Editorial Cryptogamie Joins the Museum Scientific Press

Abstract

CRYPTOGAMIE, BRYOLOGIE • 2019 With this 40th volume, Cryptogamie enters a new era. The most far-reaching change is that Cryptogamie will be published online only and in fast track. Based on the concept that the journal should be freely available for both authors and readers, Cryptogamie has chosen the diamond open access model. At a time when the academic publishing system is more hotly debated than ever, this choice should offer to the community working on cryptogams the opportunity to disseminate research articles, without limitation, on a wide diversity of cryptogamic topics, with a strong focus on ecology and evolution and resulting systematic treatments. As editors of Cryptogamie, we are convinced that research on algology, bryology and mycology still has a long way to go. Even if overall estimates of extant species have tended to level off at around 10 million, the number of cryptogams (especially fungi) still to be described is so high that there is still no consensus in the community. In the context of the current erosion of biodiversity in response to global changes, the impact on cryptogams still needs to be evaluated at various levels, ranging from populations to ecosystems. In the era of high throughput screening, new techniques will most certainly improve our capacity to analyse the dynamics of cryptogam diversity. We sincerely hope that with this new publication model, Cryptogamie will play a full role in fostering our fields of study by disseminating high quality research articles. This transition to a diamond open access model is accompanied by the implementation of a new organizational structure. The title Cryptogamie is now owned by the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, an institution which has been disseminating scientific literature in the field of Natural and Human Sciences since 1802. The new mode of operating the journal under the auspices of the Museum Science Press should ensure that Cryptogamie continues to exist in the long term while respecting its guiding principles. Since its inception in 1980, Cryptogamie has been published by the Association des Amis des Cryptogames (Adac) to promote research on cryptogams. Strongly anchored in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Cryptogamie was nonetheless a journal open to a wide international authorship with a worldwide biogeographic coverage. It was often seen as complementary to Adansonia, a journal focusing on Pteridophytes and Phanerogamous plants distributed by the Museum Science Press. Now, thanks to a broadening of the editorial policy of the Museum Science Press to extend its scope beyond the collections of the Museum, and to promote the international influence of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, it has been possible for Cryptogamie to be accepted among the periodicals distributed by Museum Science Press. The Association des Amis des Cryptogames, a non-profit organization, was created in 1979 by the researchers of the cryptogamic laboratory of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, under the leadership of Professor Suzanne JovetAst, director of the cryptogamic laboratory, and Hélène Bischler, researcher at the CNRS. This initiative was taken to bring together into one title the journals published by different researchers in the laboratory: Revue bryologique et lichénologique, Revue algologique, Revue de Mycologie. Within Cryptogamie, each of the editors (Cryptogamie, BryologieLichénologie; Cryptogamie, Algologie; Cryptogamie, Mycologie) retained their independence while adopting common policies on the style sheet, the instructions to authors, and especially the process of peer review, respecting the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants. The wide focus of each section was preserved. The financial management of the three sections was the responsibility of Adac. In order to reduce the costs related to the composition of the articles, a workshop was created within the Adac to provide the commercial printer with print-ready versions. This mode of operation ceased in the 1990s, the composition of the articles being outsourced to the commercial printer. Technical and scientific management of the articles from submission to publication was managed by the editor of each section. The transfer of the title to the Museum Science Press will thus free the editors of technical matters which are not their primary concern. It will allow Cryptogamie to have greater international influence and a more secure future.