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ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2018 New Year Address of Zoological Research At the beginning of a wonderful new year, we look back at academic topics of current interest, ZR has evolved into a Zoological Research (ZR) in 2017. We are very grateful to vibrantjournalwithappreciablereadability. allourreadersandauthorsforyourdedicationandcontinued In February 2017, ZR successfully hosted the “2017 supportofZR.Yourideas,input,andenthusiasmhavebeenof Frontiers in Zoology Symposium” with the theme of “Animal immensevalueinhelpingustoimprovethejournal. Here,we Genomics and Ecological Protection”. We hope to replicate wouldliketoshareafewmemorableeventsandpeopleofthe thissuccesswiththe“2018FrontiersinZoologySymposium”, pastyear. which will focus on “Comprehensive Scientific Investigation of Firstly, it is with deep regret and sorrow that we note Animals on the Tibetan Plateau and East Asia” (please find the passing of Colin Peter Groves, Professor of Biological details at www.zoores.ac.cn). As such, we hope to see you Anthropology from the Australian National University in in Kunming this coming spring. ZR also co-hosted the 2017 Canberra, Australia, on 30 November 2017. He was a AnnualConferenceoftheChineseHerpetologySociety. Such long-standing and loyal friend of ZR, and joined our editorial eventsarewonderfulwaysinwhichtomeetuptheoldfriends board in 2014. He fulfilled his duties with dedication and and colleagues as well as establish new contacts and share diligence, and shared his outstanding expertise with opinions achievementsandopinions. and constructive suggestions on many submissions to the To facilitate scientific communication and promote subject journal. Despite his poor health, he continued to contribute development, ZR is not only increasing its academic to the journal (Groves, 2016) and was a respected member value, but also consistently reinforcing the ethical integrity of our editorial board. We greatly cherish his contributions accompanying academic publications. In 2016, ZR published andgenerosity. an editorial (Liu, 2016), letter to the editor (Joob & Wehavealsobeeninspiredinthepastyearbythecontinued Wiwanitkit, 2016), and statement (http://www.zoores.ac.cn/ improvement in academic quality, total citations, and general EN/abstract/abstract3772.shtml) regarding proper authorship. influence of each of our publications. ZR achieved an Publishing is of importance in almost every stage of a estimatedimpactfactorof0.73(basedonthecitationdatafrom researcher’s career (Editorial Office of Zoological Research, theWebofScience)andCiteScoreof0.84(dated11January 2016). Nowadays, under the background of big science, 2018,Scopus). Wehavealsobeenfortunatewiththeaddition the advancement and elucidation of scientific questions often of eleven outstanding experts who recently joined ZR as require collaboration among independent research groups, editorialmembers,includingYu-HaiBi(InstituteofMicrobiology, even those from different fields, to combine their expertise Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China), Peng-Fei Fan or specialties. Academia benefits from such extensive (SunYat-SenUniversity,China),PatrickGiraudoux(University collaborations. As a result, we have observed that the of Franche-Comté, France), Cyril C. Grueter (University of proportion of co-first or co-corresponding author articles has Western Australia, Australia), Wei-Zhi Ji (Kunming Institute significantly increased during the last few decades in many of Zoology, CAS, China), Shu-Qiang Li (Institute of Zoology, scientific journals. Akhabue & Lautenbach (2010) studied CAS, China), Wen-Jun Liu (Institute of Microbiology, CAS, original research articles with equally contributing authors China), Julian Kerbis Peterhans (Roosevelt University, USA), amongfivetoplifesciencejournals,i.e.,NewEnglandJournal Xiang-Guo Qiu (University of Manitoba, Canada), Rui-Chang ofMedicine,JournalofAmericanMedicalAssociation,Annals Quan(XishuangbannaTropicalBotanicalGarden,CAS,China), of Internal Medicine, Lancet, and British Medical Journal. In and Christian Roos (Leibniz-Institute for Primate Research, 2000, the proportions of co-first or co-corresponding author Germany). Theseremarkablespecialistswillbringnewideas papersinthefivejournalswere<1%, 0%, 0%, <1%, and0%, and expertise to help reshape the journal. We are confident whereas in 2009, the proportions had significantly increased thatourexcellenteditorialboardwillfurtherfacilitatethepivotal to 4.4%, 2.3%, 1.6%, 2.7%, and <1%, respectively. Li et al. andactiveroleofZRinthefieldofscienceandpublishing. (2013) studied the numbers of equally contributing articles in In 2017, the “Project for Enhancing International Impact three major anesthesia journals (Anaesthesia, British Journal of China STM Journals” (PIIJ) (Class B) (2016–2018), the of Anaesthesia, and Anesthesia & Analgesia) over a 10-year mostextensiveandinfluentialjournalfosteringprojectinChina, period,andfoundthatsuchpapersincreasedsignificantlyfrom continued its support of ZR. With great effort from all editors 2002 to2011 (0.9%to8.8%,0%to8.8%, and0.3%to3.4%, andstafffromtheeditorialoffice,ZR hasbeenrankedamong the top 300 “Outstanding S&T Journals of China”. Moreover, with the successive release of special issues focusing on DOI:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2018.011 SciencePress ZoologicalResearch39(1):1-2,2018 