IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group Bulletin
©IUCN/SCC Otter Specialist Group
Volume 28 Issue 1 Pages 1- 60 (January 2011)
Note from the Editor
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Dear Friends, Colleagues and Otter Enthusiasts!
Let me start the new issue and the New Year by wishing you all the best for 2011. Looking back on 2010 I have to say that sadly enough this year started with a tragedy, as has 2011 already. The otter community has lost two young scientists and conservationists under very tragic circumstances within only 12 months. May I thank all of you who expressed their feelings to the family and friends of these two young women. Yes, we are into otters but we are also all one big family and as the group is still within reasonable sizes contacts are close and people passing are strongly missed.
The good news are that the website for the XIth IUCN Otter Colloquium is online again and that the conference will be held in Pavia (Lombardy Region), Italy, from the 30th August to the 4th of September 2011. Please all have a look, try to arrange your travel funds, and submit your abstracts in due time. I am sure we all look forward to Italy, to good science, to good wine and food, and definitely also to meet old friends again.
We have not received any information regarding the pending decision by Thompson ISI on whether an Impact Factor will be assigned to the IUCN OSG Bull. We are under evaluation and I will inform all readers as soon as a decision will be made public. However, I can say that the IUCN OSG Bull. will very likely be soon incorporated into Scopus, the online indexing data base, which means that the peer-reviewed articles in the IUCN OSG Bull. will count toward your h-factor. Those of you working in an academic setting know how important the h-factor can be for a career and a tenured position. I see this as recognition for the quality of the articles submitted and the excellent work of the reviewers.
I cannot close my page without thanking Lesley for all her efforts to cope with this increasing flow of manuscripts, her patience with mixed up versions, performing an additional language check where necessary, finding last inconsistencies and all her work behind the scenes. Her quality control is an asset for the IUCN OSG Bull.