Prof. Dr. Michel Baguette Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of the New Section “Biogeography and Macroecology” in Diversity

We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Michel Baguette has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Section “Biogeography and Macroecology” in Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818).

The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Michel Baguette, who shared his vision for the Section with us, as well as his views of the research area.

1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Section Editor-in-Chief?

My experience as Editor of Diversity was excellent, so I did not hesitate to increase my investment in the journal by accepting the invitation to serve as Editor-in-Chief for the Section “Biogeography and Macroecology”.

2. What is your vision for the journal?

I am convinced that the quality and the impact of Diversity will continue to increase because of its editorial policy, which aims for a transparent, fast and constructive review process. In addition, I like that the journal provides various original support mechanisms to authors, which allow them to advertise their scientific work. I think it is a good incentive to publish in Diversity.

3. What does the future of this field of research look like?

Biogeography and macroecology are research fields that strongly benefit from the big data revolution: it is now possible to collect and analyze huge data sets that provide new information on the patterns of biological diversity on Earth and its regulatory processes. Using this information, it is possible to build predictive models of biodiversity changes according to various environmental stressors, which can then be tested experimentally. It is an exciting leap of knowledge.

4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?

The generalization of open access restores a fair distribution of knowledge to all citizens of the world. Academic research is largely funded by public money. It is thus expected that scientific results are available to everyone. However, an ideal model is yet to be developed: research funders need to help laboratories bear the costs of open access, which might be possible by foregoing the very expensive subscriptions to journals published by a handful of publishers.

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Michel Baguette to his new role as Section Editor-in-Chief, and we wish him every success in his research and in the development of the journal.

Diversity Editorial Office