Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries : A new home for the Blue Revolution

Abstract

EDITORIAL enhanced this gender inequality (Viglione, 2020), and proactive actions are necessary to help correct the observed gender imbalance in submissions. We also actively support Early Career researchers by providing opportunities to work closely with our Editorial team to publish their scientific findings and engage them on the practices of open science , including a transparent and constructive peer review process. We are committed to foster inclusive research and provide a welcoming and inclusive space for everyone, which we hope has been reflected in building our editorial team. Submissions are welcomed from authors of all ethnicities, races, colours, religions, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, national origins, disabilities, ages, or other individual status. All authors based at low-income countries will benefit from waiver policies to support article processing charges. Researchers need timely decisions on their submissions. Rejection is part of the "game" of scientific publication. All researchers will have already had (or someday will have) to deal with the dreaded "we regret to inform you.. . " message that often translates into having to spend some more precious days preparing rejected manuscripts for a new submission elsewhere. High rejection rates, which are currently recorded in several selective publications, are also promoting an unnecessary burden to peer-reviewers, as rejected papers need to undergo a completely new review process, duplicating effort. Overall, rejection of a submitted manuscript results in weeks to months of delay from first submission to publication and, unfortunately, it may often have nothing to do with the scientific soundness of the work being rejected. Wiley has the largest number of Fisheries journals of any publisher, with a portfolio that spans a broad scope of research areas. However, in 2020, 3269 manuscripts were rejected from Wiley Fisheries publications. Nearly 20% of these rejections (705 manuscripts) ended up being published elsewhere, in both Wiley and non-Wiley publications. To improve the author experience and reduce time spent on resubmissions, Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries will work closely with other Fisheries journals in the Wiley portfolio. At the supporter jour-nal's discretion, authors will be given the chance to transfer their original submission and, if applicable, any review reports from the journal of their original submission to Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries. This simple procedure will allow authors to receive a much faster decision on the publication of their manuscript and reduce author effort in preparing resubmissions, whilst still maintaining the integrity of the peer review process and making a more efficient use of reviewer feedback. To further improve this service, article preparation and submission are made as easy as possible for authors, with guidelines being short and simple. At submission or transfer, Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries will only safeguard that a few elements are featured in the article structure, along with some key information from the authors. This means that the transfer can happen quickly and effectively, with little additional formatting required. 3 BUILDING OUR COMMUNITY Changing is never easy. Most of the time people resist change, namely if they are comfortable with the status quo and believe that change has little upside for them. At Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries we pursue change and are motivated to listen to our community and continue to improve our processes. To do so, we are committed to providing an open communication channel. Please feel free to email us with any suggestions or feedback! We aim to mentor a new generation of researchers in the interdisciplinary field that are sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, fostering the full value of renewable aquatic living resources. The world desperately needs a Blue Revolution framed within a circular bioeconomy that can safeguard global food security and the integrity of aquatic ecosystems and its living resources. To pursue this ambitious goal, all sound science produced worldwide must be made freely available to all, if one wants to feed the world in a sustainable way. We think that Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries can contribute to this goal and we welcome all those engaged with the Blue Revolution to join us on this journey.