What is Highly Cited in Vegetation Science? A Temporal Trend Analysis

The number of received citations indicates the impact of scientific publications. However, citation patterns can also give insights into the development of a scientific field. In earlier editorials, we explored the citation networks within the Journal of Vegetation Science (JVS) (Pärtel et al. 2016; Pillar et al. 2022) and between JVS and other journals (Pillar et al. 2025). In this Editorial, we explore changes in thematic trends in vegetation science by analyzing topics featured in highly cited papers. For the analysis, published papers were classified into 5-year publication cohorts. Then, from each cohort, 50 papers were selected based on mean citations (= total number of citations received/years after publication). Articles were assigned to 16 themes manually based on the predominant topics stated in the publication's title and abstract. An article was often assigned to two or more predominant topics (mean number of topics was 1.3). Twelve topics were related to the studied biological question: (1) effect of abiotic environment; (2) plant traits; (3) disturbance and land use; (4) diversity; (5) vegetation dynamics and succession; (6) community assembly; (7) competition and facilitation; (8) ecosystem functioning; (9) vegetation classification; (10) spatial patterns; (11) seeds and dispersal; and (12) plant invasion. The other four categories referred to the development of tools and methods in vegetation science: (13) data analysis methods; (14) other methods; (15) software reports; and (16) survey and database reports. Among the total number of highly cited papers (Figure 1), the vegetation response to the abiotic environment (topic 1) was the most popular topic (92 of 350 papers). It was followed by publications on “traits” (topic 2–72 of 350 papers) and “disturbance” (topic 3—65 of 350 papers). The next group comprised “succession” (topic 5—44 of 350 papers) and “diversity” (topic 4—38 of 350 papers). The other thematic topics were represented by 11–23 papers. Methodological topics were represented by fewer papers, except statistical methods (topic 13–44 of 350 papers). In spite of their lower number, we see reports on software and databases (topics 15 and 16, respectively) as a valuable part of our portfolio. Interestingly, the publication with the highest mean citation (215.5 citations/year) was a software report (Dixon 2003) that introduced the vegan package, a large collection of analytical tools for community ecology for the R software. From the five most popular topics, only “abiotic environment” (topic 1) showed a clear trend (Figure 2a), with the number of highly cited papers dealing with this topic decreasing after 2010. However, the downward trend was not steep, and it may change in the future. Other topics also experienced a similar decline, followed by an upturn. It is even harder to distinguish the trend from fluctuations in the case of less popular topics (Figure 2b,c). However, the number of highly cited papers dealing with spatial patterns (topic 10) and vegetation classification (topic 9) seems to decline. The low number for the latter category is mainly due to the fact that, since 1998, papers on vegetation classification have been published instead in our sister journal, Applied Vegetation Science (AVS). The number of methodological articles on data analysis (topic 13) decreased since 2010 (Figure 2d), likely due to the launch of more specialized journals in 2010. However, JVS has two manuscript categories for publications on new methodological approaches and tools (“Methodological Article”) and on database reports, software, and research initiatives (“Report”). We encourage authors to submit their contributions on methods regarding vegetation sampling, data analysis, field sampling, or software, as well as reports on vegetation or plant trait databases to JVS. The year 2025 has been a year of change for JVS, including for its editorial team. After 15 years of dedicated service as Chief Editor, our former Chair of the Editors, Milan Chytrý, resigned, and Valério Pillar became the Chair. In the meantime, Jodi Price resigned as Chief Editor following 4 years of excellent service. Zoltán Botta-Dukát and Francesco Maria Sabatini were appointed as new Chief Editors, and they are now serving as Receiving Editors for JVS. Viktoria Wagner, in the meantime, moved to the role of Receiving Editor for our sister journal AVS. We also experienced some turnover among our Associate Editors. We salute and thank the resigning Associated Editors José Paruelo, Sergey