Special Issue Announcement ahead of PAOC 2020

Posted 29 August 2019 by NISC under Announcements & Notices • Journal: Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology
Special Issue Announcement ahead of PAOC 2020

Leading up to the Pan-African Ornithological Congress 2020, Ostrich Journal of African Ornithology will be publishing a special issue titled, “Urban Birds – Ornithology of Urban Environments”.

The issue welcomes Guest Editor, Dr Petra Sumasgutner (L’Oréal UNESCO Austria Women in Science award winner). The special issue invites research papers on the theme of Africa’s urban birds.

A wide variety of topics related to the theme will be considered e.g. behavioural and physiological adaptations, human-wildlife conflict, urban conservation, threats and opportunities. 

The deadline for submission is 15 April 2020 with the issue being published prior to the 15th Pan-African Ornithological Congress which will be held in Zimbabwe, 16-20 November 2020.

Ostrich is the scientific journal of Birdlife South Africa and is Africa’s leading ornithological journal. For more information about the title, submission details and author instructions please refer to the website here.

As a lead up to the congress, a virtual special issue containing a number of articles around the theme, urbanisation, and published between 2015-2019 have been made available to read at no cost until the end of 2019. These can be found at their respective links below. 

Dispersal dynamics of juvenile Secretarybirds Sagittarius serpentarius in southern Africa

Implications of geographical range changes and resultant sympatry for three Accipiter hawks on the Cape Peninsula, South Africa

Status of globally threatened birds of Sapo National Park, Liberia

Seasonality, habitat type and locality influenced bird assemblage structure in Nigeria

Temporal changes in prey composition and biomass delivery to African Crowned Eagle nestlings in urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Urban bird trends in a rapidly growing tropical city

Habitat utilisation and nesting behaviour of two sympatric weavers in Mbalmayo District, Cameroon

Habitat variables associated with encounters of Hottentot Buttonquail Turnix hottentottus during flush surveys across the Fynbos biome

Managing human disturbance: factors influencing flight-initiation distance of birds in a West African nature reserve

Home range and habitat use of Trumpeter Hornbills Bycanistes bucinator in an urban–forest mosaic, Eshowe, South Africa

Increasingly urban Marabou Storks start breeding four months early in Kampala, Uganda

Status of birds of prey in Guinea-Bissau: first assessment based on road surveys

The decline of an urban Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus population in Dakar, Senegal, over 50 years

Is the Black Harrier Circus maurus a specialist predator? Assessing the diet of a threatened raptor species endemic to southern Africa

Diet of nesting African Crowned Eagles Stephanoaetus coronatus in emerging and forest–savanna habitats in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

 

 

The paper was wonderfully laid out and rapidly published
- Author- Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology
Excellent attention by editor-in-chief; very good work of reviewers; good time for review and processing.
- Author - African Journal of Range & Forage Science
Perhaps the most important change, in terms of bringing the Journal to a wider audience, has been its publishing in collaboration with the NISC (Pty) Ltd.
- Stan Pillar, Editor of the African Journal of Marine Science (1996-2013)
The editorial experience was excellent: the reviewers were timely and their feedback was generative. The co-editor of the special issue was proactive about communicating information to me. In latter stages, the staff that shepherded the essay through the copy-editing stages was also very helpful and in good contact.
- Author - Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies
Since 1995, NISC has systematically built up competence and the necessary capacity in all aspects of publishing high-level research journals, with the professionalism needed to flourish in the increasingly competitive world of international research publications. No other publisher in South Africa commands the necessary technical skills, experience, competence, enthusiasm and resources to the same degree as NISC, in my view.
- Graham Baker, Editor of the South African Journal of Science (1973-2008)