The field of molecular ecology could be roughly described as using the genotypes of individuals to study the ecology and evolution of wild organisms. Molecular Ecology Notes was started only a few years ago as an offshoot of the journal Molecular Ecology to provide a venue for publishing tools and techniques needed by scientists in this field. Currently, Molecular Ecology Notes publishes three types of articles: Primer Notes describe PCR-based assays for genotypic assessment of non-model species, Technical Notes report novel protocols and solutions for laboratory and field methods, and Program Notes introduce new software to automate either existing or new analysis algorithms. Molecular Ecology Notes also maintains a web-accessible database of all data published in Primer Notes.

As many of the studies implementing these tools take several field seasons and some additional laboratory time to complete, we did expect that the number of citations of Molecular Ecology Notes articles, and in particular Primer Notes, would grow over time. We think this role for Molecular Ecology Notes is particularly helpful for young researchers starting their own programs: early publication of Primer Notes allows them to document their initial successes in what we hope will be long, productive lines of inquiry using these tools. Another factor that appears to be contributing to the increased citations is the application of PCR primers from a species to its sister taxa, an outcome we hoped the journal would facilitate. Finally, a substantial contribution to the number of citations comes from the Program Notes that introduce new software. As many of the analyses investigators wish to carry out ask similar questions, a well-designed computer package can rapidly become an indispensable tool.

The next few years will bring some exciting developments in both the field and our journal. The study of genetic variation in an ecological context will increase as the number of researchers and known genes expands and the cost per data point decreases. Our role in this area will be to continue to publish the new tools as they are generated, as well as start a new series of technical reviews. We are particularly excited to produce the technical reviews and hope that these summaries of state-of-the-art methods for data generation and analysis will be useful to disseminate best practices. Another exciting development is the beginning of an ambitious undertaking to catalogue all life based on "molecular barcodes," and we are already receiving papers to publish in this area that describe the barcodes for various taxonomic groups. In short, we hope to continue making Molecular Ecology Notes the "one-stop shop" for researchers in the field interested in finding the latest software, methods, and tools for data generation and analysis.

Molecular Ecology Notes
Kevin D. Livingstone, Ph.D., Chief Editor
Blackwell Publishing, publishers