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Newsletter No. 7, December 2022
Dear Editors and Editorial Board members,
Dear reviewers and authors,
Dear colleagues,
Before the end of this year – and thus when the third volume of VCS comes to an end – we
would like to share some news on journal development with you. If you have ideas how to
make VCS more attractive to authors and/or readers, please get into touch with us.
Enjoy reading!
Jürgen Dengler, Idoia Biurrun, Florian Jansen & Wolfgang Willner
(Chief Editors)
Table of contents
VCS now with CiteScoreTracker of Scopus .............................................................................................................. 1
Bibliometric performance of VCS papers ................................................................................................................ 2
Call for papers & exemption from APCs .................................................................................................................. 4
Articles of the first three quarters of 2022 ............................................................................................................. 5
Editors’ Choices of 2022/I to 2022/III ..................................................................................................................... 6
Special collections ................................................................................................................................................... 6
VCS now with CiteScoreTracker of Scopus
From early 2022 onwards, VCS has been included in Scopus, the largest bibliometric database
of the world. Since recently it is also listed in the online searchable (OA) database of the 44,034
journals in Scopus. As such, it receives a CiteScoreTracker, which is a monthly updated meas-
ure of bibliometric performance. In June 2023, VCS then will receive its first “full” CiteScore,
and hopefully also be included in the Web of Science Core collection.
Vegetation Classification and Survey Newsletter No. 7 (December 2022) Page 2
Fig. 1. CiteScoreTracker for VCS on 17 December 2022 (https://www.scopus.com/sourceid/21101083451).
It is also up to you: the more you submit good manuscripts to VCS, the more you cite VCS
papers in your own publications, the higher the chance of inclusion in the Web of Science and
the higher will be the CiteScore and Impact Factor.
Bibliometric performance of VCS papers
If you would like to know which are currently the most cited or most-downloaded papers from
VCS, you have two options.
In Google Scholar you check at https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=de&au-
thuser=1&user=XsKKBm0AAAAJ which are the most-cited VCS papers so far:
Fig. 2. VCS on Google Scholar in December 2022 (https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=de&au-
thuser=1&user=XsKKBm0AAAAJ).
By the way: you can also add “vegetation classification” to your five possible research topics
in Google Scholar to appear together with VCS and the main VCS editors and authors.
Vegetation Classification and Survey Newsletter No. 7 (December 2022) Page 3
Fig. 3. Topic “vegetation classification” on Google Scholar in December 2022 (https://scholar.google.com/ci-
tations?view_op=search_authors&hl=de&authuser=1&mauthors=label:vegetation_classification).
On the VCS website, since a while you can filter for the most downloaded articles of the past
12 months (https://vcs.pensoft.net/browse_journal_articles?sortby=10004):
Vegetation Classification and Survey Newsletter No. 7 (December 2022) Page 4
Fig. 4. Most accessed VCS articles of the past 12 months in December 2022 (https://vcs.pen-
soft.net/browse_journal_articles?sortby=10004)
Call for papers & exemption from APCs
For the success of VCS it is highly crucial that many people, but particularly our Chief Editors,
Associate Editors, Guest Editors and Editorial Review Board members submit their own good
manuscripts. Among all scientists, you should be convinced that VCS will become a successful
journal.
Vegetation Classification and Survey Newsletter No. 7 (December 2022) Page 5
To support your submissions while we are still waiting for the first Impact Factor, IAVS has
agreed to extend its subsidies of article processing charges (APCs) until mid-2023. This means
that manuscripts with a first author who is IAVS members will be completely exempt from
these APCs if the original submissions happens until 30 June 2023. So please use the remain-
ing 6.5 months to take advantage of this opportunity and at the same time to help VCS. Please
note that those IAVS members among you who have university or national funds to cover APCs
are kindly asked to use them instead of letting IAVS pay for them.
