Nearly 1,500 journal years of academic literature in Ecology and the Botanical Sciences is being added to the JSTOR digital archive this fall. These journals will be preserved and maintained in electronic format for the benefit of present and future scholars and students. The new collection will offer convenient access to 29 of the most important and valuable journals in these fields.

JSTOR created the collection in cooperation with the Ecological Society of America (ESA), a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization of scientists founded in 1915. The organization focuses on promoting ecological science in a variety of ways, including improving communication among ecologists, raising public awareness of the importance of the field and increasing the resources available for the conduct of ecological science.

"In addition to serving as an important archive, the Ecology & Botany Collection creates a new level of access to a significant collection of valuable scientific literature," says Kevin M. Guthrie, President of JSTOR. "The historical material contained in this collection will be valuable to scholars and professionals around the world. This is especially true in developing countries, where obtaining research in the field of ecology is taking on increasing importance but where access to these journals is limited."

The collection, totaling approximately one million pages, contains some of the most well-established journals published in the environmental sciences. Many publications extend back into the 19th century, such as American Naturalist and International Journal of Plant Sciences. Newer journals disseminating groundbreaking research, like Conservation Biology and Journal of Tropical Ecology, are also included.

According to Katherine McCarter, Executive Director of ESA, "The titles in the collection were chosen to represent the basic body of knowledge needed in the field. By providing convenient access to the very best journals available, the collection is an invaluable research tool for ecologists and other scientists."

The ESA was one of the earliest participating publishers in JSTOR, and three ESA journals, Ecology, Ecological Applications, and Ecological Monographs, are also included in JSTOR's original cluster of 117 journal titles, the Arts & Sciences I Collection.

"The ESA played an important role during the development of the collection, first, by convening a committee of experts to set priorities and select journals for inclusion and second, by building enthusiasm for the project in the community," says Heidi McGregor, Director of Publisher Relations for JSTOR. "This was the first cooperative venture of its kind for JSTOR with a membership society and it has been extremely successful. It will serve as a model for the development of new collections in the future."

Last updated on September 8, 2006