Pensoft and the Bibsam Consortium have signed an Open Access agreement that covers 65 peer-reviewed scholarly journals published by Pensoft or using the open-access publisher’s signature platform ARPHA. The agreement covers almost 100 institutions, including Karolinska Institutet, Lund University, Uppsala University, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Now, researchers affiliated with institutions in the Bibsam Consortium will benefit from a streamlined publication process where they will not be charged with any publication fees (APCs).
Pensoft and the Bibsam Consortium, operated by the National Library of Sweden, are pleased to announce the signing of a comprehensive Open Access (OA) agreement, marking a significant step in the transition towards a more transparent and open scholarly publishing landscape in Sweden.
Thanks to this move, researchers at participating institutions will be able to publish their findings in 65 journals published by Pensoft or using its advanced publishing platform ARPHA, including flagship titles such as ZooKeys, PhytoKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, NeoBiota and IMA Fungus, without incurring individual article processing charges (APCs).
All authors affiliated with participating institutions can benefit from this agreement, with publishing costs 100% covered by an institutional deposit secured by the National Library of Sweden.
Unlike subscription-based systems, an OA framework ensures that scientific findings are immediately and freely available to the global community, supporting the global shift toward accessible science and adhering to the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).
OA agreements like this one reduce the financial burden on scientists and encourage them to share their work with both academia and the wider public, ultimately lowering barriers to sharing knowledge in a time when scientific input is key to resolving global challenges.
“We are excited to start this partnership with Bisbam and sign an agreement that reflects our strong commitment to open science. By supporting researcher-driven publishing, we continue to foster a sustainable environment for high-impact scientific communication.”
– Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO of Pensoft
“We are delighted to announce the addition of Pensoft Publishers to our portfolio of nationally funded agreements for 2026. This represents an important step towards achieving full open access to scientific publications in Sweden.”
– Niklas Willén, License Manager at Bibsam Consortium and National Library of Sweden
Are you affiliated with a research institution operating with OA agreements? Is your institution interested in helping resident researchers navigate the complex processes underpinning academic publishing and knowledge sharing? Reach out to <publishing@pensoft.net> to discuss a potential collaboration.
In August, Pensoft had the honour of welcoming colleagues from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) to the headquarters of the open-access scholarly publisher and technology provider in Sofia, Bulgaria. The visit was marked by engaging discussions on scholarly publishing, future innovations, current challenges in academia and potential collaborations.
The highlight of the meeting was the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, Pensoft’s CEO and founder, and Prof. Dr. Thai Hoang, Vice Chairman of the Scientific Council of Materials Science at VAST and the Editor‑in‑Chief of the Vietnam Journal of Science and Technology.
“This Memorandum of Understanding marks an important step towards fostering international collaboration in scholarly publishing. By combining the expertise and know-how of Pensoft and VAST, we aim to make research more accessible and innovative for communities worldwide,”
commented Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev.
“I am very happy to visit Bulgaria and collaborate with Pensoft Publishers. Here, we know Pensoft and the ARPHA publishing platform for their diverse publishing solutions designed for scientific papers, monographs, academic books and more, as well as their professional and efficient work. All this makes them quite prestigious for us. Starting from this Memorandum of Understanding, next, we will explore ways to use the ARPHA publishing platform for the publication of Vietnam’s scientific journals, books and other research outputs.”
Prof. Dr. Thai Hoang said.
Over the course of the visit, the group engaged in an enriching dialogue. Guests from VAST offered an in-depth look at their publication outlets and shared insights into the Vietnamese scholarly publishing landscape, as well as the nation’s rich cultural heritage and natural wonders.
In turn, Pensoft offered a comprehensive overview of the company’s journey of over three decades, starting from the launch of the first Pensoft journals and proceeding to the continuous development of several innovative publication platforms and solutions, including the full-featured end-to-end publishing platform ARPHA. Today, there are over 80 open-access peer-reviewed journals, including both Pensoft-launched titles, and many owned and run by research institutions, universities and learned societies from around the globe.
The visit continued beyond the office with the publisher’s management inviting their guests to a several-day trip around the country that covered the cultural and historic hubs of Plovdiv and Koprivshtitsa.
By the end of the visit, both parties agreed that their meeting in Bulgaria underscores their shared vision: to advance open, innovative, and accessible scholarly communication. With the MoU in place, both sides look forward to transforming this mutual understanding into concrete collaborative initiatives.