1 respectively). TheJournalofGenetics&Genomics published an author-contribution statement will be compulsory. The 124 and 85 original articles in 2007 and 2016, respectively, statementisnotrequiredinuniformformat,butthecontribution with co-first or co-corresponding author papers accounting ofeverypersonintheauthorlistmustbespecificallydescribed. for 16% (20/124) and 41.1% (35/85), respectively. In Cell Moreover, for collaborative studies, ZR requires that every Stem Cell, the percentage of co-first and co-corresponding person involved in the paper agrees with the author list and authorarticlesincreasedfrom20.5%(18/88)in2007to37.6% sharingofthecredit. (77/205)in2016.Thistrendreinforcescollaborationsanddata Whetherthesemeasureswillmakeasubstantialdifference sharing. For ZR, in 2007, approximately 9% (9/108) of the in eliminating unethical authorship remains to be seen. originalresearcharticlespublishedwerebytwocorresponding However, we believe such ambitions are worth attempting orco-firstauthors;by2016,thisincreasedto33%(12/36). simply because transparency and fairness are always worthy For most academic journals there are no universal rules ofpursuit.Withyoursupportandpositivecontributions,ZRwill regarding shared authorship, with different journals usually remainarespectableplatformforscientificcommunication. havingtheirownspecificregulations.Forexample,theAmerican Again, thank you all. May your new year hold all the Journal of Human Genetics states that “unrestricted joint excitement,promise,andgoodwisheswehavesharedin2017. authorship is allowed ” and “a maximum of two corresponding Sincerely, Author and authors’ affiliations: authorsisallowed”(http://www.cell.com/ajhg/authors). Neuron Author and authors’ affiliations: merely restricts the number of lead contacts (i.e., the corresponding author responsible for communicating with the journal and helping facilitate other issues regarding submission) to only one, but not other authors (http: Yong-Gang Yao, Editor-in-Chief //www.cell.com/neuron/authors#policies). The Journal of YYoonnKggu--nGGmaainnnggg YYInaasoot,,it uEEtddeii ttooofrr --Ziinno--oCClohhgiieeyff, Neurosciences does not restrict co-authors numbers, but Chinese Academy of ScienKKcuuennsmm, Kiinnuggn mIInnissnttgiittu u6tt5ee0 oo2ff2 ZZ3oo, ooClloohgginyya,, ChineseCAhciandeesem AycoafdSecmieyn ocef Ss,cKieunncmesin, gKYuunnmninagn 665500222233,, CChhiinnaa states“honoraryauth orship”tobea“misrepresentation”(http:// www.sfn.org/member-center/professional-conduct/guidelines- for-responsible-conduct-regarding-scientific-communication# menulevel1). Scientific Reports allows up to six co-authors, withcorrespondingauthorsusuallylimitedtothree. ZR has an explicit attitude and firm stance to proper XXuuee-Lloonngg JJiiaanngg,, EExxeeccuuttiivvee EEddiittoorr--iinn--CChhiieeff authorship and resolutely complies with the criteria of Xuelong Jiang, Executive Editor-in-Chief the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors KKuunnmminingg IInnssttitituuttee ooff ZZoooollooggyy,, (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, 2013). ChineseCAhciandeesme yAcoafdSecmieyn coef sS,cKieunnKcmueinsnm,g KiYnuugnn mInnisantngit u66t55e00 o22f22 Z33o,, oCClohhgiinnyaa, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223, China Accordingly,ZR wouldconsiderguest/ghostauthorsunethical. ZR appreciates and encourages positive and comprehensive REFERENCES collaboration. Combining findings from different researchers can yield a more complete story, and emphasizing equal Akhabue E, Lautenbach E. 2010. “Equal” contributions and credit: an contribution of involved parties is fair and encourages team emergingtrendinthecharacterizationofauthorship.AnnalsofEpidemiology, work and collaborations. However, it is commonly accepted, 20(11):868–871. at least in the biomedical field, that publication credit can EditorialOfficeofZoologicalResearch.2016.Aclarificationofauthorshipin never be enjoyed [email protected] ho rs in the anoldpublication.ZoologicalResearch,37(6):366–366. byline, with the firstzaonodrleasst@(cmorraeislp.konizd.inagc).canut h ors usually GrovesC.2016.SystematicsoftheArtiodactylaofChinainthe21stcentury. receiving most recog nition, unless shared authors are clearly ZoologicalResearch,37(3):119–125. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. 2013 [2017-12-26]. listedinalphabeticalorder.Theadditionofequallycontributing Definingtheroleofauthorsandcontributors.ICMJE,http://www.icmje.org/ authors can dilute the credit allocated to each author. These recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of- actionsobviouslydeviatefromtheoriginalintentionforproperly authors-and-contributors.html sharingcredit. Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. 2016. Authorship misconduct. Zoological Research, Although ZR encourages every author of a paper to 37(5):313. read the authorship guidelines thoroughly and carefully LiZ,SunYM,WuFX,YangLQ,LuZJ,YuWF.2013.Equalcontributions before submission, we have not previously insisted upon andcredit:anemergingtrendinthecharacterizationofauthorshipinmajor an author-contribution statement. However, we believe it is Anaesthesiajournalsduringa10-YrPeriod.PLoSOne,8(8):e71430. important to increase transparency and enhance authorship Liu SQ. 2016. Who is innocent in authorship misconduct? Zoological integrity. Thus, for submissions to ZR after 1 January 2018, Research,37(3):117–118. 2 www.zoores.ac.cn