Year: 2023
Type: editorial
Abstract: Ecology Letters publishes six article types: ‘Letter’, ‘Method’, ‘Perspective’, ‘Synthesis’, ‘Technical Note’ and ‘Viewpoint’. In a recent editorial, we discussed what makes a successful ‘Perspective’ or ‘Synthesis’ (Drake & Chase, 2023). Here, I discuss our vision for the ‘Method’ section. Like ‘Perspective’ and ‘Synthesis’ (but unlike ‘Letter’), manuscripts are only considered for the ‘Method’ section after receiving an invitation, either directly from the editorial board or after approval of an unsolicited proposal. These come from one of the Senior Editors of Ecology Letters, typically me, John Drake. Sometimes invitations are made without any prior communication. That is, an invitation might just show up in your email inbox, for example, if we know you are working on a particular topic that we think would be appropriate, or if we see you give a talk or other presentation at a meeting. But this is relatively rare. More commonly, an invitation is issued after an author sends a brief proposal to the journal proposing a ‘Method’ topic. Proposals should be no more than 300 words long, describe the nature and novelty of the work, the contribution of the proposed article to the discipline and the qualifications of the author(s) who will write the manuscript. Proposals should be sent to the Editorial Office via email to both [email protected] and [email protected]. Proposals may include quantitative information (e.g. information that would underscore the timeliness of a methodological innovation) or a figure (e.g. a conceptual figure illustrating the main idea). Of course, proposals that are well justified are much more likely to result in an invitation. It is our experience that the inclusion of quantitative information or a figure are often part of a strong justification. As we wrote previously, there are some things that are common to all successful papers in Ecology Letters such as a focus on an interesting question of broad relevance to the readership, clarity of thought and expression, and scientific rigour. There are some other things that we are particularly looking for in a ‘Method’. ‘Method’ articles focus on new techniques. These days, most of these techniques are about processing data; that is, they are statistical or computational. But they could also be about acquiring data, such as through new sensors, equipment or laboratory processes. All ‘Method’ articles are intended to introduce specific, generalizable research techniques that apply across multiple branches of the tree of life. Thus, a successful ‘Method’ paper is not taxon specific. Additionally, articles that merely introduce existing techniques from other areas of scientific research are usually not acceptable. The exception to this is that a really good review of a really important topic in another area of science, say generative AI or approximate Bayesian computing, would be acceptable if it was presented as a general, practical and accessible tutorial facilitating a more rapid adoption of the method in our community. In general, manuscripts should be self-contained and establish the generalizability, importance and novelty of the approach. Where contributions concern statistical methodology (and this is most of them), the authors should develop the knowledge of the statistical performance of the technique to the greatest extent possible. For instance, simulation studies might be used to quantify statistical power, bias and variance. To be generally accessible, statistical contributions should be accompanied by high quality, open access source code. Equally important, the work should be demonstrated in a case study, both to establish the value of the method in a specific use case and to provide an example that other researchers can emulate. As with all invited manuscripts, invitation resulting from a proposal in no way preempts a decision to accept in that all manuscripts are subject to the journal's full evaluation procedures and it is often hard for us to judge a manuscript based on a short proposal. In my view, Ecology Letters is one of the most interesting journals in ecology. The Senior Editors are grateful to a devoted editorial board, energetic pool of reviewers, broad readership and outstanding scientific contributors for contributing to this success. ‘Method’ articles have been around for a few years now. I believe that they have the potential to really catalyse the way ecological research is conducted, to enable a more rapid integration of new analytical methods that could revolutionize the field. We are therefore eager to publish as many papers in this category as meet the demanding criteria that our community of editors, reviewers and contributors have collectively established. As the senior editor for this article type, I look forward to our continued partnership with and service to this community.
Source: Ecology Letters
DOI: 10.1111/ele.14304
Author: John M. Drake
Institution: University of Georgia
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $5,050
OpenAlex ID: W4387710052