*
With perfect timing, shortly after the visit, one of the VAST delegates: biologist Prof. Dr. Quang Manh Vu (also affiliated with the Hoa Binh University, Hanoi, Vietnam), in collaboration with his Bulgarian and Vietnamese colleagues: Dr. Ivailo Dedov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences) and Dr. Tuan Trieu Anh (Hung Vuong University, Viet Tri City, Vietnam) published a study in Pensoft’s inaugural and flagship journal in zoological systematics: ZooKeys. The research paper lists species of slugs and semi-slugs of the superfamily Helicarionoidea the team collected in North Vietnam in 2023. Amongst the collected specimens, the scientists discovered a new-to-science species of semi-slug they named after Pensoft’s Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, who is himself a biologist and taxonomist by background.
“When I found out I had a new species, I had no hesitation on the name: Ostracolethe penevi. I had been looking forward to naming a curious species after my friend Prof. Lyubomir Penev, a man who made the world look up to Bulgarian science, and someone who has helped me a lot through the years,”
“This newly described species deserves a name that reflects the generosity of nature, the advancement of science, and the enduring friendship between Vietnam and Bulgaria,”
added Prof. Dr. Quang Manh Vu.
***
Additional information:
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST)
Founded on 20 May 1975, VAST is Vietnam’s largest multidisciplinary research organization, with branches in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Haiphong, Nha Trang, Dalat, and Hue. Its mission spans basic and applied research, the development of high technology, human resource training, and providing scientific advice to the government on pressing national issues.
VAST is known for achieving high output in international peer-reviewed journals; in 2023, more than 2,200 works were published, with nearly 80% in international outlets. The Academy is responsible for several cutting-edge initiatives, including satellite R&D through the Vietnam National Space Center, strategic technology fields aligned with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (e.g. AI, new materials, semiconductors), and large-scale environmental and biodiversity monitoring across the country. Looking forward, VAST has set ambitious goals, including mastering key advanced technologies, increasing technology transfer, enhancing publication impact, strengthening partnerships at home and abroad, and cultivating world-class scientific talent.
Pensoft
Founded in 1992 “by scientists, for scientists”, the academic open-access publishing company is well known worldwide for its novel cutting-edge publishing tools, workflows and methods for text and data publishing of journals, books and conference materials. Back in 2010, Pensoft became the first scientific publisher to introduce semantic enrichments in scholarly publications. Through its Research and Technical Development department, the company is involved in various research and technology projects.
ARPHA Publishing Platform
ARPHA is a full-featured, end-to-end publishing platform for open-access journals, books, conference materials and preprints. ARPHA offers flexible operating and business models, and a wide-range of automated and human-provided services. The ARPHA team places a special focus on its scholarly communication solutions designed to leverage the visibility and outreach of academic output, while prompting inclusivity and engagement.
With a Journal Impact Factor of 0.9 and a Scopus CiteScore of 2.2, Bulletin of Insectology is a gold open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing original research articles, reviews, and short communications in the field of entomology. It is now jointly published by the Department of Agroenvironmental Sciences and Technologies, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna and Pensoft.
Formerly known as Bollettino dell’Istituto di Entomologia “G. Grandi”, the journal has been continuously published since 1928. Over the decades, it has developed under the supervision of eminent entomologists such as Prof. G. Grandi, Prof. M. M. Principi, and Prof. E. Mellini.
Today, the journal continues to cover a broad range of topics related to insect science, including physiology, ecology, behaviour, pest management, and the role of insects in ecosystems. A particular emphasis is placed on integrated pest management (IPM), biological control, pollinator health, the side effects of pesticides on beneficial arthropods, and environmentally sustainable approaches to insect control in agriculture.
Among the first articles to appear since the journal’s transition to ARPHA are:
First record from Italy of the Japanese grape leafhopper Arboridiakakogawana. Credit: De Luigi et al.
“Bulletin of Insectology is an exciting addition to ARPHA’s family of next-generation scientific journals,” said Lyubomir Penev, CEO and founder of Pensoft, the company behind the ARPHA platform. “By utilising ARPHA’s publishing solutions, the journal can disseminate important entomological research and continue to grow.”
The move to ARPHA introduces modern publishing features, such as integrated submission and peer review workflows, enhanced discoverability through multiple indexing services, and improved accessibility for authors and readers alike.
With its first ARPHA-published articles now online, Bulletin of Insectology continues its near century-long tradition of advancing research in entomology. Head to the journal website here.
Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) in the Gandoman Wetlands. Photo by Ruhollah Asgari
The newly published articles focus on supporting the sustainable management of the Danube Delta, including an assessment of the impact of pesticide residues on the river and some insights on the potential of earth observation data for monitoring the Delta. The journal also publishes research on the ecology and biogeography of wetland ecosystems in general, such as a study on the habitat and behaviour of the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia).
Established in 1993, the journal offers a multidisciplinary platform for studies in the fields of ecology, biodiversity, environmental protection, hydrology, ichthyology, ornithology, limnology, and sustainable development related to wetlands and deltaic environments. It is free to publish and open for submissions.
“With the launch of the first articles in Volume 30 of the Scientific Annals of the Danube Delta Institute, now published with Pensoft, we celebrate an important milestone in advancing research on biodiversity, aquatic ecology, and data integration,” said the journal’s Editor-in-Chief Iuliana-MihaelaTudor of the Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development.
“This new stage reflects not only the scientific value of the contributions, but also the collaborative spirit that strengthens our community and drives innovation forward.
“As Louis Pasteur once said, ‘Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world.’
“We warmly invite our readers, authors, and collaborators to explore this volume, to share in the exchange of ideas, and to continue building together a future where open science connects and empowers us all.”
The latest Journal Citation Reports, released by Clarivate in June 2025, have granted three ARPHA-hosted, open-access journals their first Journal Impact Factors (JIF).
The metric reflects the number of times a journal’s content from 2022 and 2023 was cited in 2024. This total citation count is then divided by the number of “citable” articles (i.e., research and review articles) to estimate the JIF.
This achievement reflects the hard work of the editorial teams and authors at each of the journals, as well as the efforts of ARPHA’s dedicated, in-house indexing team, who help journals apply for important academic indexing databases, including Web of Scienceand Scopus. Indexation in such databases allows journals to become eligible for metrics like the JIF and CiteScore, which are often considered by researchers deciding where to publish their work.
ARPHA’s indexing service includes evaluation of a given journal’s current status against the requirements of prestigious databases, advice on how to meet these requirements, and overall assistance in the application process.
Want to know more? Learn about indexing and numerous other services, both automated and human-provided, offered by ARPHA here.
“The Impact Factor is an important metric for scientific metrics. And we know that not having one hinders especially early career researchers to submit their research to us earlier. Therefore, we are very happy that MBMG has received this important metric, and with a value of 3.1 we’re even more happy that this is a very competitive one.”
Florian Leese, MBMG Editor-in-Chief.
“We are delighted to see the journal receive its first Impact Factor. We expect that both Journal Impact Factor and CiteScore will further increase in 2026. “Thanks to all our editors, reviewers and authors who made this success possible and to IAVS for subsidizing the APCs of VCS during the first few years. We look forward to receiving more high-quality submissions in the fields of vegetation classification and ecoinformatics, the two strongholds of VCS.”
Jürgen Dengler, Idoia Biurrun and Wolfgang Willner, VCS Chief Editors.
“When The International Biogeography Society launched Frontiers of Biogeography under the editorship of Joaquín Hortal in 2009, we had a vision of it becoming an adaptable, independent, society-owned journal with a distinctive place in the journal publishing landscape. The attainment of our first Clarivate Journal Impact Factor is testimony to the hard work by our past and present editors and reviewers, and to the quality and interest level of the work that our community has entrusted to the journal for publication. “Working together with the team at Pensoft we are confident that we can continue to grow the journal as a favoured venue for Open Access publication of cutting-edge biogeographical research.”
Robert J. Whittaker, Frontiers of Biogeography Editor-in-Chief.
Published on Pensoft’s ARPHA platform on behalf of the AASP, SKINdeep features original articles, state-of-the-art reviews, and perspectives offering insights into the mechanisms of skin diseases and their therapeutic relevance. The open-access journal is led by three Editors-in-Chief: Prof. Peter Wolf of the Medical University of Graz, Prof. Johann W. Bauer of the Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg, and Prof. Georg Stingl of the Medical University of Vienna.
“Within the international scientific community, Austria enjoys an excellent reputation in the field of clinical and experimental dermatovenereology. On this basis, it was possible to assemble a remarkable cohort of deputy and associate editors as well as expert advisors from Austria and abroad who will secure high scientific quality of the journal and, together with a dedicated editorial office and publishing house (AASP), can guarantee a very rapid publication of manuscripts, individually or assembled to special topics,” the three Editors-in-Chief said.
By embracing ARPHA’s end-to-end scholarly publishing platform, SKINdeep will benefit from a comprehensive suite of services designed to streamline every stage of the publishing process, from manuscript submission to article publication, indexation, dissemination, and archiving, ensuring a seamless workflow for authors, reviewers, and editors alike.
