Collaboration networks and hot topics in the Journal of Vegetation Science

With this editorial, we open the 33rd volume of the Journal of Vegetation Science (JVS). Since its inception as an official journal of the International Association for Vegetation Science, JVS has maintained the scope of plant community ecology (Chytrý et al., 2019) and has been among the leading journals in this field of science. In previous editorials, we identified the knowledge networks of topics and authors (Pärtel et al., 2016) and mapped the locations of studies published in JVS (Pärtel et al., 2017). Like scientific questions, research groups and locations may be dynamic. Therefore, we revisited and updated the information on these patterns here. We examined the 714 articles (excluding editorials) published in JVS since 2016 for the countries of author affiliations and the co-occurrence of keywords extracted from terms in the title and abstract. For the network analyses, we used the VOSviewer tool v.1.6.17 (van Eck & Waltman, 2010), available at https://www.vosviewer.com. The published articles involved authors from 93 countries, reflecting the global coverage of vegetation studies (Pärtel et al., 2017). The most frequent countries of author affiliation and the network of collaborations based on co-authorship are shown in Figure 1a. The network reflects common research interests, somehow mirroring geography and history, with the main clusters in Europe, another in North America, China and Australia, and the third one in South America. Overall, the clusters are well-connected to each other. The most frequent keywords reflect the questions, concepts and methods that have captivated plant community ecologists (Figure 1b). Four clusters of keywords were identified based on their co-occurrences in the articles. The first cluster (in green) refers to vegetation structure, mostly in temperate and boreal forests and tundra, the second (red) to community assembly, facilitation and competition, functional and phylogenetic diversity, mostly in tropical forests and Mediterranean environments, the third (blue) to climate change and ecosystem functions, mostly in grasslands, and the fourth (yellow) to species richness, biodiversity, dispersal and vegetation dynamics. The central position of the fourth cluster in the network reflects its high co-occurrence with the terms in the other clusters. The clusters also include some of the most frequent country locations of the studies. Interestingly, such a network structure of keywords largely matches the clusters identified for the articles published in JVS until 2015 (Pärtel et al., 2016). This indicates relative stability in the journal's scope and the kind of questions that draw the interest of plant community ecologists. It also shows that JVS clearly differs from its sister journal Applied Vegetation Science, in which the main clusters of topics indicate focus on ecosystem restoration, management, monitoring and vegetation survey (Price et al., 2022). Every year, we select one article published in JVS for the Editors’ Award. For 2021, the winner is the Synthesis article by Stephan Getzin, Hezi Yizhaq and Walter Tschinkel (Getzin et al., 2021) on the intriguing, very regular, hexagonal arrangement of circular vegetation gaps (“fairy circles”) found under some arid climatic conditions. Based on their own fieldwork and literature review, they defined fairy circles as a specific phenomenon and compared it to other types of circular vegetation gaps and herbaceous rings. The two forerunners are Testolin et al. (2021) and McKone et al. (2021). Riccardo Testolin and co-authors compiled and analysed a large database of alpine vegetation plots to identify the main axes of functional trade-offs at the species level, which were then integrated at the community level. Their article was one of the contributions to the Special Feature Macroecology of Vegetation. Mark McKone, Evelyn Williams and Jared Beck nicely combined