President’s Message On the Merits of Publishing in Regional Scientific Journals

The proliferation of scientific journals over the past two decades has been phenomenal. As but one example, the number of new ecological journals increased from around 50 in 1980 to nearly 90 by 2000, an 80% increase (Bergstrom and Bergstrom 2006). This is both boon and bane to the scientific community – it offers new opportunities for scientists to disseminate their findings, but it also increases competition among journals for authors. As a result, some journals will win out and increase their number of published pages, while others may struggle to maintain their present output.