The special feature in ER: Promoting idea sharing via Idea Paper 2

Open call for submission

We are very pleased to announce the open call for the special feature in Ecological Research, entitled "Promoting idea sharing via Idea Paper 2", with the guest handling editors: Takeshi Miki (Ryukoku University), Masahiro Nakamura (Hokkaido University), Kazuaki Matsui (Kindai University), Hiroko Kurokawa (Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute). We are inviting the submission via the editorial manager of Ecological Research by 31st August 2021. If you have any questions, please send an e-mail inquiry to Dr. Takeshi Miki (tks.miki.ecology@gmail.com).



[Summary Notes]

Submission Deadline: 31st August 2021

Submit an article: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ecores. Please choose the type "special feature" at the Step 1 and specify the special feature title "Promoting idea sharing via Idea Paper 2" in the cover letter at the Step 6.

Presubmission inquiry: email to: tks.miki.ecology@gmail.com (Dr. Takeshi Miki). We can communicate in English or Japanese.

Outline


With this special feature, we intend to deepen the framework of “idea paper”, which was proposed in ER 2020 volume 35 issue 4 to promote sharing of research ideas. This is a kind of experiment to better design the framework for developing research ideas in a community. Through the communications between the editors, reviewers, and authors during reviewing and publication processes, we are going to revise and improve the framework of the idea paper (e.g., paper format and reviewing criteria). This process will mature a proposed idea to seeing realized in a community and make the “idea paper” distinguishable from review and perspective papers.


For the second trial of the idea paper, we have improved the paper format following the feedback comments from the editors, reviewers, and authors in the special feature in 2020. More importantly, we would like to recruit an open call for submissions to stimulate a greater diversity of the authors with respective to work locations, genders, and research subdisciplines (at the phase of submission).

The aims of the idea paper are 1) to promote research idea sharing by making it easier to publish new ideas compared to original papers and the existing types of review/perspective papers, and then 2) to advance ecological sciences by encouraging i) maturation of proposed ideas in a community, ii) group research based on the shared research ideas, and iii) sharing/recycling the ideas that have (will) not be tested by the proposed scientist group.


You can see some of the examples of idea papers here:

Idea Paper Format with heading


Manuscript length

Priority is given to short papers. The maximum length of an idea paper is four to five pages, which corresponds to approximately 1900-2450 words (including References) plus 250 words abstract. When figures/tables are included, the corresponding space should be included in 1900-2450 words. A figure or table of which size is a single column width and one-quarter to one-third of a page height consumes approximately 140 words’ space. The idea paper should follow the specific format (see the next section). The items that are not specified below should follow the general guideline of Ecological Research.


Promoting open science

The authors are highly encouraged to deposit their pre-publication manuscript to a preprint server (e.g. bioRxiv) at the moment of initial submission or later stages of reviewing processes for promoting the openness of the proposed new ideas. Otherwise, the authors are expected to choose the open access option at the moment of publication (which costs 3000 USD).


Format with section headings

[1] Title

The title of the paper should start with "Idea Paper:"


[2] Systematic keyword selection

Choose at least one keyword from each of the following three categories. In addition, select one to two additional keywords (e.g. the target organisms or systems).

1) The focal scale of ecological hierarchy

Individual (e.g. physiology and behavior), population, evolution, community, ecosystem

2) Potential method to validate the new idea

Observation, experiment (including field experiment), mathematical and computational modeling (e.g. theoretical dynamic modeling), data analysis (e.g. statistical modeling and empirical dynamic modeling)

3) Classification of the new idea

"Ideas for fundamental questions"; Choose this when the proposed ideas are related to general/fundamental questions in subdisciplines in Ecology.

"Ideas for educational programs"; Choose this when the proposed ideas are useful for small research projects for students e.g. in regular classes or summer courses.

"Ideas for specific organisms/systems"; Choose this when the proposed ideas focus on specific organisms and ecosystems.

[3] Research question

Clearly present the target research question covered in this paper.


[4] Value

Relating to [2]-3), clearly describe why the target research question is valuable (e.g., interestingness, ecological significance, position in the focal scientific disciplines).


[5] Relevant hypothesis

Clearly discuss at least one of the major relevant hypotheses that have given some solutions to the target research question; cite several related papers and explicitly discuss the shortcomings of 1) these hypotheses or 2) their predictions.


[6] New research idea

Present a new research idea.


[7] How to tackle the question through the proposed new idea

Explain how to solve the shortcomings of the relevant hypotheses with the proposed new ideas? Consider the following two points in the description.

[7-1] Cite the existing ideas in other research fields (if any), which are related to the proposed idea, and summarize the similarities and dissimilarities between the proposed idea and the existing ideas. Note that the citations here are independent from the relevant hypotheses in [5].

[7-2] Briefly and specifically mention the potential approaches and techniques to obtain empirical data or generate theoretical predictions in order to validate the proposed idea.


[8] Motivation

Freely describe the remarks regarding the proposed ideas. For example, describe motivation of sharing the proposed ideas, e.g. why the authors do not aim to publish the full paper with the proposed ideas. It can be also OK to mention that the proposed ideas are based on　those in the rejected grant proposal.


[9] References

Prepare the reference list following the guideline for Ecological Research.


Note: other necessary items (e.g. abstract) should be prepared following the guideline for Ecological Research.

Peer review checklist (Publication criteria)


Rating method

For each question, grade 0(No), 1, 2, 3 (Completely Yes), or N/A

For each question, reviewers should explain their answers and may point out any related issues (if any).


[1] Is the title appropriately reflecting the content of the paper?


[2] Is the systematic keyword selection appropriate?


[3] Is the research question specified?


[4] Is the value of solving the question specified? Subjective assessments of ecological significance of the proposed new idea are not a part of evaluation.


[5] Are relevant papers cited and are their interpretations and criticisms appropriate?


[6] Is the idea concrete? Isn’t it just reinvention of the ideas that have been proved to be invalid in the research field?


[7-1] Are appropriate papers cited, which are linked to the proposed idea? Is the summary of similarities or dissimilarities clear?


[7-2] Are methods and techniques specifically provided for testing the proposed idea?


[8] Is Motivation section clearly describing the authors’ motivations for sharing the proposed idea?


Promoting the sharing of ideas via “Idea Papers”

For the 1st special feature published in 2020, please check the following:

https://esj-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14401703/2020/35/4

In particular, the details in the direction of "Idea Papers" are explained in the following preface.

Takeshi Miki Masahiro Nakamura Kazuaki Matsui Hazime Mizoguchi Emi Tamaki (2020). Promoting the sharing of ideas via “Idea Papers”.