News and announcements

>>> New contribution published: [as of 13 September 2018]
A mixed colony of Tetramorium immigrans Santschi, 1927 and the putative social parasite Tetramorium aspina sp.n.
Wagner, H.C., Karaman, C., Askoy, V. & Kiran, K. Check it out

>>> The five most viewed contributions of August 2018 are: [as of 2 September 2018]
1. The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and their parasites: effects of parasitic manipulations and host responses on ant behavioral ecology
de Bekker, C., Will, I., Das, B., & Adams, R.M.M. Check it out
2. Cryptic species of the Myrmica tibetana complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) revealed by integrative taxonomy
Seifert, B., Schultz, R., Ritz, M.S. & Ritz, C.M. Check it out
3. A new extinct ant genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) from the Late Eocene Rovno amber – a putative ancestor of the Leptothorax genus group
Radchenko, A., Dlussky, G.M.† & Perfilieva K. Check it out
4. Testing the effect of a nest architectural feature in the fire ant Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Tschinkel, W.R. Check it out
5. Temporal variation in social structure and worker reproduction in the temporary social parasite Lasius fuliginosus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
van Elst, T. & Gadau, J. Check it out

>>>Important changes to Myrmecological News: [as of 21 August 2018]
Open access: As of Volume 28 (first contribution to be published soon), Myrmecological News will give gold open access to all contributions. What does this mean? Immediate and free availability of all contributions from the publisher, with article-processing charges paid by the author. Why do we do this? (1) We endorse the goal of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, that is, “the world-wide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature and completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds.” (2) Many funding agencies will recognize a publication only if published open access, and both national and international initiatives are under way to make all research outputs available to everyone. (3) The increased accessibility of contributions will result in increased citations. Remarks: (1) Until 31 December 2018, only Volume 28 will be open access; on 1 January 2019, when all running subscriptions will have expired, the journal’s entire content will become freely accessible to everyone. (2) The article-processing charge will be identical to the previous FREEprint charge, that is, 900 EUR per article. (3) To facilitate that all authors can continue to publish in Myrmecological News irrespective of their economic circumstances, we will warrant reductions of and exemptions from article-processing charges in well-justified cases. Also see here.

Licensing: From Volume 28 onward, all contributions will be published under the Creative Commons (CC) license CC BY 4.0. What does this mean? CC licenses link to recognized international regulations and allow the author of a work to indicate how that work can be used by others. CC BY 4.0 allows a reader to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, as long as appropriate credit and a link to the license are given and any change made is indicated. Why do we do this? CC BY 4.0 is the most user-friendly license available. Remark: Articles from Volumes 1 - 27 that were not published under a CC license will not experience a change in licensing, even though they all will become freely accessible as of 1 January 2019 (see under Open Access). Also see here.

Copyright: From Volume 28 onward, the copyright of all contributions will remain entirely with the authors. Why do we do this? This regulation is the most author-friendly one, best suiting the CC BY 4.0 license. Remark: This change in our policy will not bear on the regulation for contributions in Volumes 1 - 27, under which the authors transferred the copyright to the publisher, the Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics. Also see here.

Online only: From Volume 28 onward, Myrmecological News will be an online-only journal. What does this mean? The print version of Myrmecological News will be discontinued. Why do we do this? Coverage of contributions by Web of Science will be nearly real-time (as opposed to long delays when a journal has a print version); also, interest in the print version has been decreasing over time. Remarks: (1) Taxonomic acts published in Myrmecological News will be valid under the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) also after its transition to an online-only journal because contributions will be produced in pdf/A format; stored in a digital archive (also see under Digital archive); registered with ZooBank, the online version of the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature; and bear the date of the electronic publication and evidence of ZooBank registration. (2) We will publish online also the files of cover page, imprint, and contents, in the layout of the print previous version, that is, printing of an entire volume will be possible with the result identical to the print version. (3) Print copies of Volumes 1 - 27 will continue being for sale as long as in stock. Also see here and here.

DOI: From Volume 28 onward, every contribution will have its unique digital object identifier (DOI). What does this mean? The DOI will be given on the first page of every contribution, on the journal’s web pages from where the article can be downloaded, and in the downloadable citation files in .txt and .ris format. Why do we do this? DOIs warrant persistent identification and handling of journal articles, independent from any URL. They are resolvable, that is, they can be used for quick and reliable navigating to the pdf files of articles. Like with open access, many funding agencies will recognize a publication only if it carries a DOI. Remark: Until the end of 2018, all contributions in Volumes 1 - 27 will be allocated DOIs, too; because the pdf files of published contributions cannot be changed, with these contributions, the DOIs will be available only on the article’s website and from their .txt and .ris citation files.

Digital archive: From Volume 28 onward, all content will be stored in the digital archive of the non-profit, member-supported organization Biotaxa. Why do we do this? Long-term storage, independent of individual servers, is key to the stability of scientific literature. Remark: Biotaxa is ICZN-approved and ZooBank-enabled (also see under Online only).

Journal and blog now linked: On the Myrmecological News website, every journal contribution that is covered by a contribution in Myrmecological News Blog is now highlighted by a clickable icon redirecting the user to the respective blog contribution. Why do we do this? Readers of the blog suggested this linking so that for readers of the journal, any accompanying blog material becomes better visible. Remark: From the beginning, articles covered by blog contributions were clickable from the blog; this remains unchanged. For examples of such an icon, click here.