Articles of the first three quarters of 2022
In the first three quarters of 2022, VCS has published 16 articles of various types and from
almost all continents:
Volume 3, 1st quarter
Dengler, J., Biurrun, I., Jansen, F. & Willner, W. 2022. Vegetation Classification and Survey: development and
diversification. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 1–5. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.80379
Guarino, R., Guccione, M. & Gillet, F. 2022. Plant communities, synusiae and the arithmetic of a sustainable clas-
sification. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 7–13. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.60951
Luebert, F. & Pliscoff, P. 2022. The vegetation of Chile and the EcoVeg approach in the context of the International
Vegetation Classification project. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 15–28.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.67893
Comer, P.J., Hak, J.C., Dockter, D. & Smith, J. 2022. Integration of vegetation classification with land cover map-
ping: lessons from regional mapping efforts in the Americas. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 29–43.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.67537
Alvarez, M. & Luebert, F. 2022. Chilean vegetation in the context of the Braun-Blanquet approach and a compar-
ison with EcoVeg formations. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 45–52.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.72194
Montenegro, Hoyos, A., Vega, N. & Linares-Palomino, R. 2022. Plant diversity and structure in desert communi-
ties of the Andean piedmont in Ica, Peru. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 53–66.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.68006
Świerkosz, K. & Reczyńska, K. 2022. Diversity of Mulgedio-Aconitetea communities in the Sudetes Mts. (SW Po-
land) in the Central European context. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 67–86.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.70200
Volume 3, 2nd quarter
Wells, A.F., Swingley, C.S., Ives, S.L., McNown, R.W. & Dissing, D. 2022. Vegetation classification for northwestern
Arctic Alaska using an EcoVeg approach: tussock tundra and low and tall willow groups and alliances. Vege-
tation Classification and Survey 3: 87–117. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.65469
Argagnon, O., De Barros, G. & Noble, V. 2022. SIMETHIS-Flore-CBNMed - Database of Southeastern France veg-
etation. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 119–120. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.83889
Liu, C., Qiao, X., Guo, K., Zhao, L. & Pan, Q. 2022. Vegetation classification of Stipa steppes in China, with reference
to the International Vegetation Classification. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 121–144.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.72875
Volume 3, 3rd quarter
Rodríguez-Guitián, M.A. & Amigo Vazquez, J. 2022. Proposal (29) to conserve the name Omphalodo nitidae-
Coryletum avellanae Amigo, G. Azcárate et Romero 1994 with a conserved type. Vegetation Classifica-
tion and Survey 3: 145–148. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.76387
Nowak, A., Biurrun, I., Janišová, M. & Dengler, J. 2022. Classification of grasslands and other open vegeta-
tion types in the Palaearctic – Introduction to the Special Collection. Vegetation Classification and Survey
3: 149–159. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.87068
Vegetation Classification and Survey Newsletter No. 7 (December 2022) Page 6
Hunter, J.T., Lewis, D., Addicott, E., Luxton, S., Cowie, I., Sparrow, B. & Leitch, E. 2022. A plot-based analysis
of the vegetation of the Northern Territory, Australia: a first assessment within the International Vege-
tation Classification framework. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 161–174.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.83045
Golovanov, Y. & Abramova, L. 2022. Database of anthropogenic vegetation of Urals and adjacent territories.
Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 175–176. https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.82824
Alessi, N., Bruzzaniti, V., Buldrini, F., Centomo, E., Cervellini, M., Enea, M., Landi, S., Lelli, C., Montanari, I.,
Nascimbene, J., Pezzi, G., Virzí, G., Zannini, P. & Chiarucci, A. 2022. AMS-VegBank: a new database of
vegetation plots for the Italian territory. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 187–189.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.85083
Loidi, J., Amigo, J., Bueno, A., Herrera, M. & Rodríguez-Guitián, M.A. 2022. Proposal (30) to conserve the
name Polysticho setiferi-Fraxinetum excelsioris (Tüxen et Oberdorfer 1958) Rivas-Martínez ex Díaz et
Fernández Prieto 1994 with a conserved type. Vegetation Classification and Survey 3: 187–189.
https://doi.org/10.3897/VCS.86799
Editors’ Choices of 2022/I to 2022/III
From the articles published in each quarter, the Chief Editors select one contribution that is
prototypic for the articles we would like to publish in our journal. These Editors’ Choice articles
are highlighted on the journal website with a News item and a banner as well as in the vegsci-
blog. Moreover, from the four Editors’ Choices of a year, we will select one paper for the Edi-
tors’ Award. Finally, the cover illustrations of the volume 3 (2022) will be composed from pho-
tos/figures related to the winning article(s).
The Editors’ Choice of the first quarter goes to Alvarez & Luebert (2022), who provided a nice
crosswalk of the vegetation types of Chile according to the Braun-Blanquet approach vs. the
EcoVeg approach. The Editors’ Choice of the second quarter goes to Liu et al. (2022) for
providing one of the hitherto few plot-based classifications of Chinese vegetation in an inter-
national journal. The Editors’ Choice of the third quarter was awarded to Alessi et al. (2022)
for an exemplary Long Database Report of a new plot database.
Special collections
In mid-2022 we concluded the first Special Collection of VCS on “Special Collection 'Classifi-
cation of grasslands and other open vegetation types in the Palaearctic” with nine contribu-
tions (see Nowak et al. 2022). Likewise, the Special Collection “The "International Vegetation
Classification" initiative: case studies, syntheses, and perspectives on ecosystem diversity
around the globe” is close to be finished with hitherto eight published articles.
Two Special Collections with two Regional Sections of IAVS are ongoing. In the Special Collec-
tion “African Vegetation Studies”, one article is already published, while five are in the peer-
review process. In the Special Collection “Neotropical vegetation”, one article is published
while two are in the peer-review process.
For the joint Special Collection of the Eurasian Dry Grassland Group (EDGG) and the IAVS Re-
gional Section Asia on “Grasslands of Asia” the call for contributions is still open. Abstracts
can be proposed to dr.juergen.dengler@gmail.com until 31 January 2023. After positive eval-
uation of the abstract, the full papers then can be submitted until 30 April 2023.
Vegetation Classification and Survey Newsletter No. 7 (December 2022) Page 7
VCS is eager to launch further Special Collections as these are an attractive format for authors,
readers and the journal – as the publication inside a Special Collections generally increases
visibility and citation rates compared to “regular” articles. Thus, we invite you to propose new
Special Collections within the overall scope of VCS. Such Special Collections can be organised
within the framework of an IAVS subgroup, in conjunction with a conference or inde-
pendently. If interested, please consult dr.juergen.dengler@gmail.com to discuss details.