“We are excited about this partnership and firmly believe SKINdeep will be an impactful and globally accessible academic outlet for publishing high-quality research in dermatology,” said Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO and founder at ARPHA and Pensoft.SKINdeep journal is the second journal published by the Austrian Academy of Sciences Press to utilise ARPHA’s services, after Biosystematics and Ecology moved to ARPHA in 2021.
This change, approved by the SIVS plenary assembly in November 2024, reflects the journal’s mission to encompass a broader spectrum of research articles and better represent the dynamic and interdisciplinary field of vegetation science.
In addition to the name change, the journal has implemented a refreshed Editorial Board, new Topical Collections, and initiatives to support young researchers. Gianmaria Bonari is welcomed as the journal’s new Editor-in-Chief, succeeding the esteemed Daniela Gigante, who served in the role from January 2019 to February 2024.
The new journal name.
For members of the SISV, new publication fee discounts have been introduced. These initiatives aim to foster inclusive participation in vegetation science, particularly for students and researchers with limited financial resources.
A complete publication fee waiver is now available for young member researchers who have conducted their research without external funding, while those with partial external funding can benefit from a 10% APC discount.
Acronym of the new journal name.
Finally, a new social media team of Giovanni Rivieccio and Michele Mugnai will be managing the journal’s Facebook and Bluesky pages, bringing fresh ideas and dynamic content.
An Editorial published on the new journal website provides more information on the changes made, including short bios of the new Editorial Board members and descriptions of the new Topical Collections.
Statement from the Editor-in-Chief Gianmaria Bonari:
“It is a privilege to lead Vegetation Ecology and Diversity as we embark on this transformative journey. Our new name signifies our dedication to embracing the full breadth of vegetation science. With the introduction of new Topical Collections and initiatives to support young researchers, we aim to foster a collaborative and inclusive environment for vegetation scientists. I encourage researchers to engage with our journal and contribute to advancing the open-access society-owned journal Vegetation Ecology and Diversity.”
Statement from the President of the Italian Society of Vegetation Science (SISV), Simonetta Bagella:
“The rebranding of our journal to Vegetation Ecology and Diversity marks a significant milestone for the SISV. This change, approved by our members, aligns with our mission to expand the journal’s scope and enhance its international impact. We are particularly proud of the new initiatives to support young researchers, including publication fee waivers and discounts, which underscore our dedication to inclusivity and the advancement of emerging scientists in vegetation science. We also express our gratitude to Daniela Gigante for her leadership and warmly welcome Gianmaria Bonari as he guides the journal into this exciting new era.”
The International Mycological Association (IMA)has partnered with Pensoft to transition its flagship journal IMA Fungus to the ARPHA publishing platform after the open-access scientific publisher and technology provider won the bid by the IMA’s Executive Committee, following the expiration of their contract with BioMed Central (BMC, part of Springer-Nature). Already accepting manuscripts on its new website, the first publications in IMA Fungus since the transfer are expected in January 2025.
The move comes in a series of milestones for the prestigious journal in 2024, which also saw the appointment of its new Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Marc Stadler of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, who has recently started his presidency at the IMA Council.
Committed to advancing mycological research and ensuring free access to high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific content, while representing the interest of mycology and mycologists worldwide, IMA’s Executive Board is confident that the new collaboration will further improve and streamline the publication process at IMA Fungus, and build up on its reputation in the field.
ARPHA platform’s intuitive and integrated end-to-end publishing workflow is designed to simplify the publication process for authors, reviewers, and editors. From submission to publication, automated full-text export to scientific databases and permanent hosting, all steps will be consolidated within a single, user-friendly interface, resulting in faster review cycles and more efficient communication between all parties involved. In addition to its signature publishing technology, Pensoft is providing IMA Fungus with various human-provided services, including help desk, design, science communication, marketing and journal development support.
Today, IMA Fungus boasts an impressive Scopus CiteScore and Journal Impact Factor, standing at 11.0 and 5.2 respectively. It ranks 6th in the Mycology category on Web of Science.
Since day one, IMA Fungus has been mandated as the only journal in which formal proposals relating to the rules on the naming of fungi or protected lists of names are to be published under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants. Its scope covers all areas of mycology of interest to the wider mycological community, from basic to applied research.
“I am happy that we could get some of the most experienced editors to join us to the new publisher. Likewise, I am glad that many proficient young scientists from around the world, including most of the recent winners of the IMA Young Mycologist Award, joined our interdisciplinary editor panel.”
Prof. Dr. Marc Stadler, commenting on the latest news about IMA Fungus.
“It is a great honour to welcome IMA Fungus to the ARPHA family. We look forward to working with the International Mycological Association and helping to further advance their prestigious journal.”
Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, Pensoft’s founder and CEO.
To learn more about IMA Fungus or submit your manuscript, visit the journal’s newly launched website. Previous issues of the journal are available here.
To stay up-to-date with its new publication, sign up for its Email Alert newsletter from the journal’s homepage, and follow it on X and Facebook.
***
About Pensoft:
Pensoft is an independent, open-access scholarly publisher and technology provider, best known for its 40+ biodiversity journals, including ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, PhytoKeys, MycoKeys, One Ecosystem and Metabarcoding and Metagenomics. Ever since becoming the first publisher to introduce semantic enrichments and hyperlinks within a scientific article in the field of biodiversity in 2010, Pensoft has been working on various tools and workflows designed to facilitate data findability, accessibility, discoverability and interoperability.
About ARPHA:
ARPHA is a full-featured, open-access publishing platform for scholarly journals, books, data and conference outputs, developed by the scientific publisher and technology developer Pensoft. Clients are provided with a software solution as well as a range of relevant human-provided services. Standing for Authoring, Reviewing, Publishing, Hosting and Archiving, ARPHA offers a wide range of tailorable services to publishers, societies, university presses, conference organisers and other academic institutions to provide them with a full-featured and all-rounded publishing experience, thereby saving them the extra efforts and unnecessary hassle of dealing with multiple vendors and service providers.
About the International Mycological Association:
The International Mycological Association, founded in 1971, represents the interests of over 30,000 mycologists worldwide. It is a non-for-profit organisation, the purpose of which is the encouragement of mycology in all its branches. This implies that the IMA should strive to promote mycology in its widest sense.
IMA Fungus is the flagship journal of the International Mycological Association. Papers on any aspect of mycology are considered, and published on-line with final pagination after proofs are corrected; taxonomic novelties are then effectively and validly published under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. The journal strongly supports good practice policies, and requires voucher specimens or cultures to be deposited in a public collection with an online database, DNA sequences in GenBank, alignments in TreeBASE, and validating information on new scientific names, including typifications, to be accessioned in MycoBank.
MycoBank is the online repository and nomenclatural registry provided in collaboration between the International Mycological Association and the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute. It provides a free service to the mycological and scientific society by databasing mycological nomenclatural novelties (new names and combinations) and associated data, such as descriptions, illustrations and DNA barcodes. Nomenclatural novelties are each allocated a unique MycoBank number to be cited in the publication where the nomenclatural novelty is introduced, to conform with the requirements of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants.
Metabarcoding & Metagenomics (MBMG) has been approved for inclusion in Clarivate’s Web of Science, one of the most renowned citation databases that indexes the world’s leading scholarly journals. This recognition underscores the journal’s growing influence in its field, and reflects its commitment to publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed research.
Since its launch in September 2017, the journal has been at the forefront of publishing papers on metabarcoding and metagenomics for both basic and applied studies. At the time of its inauguration it was seen as a particularly forward-looking and niche scholarly outlet because it was devised to address the need for an innovative journal in the rapidly developing fields of DNA-based environmental research, biodiversity monitoring and nature conservation. Going forward, MBMG’s inclusion in the Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) at Web of Science will further enhance the visibility and accessibility of existing and future research.
Now that it has completed the Web of Science’s rigorous quality and integrity assessment, MBMG may receive its first Journal Impact Factor (JIF) as early as 2025. This is a testament to the dedication of the authors, reviewers, and editorial board members who have contributed to the journal’s success.
MBMG is indexed and archived in more than 60 databases, including Scopus, DOAJ, ResearchGate, Library of Congress, British Library, Baidu Scholar, CNKI, EBSCO, Unpaywall, CLOCKSS and Zenodo.
In June 2024, the journal received a Scopus CiteScore of 5.4, placing it in Q1 in five categories: Animal Science and Zoology; Insect Science; Plant Science; Ecology, Evolution, Behaviour and Systematics; and Nature and Landscape Conservation.
This inclusion in the Web of Science marks a new chapter in the journal’s mission to facilitate the production and dissemination of important research.
“The quality of research and the perception by the community our MBMG staff supports matter most. Being officially listed in Web of Science and having a Journal Impact Factor are criteria of high importance to many of our authors. Therefore, I‘m very happy about this new development.”
