Many journals intentionally seek to publish review papers to enhance their impact. Since ICB primarily publishes review papers, the content of the journal would suggest that citation rates should be high. The quality has always been there, but we think it is now being discovered. It is gratifying that the scientific community also recognizes the significance of the content. Part of the rationale for the renaming and restructuring of the journal and affiliating it with Oxford University Press was to make the journal more available to the public and hence more frequently cited. We are pleased but not surprised.

It wasn’t clear from the ESI graphs whether the increase in citation rate was because of a generally increasing citation rate spread over all papers, or whether certain especially stellar ones raised the rate disproportionately. We suspect the former and attribute the increase in citation to an ongoing improvement in the quality of our offerings and to online availability. The content in terms of taxa covered has also expanded and increased appeal to a wider audience. Finally, we suspect that electronic database searching is a key factor.

I think that the change of journal title and format and the overview of broad areas were very important. The old title (American Zoologist) suggested that we were interested only in animals and the U.S. Trends in science have led many people to want to label themselves "integrative biologists," and our new society name and journal title is attractive to such folks. There are many, many societies for people to join and meetings to attend. Most people have limits on money and time and it was necessary to give people reasons to join, attend meetings, and organize symposia with ICB.

The quality of the well-attended symposia is a big factor leading to the quality of the journal. The American Society of Zoologists (ASZ)/SICB has always been led by some of the most eminent comparative biologists. Those scientists publish some of their papers in the journal. So, there is no reason that the papers (which are peer-reviewed) should be any less prestigious than other journals in comparative biology. Finally, the generous financial support directly to specific symposia from various sources has allowed us to invite outstanding people as speakers.

The realization that integration of diverse fields can and will lead to new discovery has been important. The broad range of subjects covered by the journal ensures that there is always something of interest. Inclusion of broad topics such as evolutionary and developmental biology has stimulated interest. Funding agencies and pedagogy have emphasized integrative approaches. That makes ICB attractive, because few societies or journals have the word "integrative" in their titles. ASZ/SICB members have always been at the cutting edge of their disciplines, and that shows up in the papers published in the journal.

Organization of symposia and publication of high-quality review articles on cutting edge research by highly regarded scientists. The range and depth of subjects covered gives the opportunity for fresh approaches. This is helped by the interaction among the members of the society. The breadth and depth of the members’ experiences are reflected in the material presented in print. Because there are these interactions, articles are often clearer and approach every aspect of the scientific presentation.

Publishing the symposia allows the professional biologists who are not specialists in the particular field of the symposium to quickly and effectively bring themselves up to date on particular topics. The symposia are, in effect, short courses of high quality. For that reason, the current undertaking to publish all symposia within a year or less (sometimes three months) of their presentation is important. This means that they are still relevant, and citable, when they are published. Authors are happy to have an immediate outlet for their contributions.

We anticipate even more integration of various fields to provide intersections of ideas that will open new avenues for exploration and cross-disciplinary research. There are several topics that are current and that will receive emphasis. They are:

Comparative physiology and biochemistry: continuing to incorporate new techniques from molecular biology, new imaging techniques, new developments in micro-/nano-electronics, as well as new understanding of evolutionary biology, and addressing long-standing questions about animal (and plant) structure (and evolution) as well as the new questions emerging from the application of those new methods.

Evolutionary Biology: This field in combination with molecular and morphological data, and supported by advances in biogeography and ecology, will provide data that map onto the phylogenetic hypotheses in novel and important ways. Biocomplexity is likely to continue to provide challenges in the struggle to enhance an understanding of complex systems that can only be approached with massive datasets and powerful analytical techniques.

Biomechanics: A new division of Comparative Biomechanics has been added to the society and will be reflected in published symposia in this field.

SICB can continue to play a key role in highlighting new developments and controversial new ideas in different areas of comparative biology. Again, electronic database searching will allow the journal’s contents to be more widely and rapidly disseminated. The rapid turn-around time for articles will increase the relevancy of the journal. The journal must continue to provide historically accessible benchmarks for the major symposia presented at the SICB meetings. The papers appearing in the journal represent state-of-the-art reviews as well as new data on specific, collated subjects, and the power of this format should not be underestimated.

Integrative and Comparative Biology
Harold Heatwole, Editor-in-Chief
Oxford University Press, publishers on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology