Personally, I'm not too worried about the current thematic content of the
Emu or other ornithological journals. Scientific journals often reflect
dominant or popular research fields at the times of publication. Journal
editors also influence the themes by encouraging the publication of papers
in their own field of interest or expertise. Examples of dominant themes
that have been published in the Emu in the past include taxonomy and
systematics, evolutionary ecology, community ecology, habitat requirements
of species, ethology, ecological responses to environmental changes, bird
conservation, just to name a few. Sociobiology is just one of the latest
themes to feature in the Emu (which I personally find interesting). There
will be other dominant themes in the future as directions in ornithological
research change over time and one journal editor passes the baton onto
another.
However, I do share the concern about widening the geographical scope of Emu
to research beyond Australasia. It dilutes ones opportunity to learn about
Australasian ornithology. Supporters of the current format may argue that
there are so many more journals available internationally in which to
publish the results of Australian ornithological research compared with 20
or 30 years ago, so it does not matter if it is not published in the Emu or
elsewhere, but not everybody has the time or resources to follow this
literature, or even know where to look.
Kind regards,
Stephen
Stephen Ambrose
Ryde, NSW
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Phil Gregory
Sent: Friday, December 9, 2016 10:07 AM
To:
Subject: Emu
Sadly Emu has become just another avenue for prospective scientists to build
their careers by publishing socio-biology papers, and widening the scope
away from Australia was I think a very bad idea, one of the reasons I am not
going to resubscribe from 2017. Ditto for Ibis in the UK where the BOU has
been taken over by career bureaucrats and some of the founding motivations
such as reviewing the British List are no longer considered worthwhile. The
more general readership has been progressively excluded in both publications
as statistics and socio-biology take over everything. Still, the money I
save can go to some of the more toothsome bird books now emerging.
Phil Gregory
<> ornithological writer/tour
leader/tour facilitator Field Guides / Sicklebill Safaris / Cassowary House
/ Cassowary Tours PO Box 387 Kuranda QLD 4881 Australia
Ph: +61 7 40 937 318
Email: <>
Website1: http://www.sicklebillsafaris.com
<http://www.sicklebillsafaris.com/> OR www.birder.travel
<http://www.birder.travel/> Website 2: http://www.cassowary-house.com.au
<http://www.cassowary-house.com.au/>
Website 3: http://www.cassowarytours.com.au
<http://www.cassowarytours.com.au/>
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