Rosbakh, Stephen Roxburgh, and Kerry Woods, and welcome newly appointed Associated Editors Riin Tamme, Ulrich Werner, Glenda Mendieta-Leiva, and Martin Diekmann. We appreciate that most of the resigning editors agreed to remain members of the Editorial Review Board to support the peer reviewer process in our journal. We are profoundly grateful to our predecessors for their vision and dedication, which provided the firm foundation upon which we now stand. As we welcome new leadership, we look forward with enthusiasm to guiding the journal through the next frontier of vegetation science. Some exciting news is in sight for 2026, including new Special Issues. The Special Issue on “Scaling Laws in (Vegetation) Ecology” led by Jürgen Dengler has been recently launched. We are pleased to announce a new twin special issue on the “History of Vegetation Science,” led by Sandra Mesquita. This will be the first cross-journal special issue jointly hosted by JVS and Vegetation Classification and Survey, which is similarly published by the International Association for Vegetation Science. Finally, a few words must be spent also on the change we experience from the editorial point of view. We have successfully migrated our editorial operations from ScholarOne to Wiley's Research Exchange (ReX) platform. With the transition now largely complete, we wish to thank our editorial board, reviewers, and authors for their adaptability and patience during the significant logistical changes this year. Each year, the Chief Editors of JVS assign an Editor's Award for an excellent article published in the previous year. The award for articles published in 2025 goes to Lautaro Nasta and coauthors for their article on “Coexistence Beyond Equilibria: Testing the Ecological Buffering Mechanisms Theory in Mixed Communities” (Nasta et al. 2025). In their contribution, the authors applied a modified population dynamics model to explain the coexistence of woody and herbaceous species in Patagonian grass–shrub steppes. They demonstrated that the density dependence of intra-life-form competition, as well as niche segregation and facilitation between life forms, enables the coexistence of shrubs and herbaceous species. Two other papers caught the Chief Editors' attention. A contribution by Vojtěch Lanta and co-authors (Lanta et al. 2025) analyzed the change in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity, as well as the change in the frequency and abundances of individual species across four lowland floodplain forest types. The main merit of this paper was that it compared change at two temporal scales: after 10 years and after 60 years. Interestingly, the authors detected different patterns in the two temporal scales, which suggest that a more complete understanding is achieved by long-term vegetation dynamic studies that span several decades, especially when studying forest vegetation. Currently, resurveys of well-localized historic sampling plots are often the only available way to capture such long-term dynamics. Thinking more broadly, this study also emphasizes the need to set up long-term surveys and experiments today that will result in even higher quality data in the future. Another notable paper by Arkadiusz Nowak and coauthors (Nowak et al. 2005) compared the richness and composition of the belowground community sampled by eDNA and the aboveground vegetation sampled by a traditional way in the same plots. They have found that although the eDNA technique detected higher diversity, the classification of plots based on the two datasets was congruent. Considering that eDNA techniques are increasingly available, such a comparison is timely and valuable for the JVS readership. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. List of Referees We thank the referees who served the Journal of Vegetation Science from January 1, to December 31, 2025. Those who reviewed more than twice are indicated by asterisks. Ken Aho Kara Allen Enrique Andivia Joseph Antos Frédéric Archaux Maria Ariza Gunnar Austrheim Irena Axmanová Lars Baastrup-Spohr Selene Baez Yuxuan Bai* László Bakacsy* Enric Batllori Evelyn Beaury Carl Beierkuhnlein Junfeng Bi Torbjørg Bjelland Marharyta Blaha Juliette M.G. Bloor Stephen Bonser Kauane Bordin* Zoltán Botta-Dukát Kari Anne Bråthen Michiel Van Breugel Joshua I. Brian Leya Brodt Helge Bruehlheide Sabina Burrascano Richard T. Busing Sofía Campana Silvia Cannucci Jorge Capelo Cameron Carlyle Yohay Carmel Elisa Carrari Analía Carrera Lohengrin Cavieres* Luis Cayuela Emilie Champagne Anne Chao Ravi Chaturvedi Han Chen Mariana Chiuffo Damian Chmura