Editorial: A New Title for J-NABS

Abstract

On 25 May 2011, the members of the North American Benthological Society (NABS) voted to change the name of their society to Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) and to change the title of the society’s journal from Journal of the North American Benthological Society (J-NABS) to Freshwater Science (FWS). For many of us who have been long-time members of NABS and authors or users of J-NABS, these changes were made with regret, but recognition of the need for change was overwhelming (,80% of those members present voted for change). Thus, it is my responsibility to inform you—2 y after publishing the 25 Anniversary Issue of J-NABS—that this will be the last issue of this journal published under the title, Journal of the North American Benthological Society. It also is my pleasure to announce that in March 2012, you will read the first issue of this journal to be published under the title, Freshwater Science. The search for a new title was motivated by several concerns. The original title reflected the name of the journal’s publisher (NABS) rather than the journal’s scope or content. It gave the unintentional impression of being geographically and geopolitically exclusionary and scientifically restricted. Thus, the original title did not encourage submission of international and interdisciplinary papers, especially those at the interface of benthology (the study of organisms and processes related to the bottoms of water bodies) and other freshwater sciences. It also was not transparent to readers and users outside the field of benthology, including academic administrators, government officials, and national and international committees that rank scientific journals. The new title reflects the interests of members of SFS and the scope of scientific research currently being published in the journal. It is, we think, more transparent and inviting than the original title. A new title provides an opportunity for close inspection of the mission of the Journal and careful assessment of the scope of its content. The content of the journal is rooted in benthology because the origin of NABS (and thus SFS) was the Midwest Benthological Society. The journal came to be associated particularly with the study of streams because many NABS members study streams. However, the interests of society members have widened over the 26 y since the first issue of J-NABS was published to include many other aquatic sciences than benthology and far more systems than streams. Consequently, the scope of the science published in the journal has broadened significantly (see J-NABS 29/1 for a sense of the breadth of the science now being published in the journal). Thus, we anticipate that few actual changes in scope will be associated with the change in title from J-NABS to FWS. However, we do need to update our statement of the scientific content of the journal. The details of this redefinition will be the subject of an editorial in the first issue of FWS (31/1), to be published in March 2012. All other aspects of the journal, including editorial procedures, standards and expectations, philosophy, and attention to detail will remain unchanged. The Associate Editors, Business Manager, and Editorial Assistant of J-NABS, and I look forward to serving you beginning in 2012 as members of the Editorial Board of FWS. We appreciate your continued support as we make this transition.