“From the very beginning, we were convinced that this niche is of high relevance and will be rapidly expanding. The inclusion of MBMG in the Web of Science will be of particular importance for our (young) authors, who are too often evaluated by IF-based criteria. At the same time, MBMG hopefully will face a further growing number of submissions.”
The journal aims to serve as a leading platform for scholarly research, discussion, and innovation in the field of natural history collections worldwide and will be published by Pensoft Publishers.
By promoting the exchange of knowledge between museum professionals, researchers, educators, and enthusiasts, the publication aims to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of natural history and its significance in society.
Natural History Collections and Museomics promoted by Pensoft at the 2024 International Congress of Entomology in Kyoto, Japan.
Natural History Collections and Museomics (NHCM) encourages interdisciplinary approaches and collaborations across fields such as taxonomy, conservation, education, ethics, and museum studies. The editorial team welcomes original research articles, reviews, case studies, methods, letters and perspectives addressing a wide range of topics related to natural history institutions and collections.
The journal is supported by CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities), Europe’s leading voice for taxonomy and systematic biology. The support of this European network of scientific institutions ensures a robust and collaborative foundation for the journal’s academic endeavours.
By utilising a Diamond Open Access model, the journal allows free access to published content without any fees for authors or readers. This approach ensures that important research can reach the widest possible audience, promoting inclusivity and global collaboration in the field.
A strong Editorial Board is already in place, co-chaired by two distinguished scholars in the field.
Dr Franco Andreone: Serving as the zoology curator at the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali in Turin, Italy, Dr Andreone is a renowned herpetologist with a profound impact on amphibian taxonomy, roles of natural history museums and conservation, particularly in Italy and Madagascar. His experience as a former Chair of the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group – Madagascar and his current role as a special advisor underscore his life-longdedication to preserving biodiversity.
Prof Shuqiang Li: A prominent Chinese arachnologist, Prof Li brings his vast expertise in zoological systematics to the journal. Among many accomplishments, he led the construction of 29 natural history museums for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of which is an 8,800 square metre collection building to preserve more than 10 million specimens and another a 6,600 square metre public museum in the Zoological Institute in Beijing. As leading taxonomist and the Editor-in-Chief of Zoological Systematics, Professor Li has described more than 2,000 new species. His work on how Tethyan changes shaped diversification is most notable. His research has also revealed the origin of spider webs based multi-omics analyses.
The Board expects the team of subject (associate) editors to soon expand further, as they have been actively recruiting colleagues from diverse professional and geographical backgrounds. Experts in fields within the scope of the new journal are also invited to apply to join the NHCM team as either editors or reviewers. Conveniently, the respective application forms are made accessible from the journal website’s homepage.
“The journal Natural History Collections and Museomics will serve as a perfectforum and place to publish cutting-edge research.
“Natural history collections are gargantuan resources and tools to discover and preserve global diversity. We need to treat them as immense treasures to discover and describe new species and understand Earth’s marvels.”
Dr Franco Andreone and Prof Shuqiang Li, Editors-in-Chief.
“We are thrilled to launch Natural History Collections and Museomics on the ARPHA Platform. The importance of natural history collections cannot be overstated and we look forward to publishing valuable research to a wide audience.”
Prof Dr Lyubomir Penev, CEO and founder of Pensoft Publishers.
Submissions to the journal are now open. Researchers, scholars, and practitioners are invited to contribute articles to Natural History Collections and Museomics.
For more information and submission guidelines, please visit the Natural History Collections and Museomics website.
You can also follow the journal on X and Facebook.
About ARPHA Platform:
ARPHA is a full-featured, end-to-end publishing platform for journals, books, conference materials and preprints. ARPHA offers flexible operating and business models, and a wide-range of automated and human-provided services. The ARPHA team places a special focus on its scholarly communication solutions designed to leverage the visibility and outreach of academic output, while promoting inclusivity and engagement.
About Pensoft:
Pensoft is an independent, open-access publisher and technology provider, best known for its biodiversity journals, including ZooKeys, Biodiversity Data Journal, Phytokeys, Mycokeys, One Ecosystem, Metabarcoding and Metagenomics and many others. Over the past 30 years, Pensoft has built a reputation for its innovations in the field, after launching ZooKeys: the very first digital-first scientific journal in zoology and the first to introduce semantic enrichments and hyperlinks within a biodiversity article. To date, the company has continuously been working on various tools and workflows designed to facilitate biodiversity data findability, accessibility, discoverability and interoperability.
