Overview of current issue

The current issue of Tropical Conservation Science (TCS) contains six research articles based on studies in Madagascar, India, Colombia, Brazil, Belize, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe. This geographic diversity is matched by the variety of conservation themes tackled by these papers.

In the Paleotropics, the article by Zadou et al., researches the socio-anthropological dimensions associated with the conservation of the rainforests of Marais Tanoé-Ehy in southeast Ivory Coast. The study by Gandiwa profiles aspects and the conservation impact of illegal wildlife hunting in communities in the vicinity of Gonarezhou National Park, in southeast Zimbabwe. Armstrong et al. report on a study of community composition and forest structure in a Madagascar lowland rainforest. The study by Velho and Kishnadas investigates post-logging recovery of animal-dispersed trees in a tropical forest site in north-east India.

In the Neotropics, Gamba-Trimiño et al., report on the demography of the clonal palm Prestoeaacuminata in the Colombian Andes and the viability of sustainable household extraction of palm hearts. The diversity of galling insects, the only insects capable of manipulating plant tissues to form complex structures, and their relationship with specific plant hosts, was studied by Santos de Araújo in the Brazilian Cerrado.

Number of papers published by TCS in 2011

During 2011, TCS received 68 article submissions, of which 53% were accepted for publication after passing through the peer review process. These manuscripts were published in four issues. In total, 477 pages were published during 2011. These included four editorials and 36 manuscripts. The geographic regions most represented by the papers were the Neotropics and Africa (including Madagascar), followed by SE Asia and India (see graph below). Five of the papers dealt with conservation issues at a global scale.

Readership

Through the first 11 months of 2011, TCS papers were downloaded roughly 72,000 times, a 24% increase over the same period last year. The TCS site had about 32,000 visitors, a rise of roughly 23% over 2009.

Peer review

In 2011, 72 referees (see Appendix 1) kindly assisted TCS in the peer review, and we are grateful for their participation in this process. Their contribution has helped to sustain the high quality of manuscripts published in TCS.

Indexing of TCS

From the beginning, TCS editors have sought its inclusion in various academic indexing systems. Importantly, In November of 2011 Thomson Reuters incorporated TCS into the following indexing systems:

TCS has already been included in Scopus, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), CAB Abstracts, EBSCO Publishing databases, Google Scholar, Stanford University e-journal database, Open Access Net of Germany, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory