An expanded title, new offerings and a new look: Estuaries Becomes Estuaries and Coasts in 2006

Our favorite journal Estuaries has a new name beginning in 2006 -- Estuaries and Coasts. Since the changes in name and appearance are an improvement and continuation of the existing journal, volumes of Estuaries and Coasts will be numbered starting with volume 29. This continues from the last volume of Estuaries (volume 28). We have been assured by ISI that the citation evaluations for Estuaries and Coasts will continue uninterrupted from Estuaries.

You'll be pleased with two new content offerings in the journal, the Odum Synthesis paper and Perspectives. There is also a change in the printed cover design and navigation is improved on the journal's web site.

Expanded contents and a new look

A new column, Perspectives in Estuarine and Coastal Science, appears for the first time in the premier issue of Estuaries and Coasts. The first Perspectives column was written by Thorsten Reusch and Randall Hughes. It is entitled 'The emerging role of genetic diversity for ecosystem functioning: estuarine macrophytes as models.' This first column and subsequent Perspectives will stimulate broad interest in emerging issues in estuarine and coastal ecology. Approach Editor in Chief Carlos Duarte if you have ideas for future columns.

Another new feature is the H. T. Odum Synthesis essay. It was initiated last year and will continue in Estuaries and Coasts annually.

The journal has a new e-address, estuariesandcoasts.org. In addition to the new cover design for the print version, the journal's web site has an updated look and improved functionality. All existing links to articles (using estuaries.olemiss.edu) that you have saved as favorites (or in class reading lists) will remain effective, although all new and old articles will now appear with the new address.

Journal's scope remains the same

Expanding the title to include coasts makes the journal's scope more clear and addresses the erroneous perception that papers on some coastal habitats or specialized estuarine environments were not welcomed. The statement of scope is unchanged from that in Estuaries and includes a variety of coastal environments. See box below right.

Evolution of the Journal's name and appearance – A brief history

The recent concern by ERF's governing board over the best title for the journal and especially what is implied by the word "estuary" might well be viewed in light of how a new journal named Estuaries was selected by ERF in 1978 to replace Chesapeake Science, which the Federation had just acquired (Wiley 1978, Estuaries 1(1): i).

To learn the historical context for the journal's new name, in April 2005 I delved through ERF's and AERS's archives in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. I learned that in 1976, an ERF Publications Committee was appointed to consider how the recently acquired journal Chesapeake Science could best further ERF's mission to communicate estuarine science. Although new names such as "Journal of Estuaries and Coastal Marine Research" and "Estuarine and Shelf Research" were proposed, it was argued that a wide variety of estuarine and coastal subjects were implied by the title "Estuaries."

Eventually, the Federation's membership was asked to vote on three possible titles: "Estuaries" received 16 votes, "Estuarine Research" received 34 votes, and "Journal of Estuarine Research" received 44 votes (ERF Publications Study Committee 1976). Although comments received with the survey included one that "the name should embrace both estuary as defined by Pritchard and the coastal area - they are related interests", the report of the Publications Committee recommended that the name Estuaries be selected because of the commercial success of George Lauff's (1967) edit-ed volume by the same name, because a single word title wouldn't be abbreviated, and because Estuaries was thought to be international in scope, in contrast to Chesapeake Science which was regional.

During the transition from Chesapeake Science to Estuaries in 1978 we continued to use the yellow cover and small page format. A new logo appeared on the cover, a seabird in flight over a cross-section of an estuary. From 1960 - 1968 the cover also carried the byline Journal of the Estuarine Research Federation. Chesapeake Science's byline was A regional journal of research and progress on natural resources.

In 1987, Estuaries changed from the small page format with yellow cover to a large page format and began use of the red-colored cover with the reflecting marsh grass logo. Although the statement of the journal's scope was expanded in December 1993 to explicitly include coastal habitats, no article was printed then to explain the motivation for the expansion of the journal's scope.

In 2003 the byline was expanded to An International Journal of Coastal Science Published by the Estuarine Research Federation. This revised byline reflect-ed the governing boards' intention to clearly welcome international papers on estuaries and coasts.

In November 2004, the Federation's Governing Board voted to change the name of the journal to Estuaries and Coasts. The change became effective with the first issue of 2006.

Students helped design the new cover for Estuaries and Coasts

University students are an important part of the Federation's mission and membership. By January 2005, I had identified a number of specific production-related tasks associated with changing a journal's name, e.g., redesigning journal page layouts and web pages, and had examined a number of journals whose names or designs had changed.

Lacking experience in graphic design, I sought the advice of Paula Temple, an artist who teaches courses in graphic design at the University of Mississippi, my home institution. Paula agreed that her advanced graphic design students could be given the challenge of designing a new cover; the design ideas we would get in the process would be worth the experience the students would gain in interacting with a client on a design project.

I presented the December 2004 cover to the class, with samples of earlier Estuaries and Chesapeake Science covers, and an assortment of covers from other scholarly journals in which names or covers or both had changed. Although I had no preconceptions of what the design students would do, I offered some aspects of the journal cover that seemed important: the title of the journal needed to be on the cover, the list of articles and their authors included in the issue were usually found on the back, and the red color and the reflecting marsh grass logo had been used on the journal's cover since 1987.

After working with the students on preliminary designs, I received 18 final designs from which I selected 6 that included a broad range of design features to present to the ERF Governing Board's April 2005 meeting. After an open and animated discussion of the 6 designs, I interviewed each board member separately and took notes on their likes or dislikes. Additional helpful comments and recommendations were provided by Carlos Duarte and Scott Nixon, the two co-editors-in-chief of Estuaries.

Notable among the comments was a consensus that the deep blue colors used on many of the proposed covers, and which were found very attractive by some, were thought by others to be a poor match for the true color of most estuarine and coastal waters. Other colors were suggested: greens, blue-greens, browns, and other earth tones. There was discussion of continuing to use the familiar brick red color of Estuaries, since it is very distinctive on the shelf, is easy to find on a desk (even one covered with papers), and is not likely to be imitated by anyone else.

There was discussion about keeping the marsh grass logo, while others argued for making a clean break. There was some interest in having a photograph of a coastal scene, to be changed with each issue or each year. To refine ideas from all this feedback I met with the students again and asked for revised designs. I also asked Julie Rinke, the director of graphic design at Allen Press, for additional design suggestions and advice.

In June 2005, with two modified student designs and one from Allen Press in hand, I attended the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) meeting in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and interviewed scientists from that international gathering of estuarine and coastal scientists about the pro-posed cover designs. Two-thirds of those interviewed (out of 34) chose the design of Scott Dutt, one of the graphic design students.

Dutt's design showed the rias and northwest coast of Spain, with land printed in the characteristic red of past Estuaries covers and water shown as the light tan of the uncolored paper stock that the journal's cover has been printed on since 1978. Many of those interviewed recognized the coastline as being very close to where the ASLO meeting was being held, and others, interest-ed in the idea of showing a coastline on the cover, asked why that particular coastline was used. My answer was that it was our intention, if that cover design was selected, to use a different coastline for each issue of the journal, and that the coastline would be selected in association with a specific paper in the issue.

The possibility that a future cover of Estuaries and Coasts might spotlight their local region of study generated additional enthusiasm for this cover design among those queried. Based on this enthusiasm and other helpful comments received in Spain, the coastline cover design was selected. Dutt's basic concept was modified by ideas from another student, Lauren Box to include the marsh grass logo from the front cover of Estuaries on the back cover and other features.

Although blue, brown and green color schemes were considered and tested, we decided to retain the familiar red cover to guarantee continuity of our journal cover's trade-mark appearance while the name and design changes are taking place. The table of contents, on the back cover, will now be printed on the light tan cover stock, making it easier to read than when it was printed on the red background.

Where in the world? Identify your estuary and coast

Information on the coastline shown on the future covers and the articles to which they relate will be printed on the inside back cover of each issue, below the last article in the table of contents, and above the statement of scope.

The coastline for the first issue in Volume 29 is related to three different articles in the issue. For future issues, the coastline may be a contemporary, modeled, or historical coastline, and may be presented at any scale so long as it is appropriate to the article(s).

Although the estuaries and coasts shown on the cover will change with each issue, I will continue the policy expressed in the first issue of Estuaries, that "there will be no geographical limits" (1978. Estuaries, volume 1, number 1, page i) in either the articles included in Estuaries and Coasts or in the estuaries and coasts considered for the cover.

We intend that the covers of Estuaries and Coasts will represent of the estuaries and coasts of the world, as do the articles between the covers. We also hope that the new cover graphic will intrigue you so that after studying the cover (and recognizing or guessing the identity of the estuary or coast shown), you will examine the table of contents on the back cover to see if you can identify the article or articles that have prompted the choice of the cover for the issue.

Inside back cover of each issue you will find the identity of the estuary and coast depicted on the front cover, and the article or articles in the issue to which the cover is most closely related. You will also find the source of the map from which it was drawn, and the map scale and projection used.