A new era for Pacific Conservation Biology

In 2015, after 20 years of publication by Surrey Beatty and Sons, PCB begins its first year with CSIRO Publishing. As the change beds down, there will be new services for authors and subscribers. Highlights among those in place and those to be implemented during the year are:

• provision of a DOI for all papers, enabling easier location of publications online

• a more full-featured website, including easier online access to papers and subscriber services

• an online submission and processing facility

• greater flexibility in subscriptions, including an online only option

• an Online Early facility, whereby PDFs of accepted papers are available online in advance of the official publication date of an issue

• no page charges, except for colour figures

• speedier liaison with major database services, so that publications are listed in the databases as promptly as possible.

These developments consolidate the dedicated work of the family business of Surrey Beatty and Sons over the past two decades. Ivor Beatty, then principal of the firm, established PCB as a peer-reviewed journal in 1992 (first papers published in 1993), to increase outlets for information on conservation in the Pacific Region. Without the financial support of a scientific society or a large publishing house with a stable of journals, Ivor and his family developed PCB as an important service to conservation. While determined to continue this legacy after Ivor’s passing in 2013, his family recognised that the growing diversity of services provided by major publishers was beyond the resources of a small family business and negotiated the transfer of the journal to CSIRO Publishing. In recognition of Ivor’s outstanding contribution to conservation, CSIRO Publishing have inaugurated the Ivor Beatty Award, to be presented annually for the best paper published that year in PCB as judged by the Editor-in-Chief and the Managing Editors.

While the change in publisher means a range of new services to authors and subscribers, PCB’s editorial focus is unchanged. The journal remains dedicated to the Pacific region, which is defined broadly as the western Pacific (East Asia, South Asia, South-east Asia and Oceania) the north Pacific (including Russia), and the islands of the central Pacific across to countries on the North American and South American continents bordering on the eastern Pacific. This is illustrated by the regional slant of all the papers in the current issue. Features such as Forum Essays, News and Views and Book Reviews will continue and word limits for submitted papers will still allow for longer papers when the subject matter requires it. For example, in this issue there is a Forum Essay (Recher 2015), and both that paper and the Bárcena Volcano paper (Brattstrom 2015) are long. Prospective authors uncertain about the suitability of their papers because of topic or length are encouraged to discuss their concerns with the Editor-in-Chief.

The editorial team looks forward to an on-going flow of papers to PCB. We thank all authors, reviewers and subscribers for their support and look forward to working with you under the new arrangements.