a chronosequence approach with permanent plots to study the restored prairie plant communities. They found that successional trajectories were highly variable and dependent on the initial conditions, which warns against a pure chronosequence approach based on a single-time sample. Beginning with the 2021 volume, JVS articles have been published online only, which is a small contribution to the global effort to reduce carbon emissions and the demand for pulp. In addition, continuous publishing was adopted, with no need for accepted manuscripts to wait for the final publication until an issue is filled, shortening the time to final publication after proofing. This has produced a peak in the number of published articles when the articles waiting in the Early View stage were all published in early 2021. We also hope that with online-only publishing, the articles will become more colourful, as there are no longer restrictions on colour figures. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the authors who submitted articles to JVS, the editors who managed the editorial process, and the referees (listed in the Appendix) who provided reports and helped improve the published articles. We highly value their time dedicated to one of the official organs of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) and to the community of plant community ecologists. It has been almost two years since isolation measures and travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have affected field and lab work, as well as in-person meetings of vegetation scientists worldwide. The 2021 IAVS Symposium was virtual, but normally vegetation scientists meet in person at the annual symposium of the IAVS and associated field excursions. We hope to see you at the next IAVS Symposium, scheduled for June–July 2022 in Madrid, Spain. We thank the referees who served the Journal of Vegetation Science from 1 October 2020 to 31 October 2021. Those who reviewed more than two times are indicated by asterisks. Tuomas Aakala Juha Alatalo Thiago Amorim Enrique Andivia José Luis Andrade* Frédéric Archaux Gabriel Arellano Alistair Auffret Eleinis Ávila-Lovera Tala Awada Giovanni Bacaro Lander Baeten Yuxuan Bai Lauren Baldarelli Jennifer Baltzer Maik Bartelheimer* Sándor Bartha Bruno Baur Peter Bellingham Jonathan Bennett* Rodrigo Bergamin Maud Bernard-Verdier Markus Bernhardt-Römermann Bernd Blossey Michał Bogdziewicz Giuliano Bonanomi Gianmaria Bonari Kauane Bordin Francesco Boscutti Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe Bérenger Bourgeois Alejandro Brazeiro Allison Brehm Rob Brooker Alissa Brown Charlotte Brown Helge Bruelheide Bruce Burns Sabina Burrascano Julia Burton Richard Busing* Bradley Butterfield* Leonor Calvo James Camac Giandiego Campetella Anabelle Cardoso* Marcos Carlucci Maria Laura Carranza Walter Carson Bastien Castagneyrol Lohengrin Cavieres Emilie Champagne Kuo-Jung Chao Tristan Charles-Dominique Stefano Chelli Yahan Chen Kwek Yan Chong Marcus Cianciaruso Michael Clarke Luis Coelho Scott Collins Timo Conradi Joseph Cooper Irene Cordero William Cornwell Raelene Crandall Dylan Craven* Thomas Crist Letícia Cruz-Lima Anikó Csecserits Mônica Cupertino-Eisenlohr Clement Cupido Patryk Czortek Daniele Da Re Curtis Daehler Ricardo Dalagnol James W. Dalling Alain Danet Vinícius Dantas C. Dayani Miquel De Cáceres* Marcelino de la Cruz* Karen de Pauw Matthias Dehling Roger del Moral Silvia Del Vecchio Florian Delerue Niv DeMalach Pierre Denelle Jürgen Dengler Alfredo Di Filippo Michele Di Musciano Martin Diekmann* Stefan Dullinger Giselda Durigan* Tatiana Elumeeva Bettina Engelbrecht László Erdős Adrián Escudero* Alexandre Fadigas Fabian Fassnacht Kenneth Feeley Annamária Fenesi Nicole Fenton Pavel Fibich Alessandro Filazzola* Felícia M. Fischer Augusto Franco Scott Franklin Shawn Fraver Guillaume Fried Katsue Fukamachi Hasbagan Ganjurjav Matteo Garbarino Ana García-Cervigón Eric Garnier Antonio Gazol* Alexandre Genin Stephan Getzin