It is now almost 4 years since the New Zealand Journal of Zoology (NZJZ), as one of the Royal Society of New Zealand's journals, partnered with Taylor & Francis, and the benefits to its extended family of authors, referees, subscribers and readers continue to accumulate. Taylor & Francis' efficient online manuscript handling and marketing systems are reaping many rewards, visible in their annual reports of journal statistics.
NZJZ's impact factor between 2004 and 2009 averaged 0.69, but over the first 3 years since we partnered with Taylor & Francis it has been consistently higher (0.85 in 2010; 0.919 in 2011; and 0.889 in 2012). Impact factors are substantially affected by the extra interest generated by special issues, such as the issue on science and seabird harvesting in 2009 (vol. 46.3), and our special issue this year on wind energy and wildlife (vol. 40.1). Future special issues are planned on issues of global concern that will surely be also widely read, and we are keen to receive suggestions of suitable topics.
Impact factors are calculated annually and tend to favour papers published in fast-moving fields. By contrast, our papers are often long-lived and widely read for many years. Ten years ago the special issue (vol. 30.4) we produced to coincide with an international conference on wildlife management in Christchurch included six invited reviews, of which four still figure among our top 10 articles downloaded in 2012. The top 10 also included a recent invited review on the moa, and one ‘how to’ paper on stoats published as long ago as 1977.
In the first three quarters of the 2013 calendar year we maintained a rapid turnaround time averaging 51 days from submission to first decision. We are well aware that a minimal wait for a first decision is one of the most important factors that authors consider when choosing a journal, so we are pleased to report this good result, and will of course do everything possible to maintain it. Our overall rejection rate in 2012 was 32%.
Taylor & Francis are expert at using all possible forms of electronic marketing, now including mobile communication networks such as Facebook. Their online platform has a facility offering ‘access tokens’, which give short-term access to content from all journals in their zoology portfolio. In the 2012 year, NZJZ performed very well in this arena, and was placed seventh out of 70 in the list of most often downloaded journals.
Targeted marketing campaigns are among Taylor & Francis' specialities. This year, to celebrate Save the Frogs Day in the US on 27 April, they offered free online access to > 50 articles on frogs and related subjects selected from 100 of their zoology journals. NZJZ was placed in the top 20 of the 100 journals for number of downloads during this campaign. Likewise, to celebrate the 2012 Chinese Year of the Dragon, Taylor & Francis offered free online access to a collection of articles on dragonfly, reptile and dinosaur articles, chosen from 107 zoology journals, among which NZJZ again scored in the top 20.
NZJZ has a homepage on the new Taylor & Francis Online (TFO) platform (www.tandfonline.com/toc/tnzz20/current#.UlsuvdKLA8w/) where users can find extensive free information, including a free online sample copy and registration for content alerts and RSS feeds.
Taylor & Francis frequently undertake promotions through international conferences. In 2012, they represented NZJZ at 14 meetings in Europe and the USA, and for the joint meeting of the New Zealand and Australian Ecological Societies in Auckland in November 2013, they ran a campaign showcasing selected papers from the NZJZ archives there were relevant to conference attendees.
This year we published a very successful special issue, Wind Energy and Wildlife, organised by Stuart Parsons (University of Auckland) and Phil Battley (Massey University). As Stuart and Phil state in their introductory editorial, ‘The initial aim of this special issue was to provide a vehicle for the publication of studies on the effects of wind facilities in New Zealand. However, the quality, quantity and geographic distribution of studies submitted have given us the opportunity to widen the scope of the issue to encompass the southern hemisphere' (vol. 40.1, p. 3). The result is a landmark set of papers considering the subject from all angles—especially the effects on birds and bats of collisions with turbine blades or barotrauma, with special reference to the unique species and conditions of the southern half of the globe.
Our International Advisory Board has six members from all around the Pacific basin (west to east from Australia to Chile and China to Canada/US, and south to north from Antarctica to Japan and Alaska). Their contact details are given on the journal website and at the front of the printed copies. Aspiring authors in those countries are encouraged to work with their local representative on preparing their submissions.
None of this would be possible without our hard-working Associate Editors, and the caring and critical referees with whom they work as a team to get the best out of every manuscript. The Royal Society of New Zealand's publishing team in Wellington, and Taylor & Francis' staff in Melbourne, continue to offer indispensable support. As always I want to thank them all.
Carolyn King
Senior Editor