
A recent analysis of Essential Science IndicatorsSM from Clarivate showed that Ecological Indicators is having a growing impact among journals in the field of Environment & Ecology. The journal's current record in this field includes 364 papers cited a total of 1,716 times since its founding in 2001 and February 28, 2010.
Ecological Indicators is published by Elsevier. Dr. Felix Müller of the Ecology Centre of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel serves as its Editor-in-Chief.
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Did you expect Ecological Indicators
to become highly cited, or is this surprising to you?
Throughout the last years we have observed a continuous increase in submissions and downloads. Therefore we have suggested that the interest in our subjects and the journal has been continuously increasing.
This development has been accompanied by a rise in the number of printed papers but also by an increase in the number of rejections. Consequently, we have been quite optimistic regarding the acceptance of the journal, but the recent rise in citations has been surprising for us.
How would you account for the high citation rate of Ecological Indicators?
There are several reasons which might be responsible for the growing citation rate: On the one hand there is a steadily increasing general interest in indicators, caused by urgent demands from politicians and environmental managers for quantitative and transparent data to support their decision-making processes.
"The journal functions as an interface between ecological theories and modeling, empirical research, and environmental applications."
These requirements are correlated with the growing acceptance of the sustainability concept: For instance, many administrative units and enterprises are quantitatively monitoring the sustainability of their activities. In parallel, several approaches for science-based monitoring of the environment have been conceived.
The regular journal contributes to the respective demands for good and innovative indicator sets, and this information has been completed by some interesting special issues which have found a growing readership.
On the other hand we have to account for the important influence of the involved people, the motivation and commitment of the participating colleagues, the creativity of the authors, a constructive and supportive cooperation with the publisher, the engagement of the editorial board, the efforts of the reviewers to provide high-quality evaluations and to assist the authors, as well as the work of the editorial office.
Organizational items might also play a role. In the last years the electronic submission system has been used intensively for speeding up the reviewing process (which regrettably is not possible in all individual cases).
Perhaps also the perception of interdisciplinarity plays a role: Although our submissions are originating in various fields of environmental sciences, and although the management of social-ecological objects needs interdisciplinary approaches, the main focus—contributions to improve ecological indicator methodology—has always been kept in mind. Therefore the papers provide a balanced mixture of scientific contributions to be applied in several areas of social-ecological assessments.
Would you give us a brief history of the journal?
This history is rather short: The journal was founded under the guidance of Dr. Erik Hyatt and Prof. Dr. Sven-Erik Joergensen in 2001. In 2004 the editorial office was transferred to Kiel University and I took the function of an editor-in-chief. At the same time the electronic submission system was introduced.
Since that time a steady increase in submissions has taken place, thus the number of issues was changed from 4 to 6 in 2008, and the page number is still rising.
What historical factors have contributed to the success of Ecological Indicators?
The main factor fostering the development has been continuity, reliability, and the attempt to improve the journal's quality step by step. These points may have been accomplished by an increasing awareness of the scientific community that indicators are suitable and acceptable tools to link empirical results, models, and theories with environmental applications.
Have there been specific developments in the fields served by Ecological Indicators that may have contributed?
Throughout the journal's short lifetime the awareness of and the demands for indications of sustainability, ecological integrity, or ecosystem health have steadily increased, and the development of variable sets which transparently describe these features has become more and more utilized in environmental sciences.
Additionally political objectives and programs, like the EU water framework directive, have enormously stimulated indicator-related activities and projects. Furthermore, several institutions have started to work with indicator reports on many different levels. Thus, there has been a growing demand for information about ecological indication.
At the same time there was a rise in the awareness of the significance of communication and participation in environmental management. These discussions need a quantitative background, and that is provided by indicators.
What, in your view, is this journal's main significance or contribution in the field of Environment & Ecology?
"...indicators are suitable and acceptable tools to link empirical results, models, and theories with environmental applications."
The journal functions as an interface between ecological theories and modeling, empirical research, and environmental applications. It deals with the development and utilization of scientific methods for a better management of the environment.
The content is related to a systems-based approach to environmental management, and consequently the journal has an interdisciplinary background, integrating contributions from many different branches of science and application.
How do you see your field(s) evolving in the next few years?
The described development will for sure continue in the next few years. There will be a growing integration of social, economic, and environmental systems which is mainly based in the interdisciplinary demands of the sustainability concept.
This development will be supported by new indicators which are settled between these disciplinary items. For example, the ecosystem service concept will become more and more significant, trying to link ecological, social, and economic demands.
Furthermore, there will be a rising requirement for aggregated indicator sets and composite indicators, which provide transparent information to monitor political- and management-related outcomes.
Therefore, my suggestion is that we will receive a relatively decreasing number of sectoral papers which focus on smaller fields of problems or objects, but there might be more papers with an integrative content. My opinion is that this development is correct because the political demands will be rising in this area.
On the other hand, the application of physiological, genetic, and biochemical methods also represents a growing branch. And there are more and more submissions using elaborated statistics and modeling procedures.
Consequently, in the future, we can expect an interesting combination of "high-tech methods" and systems-based, interdisciplinary approaches.
What role do you see for your journal?
Ecological Indicators will document these dynamics. We will try to develop towards an important medium to communicate innovative concepts and results. We would like to strengthen the function of a quickly reacting forum for discussions, to improve the provision of coherent information by thematic issues, to strengthen interdisciplinarity and holistic management concepts, and we would like to develop towards a medium for quantitative descriptions of the dynamics of human-environmental systems.
This role not only includes an interesting scientific field, but also might help to better cope with future environmental problems.
ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS' MOST CURRENT MOST-CITED PAPER IN ESSENTIAL SCIENCE INDICATORS:
Borja A, Dauer DM, "Assessing the environmental quality status in estuarine and coastal systems: Comparing methodologies and indices," Ecol. Indic. 8(4): 331-7, July 2008 with 24 cites. Source: Essential Science Indicators from Thomson Reuters .
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- This journal was named as a New Entrant in Environment/Ecology in February 2010.
KEYWORDS: INDICATORS, SUSTAINABILITY, POLITICIANS, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGERS, SCIENCE-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING, ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS, INTERDISCIPLINARITY, SOCIAL-ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS, ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY, ECOSYSTEM HEALTH, EU WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE, EMPIRICAL RESEARCH, APPLICATIONS, ECOSYSTEM SERVICE CONCEPT.
Citing URL: http://sciencewatch.com/inter/jou/2010/10julEcoInd/