Thinles Chondol Corli Coetsee Rodrigo Cordero Jordan Coscia André Coutinho Jacob A. Cowan Anikó Csecserits* Manuel Curto Emma L. Dalziell Gabriella Damasceno Nicola J. Day Marcelino de la Cruz Katherine Dearborn Jeff Dech Jürgen Dengler Martin Diekmann Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos Phesheya Dlamini Jiří Doležal Jan Douda Martin Dovčiak Igor Drobyshev Jean-Luc Dupouey Marcin K. Dyderski Johan Ehrlén Pia Eibes Christopher Ellis László Erdős Reza Erfanzadeh Sebastian Escobar Clara Espinosa del Alba Jörg Ewald Michael Ewald Annamária Fenesi Nicole Fenton Felicia Fischer Kathryn Flinn Alejandro Flores-Palacios K. Colton Flynn Santi Francesco Morgan Frost Ellen Fry Andreas Futschik Dan Gafta Elise Gallois Xueyuan Gao Mário Garbin Jose Guadalupe Garcia-Franco Eric Garnier Carol Garzon-Lopez Stephan Getzin David John Gibson François Gillet Melisa Giorgis H. Ricardo Grau André Große-Stoltenberg* Riccardo Guarino Nathaly Guerrero Ramírez Roger Guevara Jessica Gurevitch Lyle Guyon Ragnhild Gya Alida Anna Habenczyus Georg Johannes Albert Hähn Eivind Handegard Martin Hejda Ismael Hernandez Maximilian Hesselbarth* Inga Hiiesalu Kazuhiko Hoshizaki Sean William Husheer Ricardo Ibáñez Svitlana Iemelianova Kermavnar Janez* Luc Janssens De Bisthoven Vincent Jassey Sven D. Jelaska Maria-Theresa Jessen Nicolina Johanson Fernando Joner Inga Juriado Vitor De Andrade Kamimura Sabine Kasel Dimitris Kazanis Michael Keller Janez Kermavnar Miklós Kertesz Sultan D. Khan Jitka Klimešová Klára Klinkovská Joice Klippel Sally Koerner Tiina H. M. Kolari Christian Körner Aino Korrensalo Holger Kreft György Kröel-Dulay Greta La Bella Line Lapointe Pedro Laterra Maxime Lavoie Peter Christiaan Le Roux Attila Lengyel Jan Leps Rob J. Lewis Jianchao Liang Minxia Liang Ying Liang Daijun Liu Qi Liu Luis Daniel Llambi Álvaro López-García Luis López-Mársico Nathalie Loureiro Juliana Lovo Deliang Lu Xiao-Tao Lü Jacob E. Lucero Katalin Lukács Chris Lusk Pengfei Ma Denilson Da Silva Machado Rosina Magaña Ugarte Marco Malavasi Outi Manninen. Lorenzo Marini Luis Marone Violeta Martinez Cristina Martínez-Garza Valéria Martins* Noemí Mazía* Luiz Menini Neto Xiangcheng Mi Richard Michalet Graziela Minervini Silva Héctor Miranda Benjamin Misteli Lucía Mochi* Sara Moledor Andrea Mondoni Patricia Moreno-Colom Mikel Moriana Armendariz Craig Morris Naia Morueta-Holme Hailey Mount Daniel Moya Ondřej Mudrák Jana Müllerová José Carlos Muñoz-Reinoso Alison Munson Justice Muvengwi Thomas Nagel* Ryosuke Nakadai Alireza Naqinezhad Andreza Neri Gilbert Neuner Robyn Nicolay Adrienne Nicotra Pekka Niittynen Alexander Novakovskiy Mikael Ohlson Ana Carolina Oliveira Eduardo Oliveira Rafael Oliveira Xavier Gábor Ónodi Carlos A. Ordóñez-Parra Rafael Otfinowski Gerhard Overbeck Bruno Paganeli Harald Pauli Sandrine Pavoine De-Li Peng Dorothy M. Peteet Gwendolyn Peyre Remigiusz Pielech Simon Pierce* Natashi Pilon Nataša Pipenbaher Vanessa Pontara Laura Helena Porcari Simões Karel Prach Pablo Prieto Britt Pugh Giacomo Puglielli Ruwan Punchi-Manage Petr Pyšek Simon Queenborough Amparo Quiñones Julian Radford-Smith Małgorzata W. Raduła Maiara Bezerra Ramos Gillian Rapson Lirey Remirez Gabriel Henrique Pires De Mello Ribeiro Sandra Rojas-Botero Maan Bahadur Rokaya* Bruno H. P. Rosado Sergey Rosbakh Catherine Ross Hugo Saiz* Ricardo Sánchez-Martín Brandon Schamp Daniil Scheifes David Schellenberger Costa Daniel Scherrer Christopher Schiller Monique B. Schlickmann Matthew Schuler Guilherme Dubal Dos Santos Seger Xiangjin Shen* Yoshiko Shimono José Silva* Mateus Cardoso Silva Fernando Silveira Brice Sinsin Tommaso Sitzia Petr Sklenar Simon Smart Imke Smit Judit Sonkoly Diego Sotomayor* Alexandre Souza Marta G Sperandii Vanessa Staggemeier Angela Stanisci Helena Streit Jian Sun Bartłomiej Surmacz Magdalena Szymura Mariana Tadey Riin Tamme* Zhi-Yao Tang Juliana Teixeira Leonardo Teixeira Jakub Těšitel Sidinei Magela Thomaz Julián Tijerín Maija Toivanen Johanna Toivonen Enrico Tordoni Jordon Tourville Panagiotis Trigas Joshua Tsamba Ioannis Tsiripidis Hanna Tuomisto Benjamin Turner Tatyana Vakhlamova Carem Valente Mercedes Valerio Juliano van Melis Jeronimo Vazquez-Ramirez Sergio Velasco Ayuso Ole Reidar Vetaas Pedro Manuel Villa Michaela Vítková Pascal Vittoz Markus Wagner. Anna Walentowitz Christine Wallis Lunche Wang Ning Wang Xiang-Tai Wang* Yutao Wang Yu-Jie Wang Shuo Wei Frank Weiser Karsten Wesche* Nigel J. Willby Yaozhan Xu Ching-Ning Yeh David Zelený Vitalii Zemlianskii Heng Zhang Shuang Zhang Shilu Zheng Accompanying publication data and R scripts can be accessed at 10.5281/zenodo.18347091.