To Advocate or Not?

A journal editor is let go because she resisted advocacy statements in the published literature, prompting several board members to quit in her defense.

Written byJef Akst

| 1 min read

Save for Later

Listen with Speechify

0:00

1:00

WIKIMEDIA, VMENKOV

Erica Fleishman of the University of California, Davis, learned last Thursday (June 14) that she would no longer serve as editor-in-chief of Conservation Biology, where she has worked 25- to 30-hour weeks for more than 2 years. It started last month, when the Society for Conservation Biology's (SCB's) governing board told her it had decided not to renew her contract (which ended in February) because of her tendency to remove advocacy statements from research papers to be published in the journal, ScienceInsider reported. After several members of the journal’s editorial board resigned in response to the move, including David Ehrenfeld of Rutgers University, who founded the journal in 1987, the SCB launched a new committee to discuss the matter. The committee met twice to reconsider ...

Interested in reading more?

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!

Join for free today

Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
View Full Profile