The mission of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) is "to advance the science and practice of conserving Earth's biological diversity." Central to this is publishing peer-reviewed conservation science accessible to its members and the broader disciplinary community. The SCB began publishing the internationally recognized academic journal, Conservation Biology, in 1987, and it remains the society's flagship publication. However, as SCB has grown and diversified, it has recognized the need to expand its journal footprint. This included partnering with Wiley to launch Conservation Letters in 2008 and launching a second society-owned journal, Conservation Science and Practice, in 2019.
We reflect on changes in the publishing landscape and how SCB has responded while ensuring that its publishing choices remain consistent with the society's ultimate objective of conserving biological diversity. In discussing journal relationships with SCB members, we discovered that there remains ambiguity about what it means for a journal to be associated with, or owned by, SCB. We therefore draw on the SCB experience in strategically diversifying journals to present a typology of journal relationships. We further present the decision framework by which SCB evaluates and manages its journals and publisher relationships. Although this editorial focuses specifically on SCB, we contribute to the ongoing debate on the value of society-owned journals in general. We hope the transparency we offer in discussing SCB journal relationships sets a benchmark for other societies.
Read the editorial here: https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.70232
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Lee Munger
Society for Conservation Biology
Washington DC
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