David Gibson* Eduardo Giehl François Gillet Melisa Giorgis Florian Goedecke Lars Götzenberger Caio Graco Roza Marie Grange Andy Griffiths John-Arvid Grytnes Riccardo Guarino Ragnhild Gya Andrew Habrich Konsta Happonen Terry Hedderson Per-Ola Hedwall Tina Heger Steffi Heinrichs Aveliina Helm* Kenny Helsen* Jonathan Henn Tomáš Herben* Maximilian Hesselbarth Peter Hietz Ken Hodgkinson Michael Hoffman William Hoffmann* Emily Holden Ricardo Holdo Daniela Hoss* John Householder Ching-Lin Huang Kris Hulvey Kristoffer Hylander Ricardo Ibáñez Daniel Imbert Gerald Islebe Hamza Issifu Ali Jahani Pavel Janda Florian Jansen Mélanie Jean David Jenkins Chengjun Ji Borja Jiménez-Alfaro Daniel Johnson Ronen Kadmon Vitor Kamimura Teja Kattenborn Katie Keckhoff Julia Kemppinen Michael Kessler Zaal Kikvidze Tania Kim Adam Kimberley Kevin Kirkman Michael Kleyer Keito Kobayashi Johannes Kollmann Buntarou Kusumoto Charles Kwit Lauri Laanisto Emma Ladouceur Hao Ran Lai Shubin Lan Vojtěch Lanta Peter le Roux Attila Lengyel* Jan Lepš* Celine Leroy Rob Lewis Daijiang Li Yuanzhi Li Chunlong Liu Daijun Liu* Jiajia Liu Luis Daniel Llambí* Priscilla Loiola Luis López-Mársico Bianca Lopez Zdeňka Lososová Alejandro Loydi Belen Luna Yahuang Luo Ellen Macdonald Sybryn Maes Vincent Maire Matteo Marcantonio Laurent Marquer Lindsay C. Maskell Norman Mason Jhonny Massante Joe McAuliffe Brian McGill Glenda Mendieta-Leiva Richard Michalet* Stein Moe Rafael Molina-Venegas María Leticia Monge González Daniel Moreno-Fernández Akira Mori Ladislav Mucina Robert Muscarella Tobias Naaf* Melissande Nagati Gabriel Nakamura Juri Nascimbene Gonzalo Navarro Carsten Neumann Yunpeng Nie Josep Ninot Sugrañes Gabriela Nunez-Mir Rory O'Connor Florin Păcurar Yoan Paillet* Robin Pakeman Alain Paquette Gustavo Paterno Susana Paula Ian S. Pearse Neil Pederson Cord Peppler-Lisbach Susana Perelman Cindy Perkovich Yareni Perroni Matteo Petit Bon Noémie Pichon Simon Pierce* Kerstin Pierick Natashi Pilon Bruno Pinho Jesus Pinto-Ledezma Nuria Piston Caballero Jan Plue Laura Pollock Monique Poulin Karel Prach Andreas Prinzing Serban Proches Eduardo Pucheta Francisco Pugnaire Sandeep Pulla Javier Puy Lan Qie Benjamin Ramage Lirey Ramírez Gillian Rapson Onja Razafindratsima Kurt Reinhart Simone Matias Reis Gabriel Ribeiro Frank Richard Max Rietkerk Kersti Riibak Kátia Rito Dave Roberts Sergey Rosbakh Christiane Roscher Milena Fermina Rosenfield Davi Rodrigo Rossatto* Knut Rydgren Arne Saatkamp Francesco Maria Sabatini* Patrick Saccone Satoshi Saito Hugo Saiz* Miriam San-José Victor M. Santana Edgar Santo-Silva Takehiro Sasaki Fride Schei Christoph Scheidegger David Schellenberger Costa Michael Scherer-Lorenzen Sebastian Schmidtlein Ute Schmiedel Julian Schrader* Andreas Schweiger Maria-Teresa Sebastià Hanno Seebens Guilherme Seger* Julia Sfair* Spyros Sfendourakis Monika Shea Takayuki Shiono Bill Shipley* Andrew Siefert Bruno Silva Marcelo Simon Robert Smith Darwin Sodhi Imelda Somodi Marcelo Sternberg Joachim Strengbom Tercia Strydom* Wei Sun Tony Swemmer Krista Takkis Anna Talucci Riin Tamme* Zhiyao Tang Federico Maria Tardella Çagatay Tavsanoglu Tsvetelina Terziyska Jakub Těšitel Martin Theuerkauf Kenneth Thompson Lubomír Tichý Enrico Tordoni* Diego Trindade Yadugiri Truvaimozhi James Tsakalos Ioannis Tsiripidis Nash Turley Torbjörn Tyler Werner Ulrich* Orsolya Valkó meike van der Heyde Stephni van der Merwe Pieter Vangansbeke Thomas Vanneste Isabela Varassin Alejandro Velazquez Eduardo Velazquez Antoine Vernay* Ole Vetaas Mariana Vidal Albert Vilà-Cabrera Pedro Manuel Villa Gesa von Hirschheydt Shiping Wang Xiang-tai Wang Yanping Wang Karsten Wesche* Johannes Wessely Thorsten Wiegand* Evelyn Williams Wolfgang Willner Jarrah Wills Brian Wilsey Scott Wilson Marten Winter Thomas Wohlgemuth Samantha Worthy Jianshuang Wu Matthew Wuensch Monika Wulf Sa Xiao Simone Yasui Truman Young Piero Zannini Markus Zaplata Charles Zartman Michaela Zeiter David Zelený Lin Zhang Jess Zimmerman Alexander Zizka