On International Biodiversity Day, May 22nd 2018, the International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management (IJBESM) announced Alexander van Oudenhoven and Berta Martín-López as new Co-Editors-in-Chief. They took over from Rudolf de Groot, who had led the Journal since 2010. In addition to the new Co-Editors-in-Chief, eight new members were welcomed to the Editorial Board of IJBESM, and the Journal’s Aims and Scope were updated. These are the main principles that will guide the Journal in this new phase:
- We seek to publish truly interdisciplinary research on human-nature relationships
- We embrace transdisciplinary research, in which knowledge is built through the collaboration between researchers and non-academic actors
- We pursue inclusivity and diversity by considering different disciplines, research perspectives, and conceptual and methodological frameworks
- Particularly, we welcome research that considers different knowledge-systems, including scientific knowledge; lay knowledge from practitioners and indigenous and local knowledge
- We seek to assemble an Editorial Board comprised by scholars from all the continents, genders and in different stages of their scientific career
We hope that these principles of inclusivity and diversity will generate momentum towards more diverse representation of authors, research perspectives and contributions, as well as innovative viewpoints. To support this, we have also updated the Types of Articles by introducing ‘Perspectives’ and ‘Data Papers’.
We truly hope that these updates, which are further detailed in the latest Editorial that came out on May 29th, can provide a platform for transparent discussions, innovation and inspiration on human-nature relations research.