source: https://doi.org/10.7892/boris.119447 | downloaded: 23.9.2021 84 10 th anniversaryreport Keywords: publishing, peer review, ,interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, sustainabledevelopment & ThomasBreu Anne B. Zimmermann,SusanneWymann DavidMolden vonDach,Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel, relevant tosustainablemountaindevelopmentemerged A briefhistoryofpeer-reviewed mountainjournals:howplatformsforknowledge Dedicated academicmountainjournalsemergedasofthebeginning20 developmentaretakenintoaccountinkeyglobalsustainabledocuments. from aroundtheworldstartedengagingnot only inresearchbutalsopolicyactiontoensurethat mountains and development. Thisspecificityisconfirmedbythefactthat – asofthe1970sanumberleadingmountainscholars tain scholarshipandshowhowstronglyconnectedtheyarewithanunderstandingofsciencelinkedto sustainable hood systems.We presentabriefoverviewofthefourpeer-reviewed, indexedjournalsthatexisttoday formoun- diverse workfocusingonmountainsasafascinatingandchallengingenvironmentwellplaceofuniqueliveli- Abstract pean Alpine languages – French, German, Italian, and –French,languages Alpine pean German, also decided to publish translationsinto other Euro They articles. of language first the English make and in 2013, JAR-RGA’sopen access editorsdecided togo the journal’s one-hundredth anniversary occasion of comparative perspectivemountain issues. on the On gions worldwide included in focus issues to enable a on other mountain re- 2012, with occasional articles focus remainedthe Alpine ArcinEuropeuntil The France, JAR-RGA in2004. became a bilingual journal Grenoble, Alpineat the UniversityGéographie of story inanutshell. story (JMS); andthe now ten-year-old eco.mont. Hereistheir (MRD); and Development de géographie (JAR-RGA);Revue alpine Research Alpine ones publishedinEnglish:Journalof which the following are the main indexed journals, of mountain to society,keybeen a has characteristic of the need to make research relevant a recognition of environmental anddevelopmental issues, along with systems lihood cultures.and with both concern This ties had developed well-adapted and often unique live challenging environment in which humancommuni- geographer’s with a fascinatingoften and concern European a as began thus journals dedicated cifically research mountain spe in (RGA1913). Publicationof public scientific broader a to accessible it making and the Alps (andonFrenchEuropean Alpsinparticular) worktogether bringing onthe with the double aimof byRaoul Blanchard the Frenchin 1913 geographer with the starts story mountain journals. The were of asked to tell the story Development and Research Mountain the journal editors of nteocso feco.mont’s the occasionof On nals andwhat was the motivation forlaunching them? géographie alpine(JAR-RGA) Journal ofAlpineResearch/Revuede Published since its inception byPublished since its inception the Institut de hthsbe h de au fmountainjour hasbeenthe added valueWhat of

Revue de géographieRevue alpine, launched ISSN 2073-106Xprintversion–2073-1558onlineversion:http://epub.oeaw.ac.at/eco.mont ora fMountainScience Journal of tenth anniversary, the Mountain Research Research Mountain / - - - -

and concerns, ofteninthematicissues. topics issues coverquarterly a remarkable variety of the and international thoroughly now are affiliations more even ing tothe world – with Spanish aview to “openingFrench-language think- section offering mainly systems knowledge alsonow at . established academic The knowledge 2014): transformation (Future neering called for what isnow beinginternationally hanced by a double-blind peer review process – pio - including decision- and policy-makers. It was later en- edge knowl- launched anew section presenting transformation (Mathieu 2011;Messerli2012;Price2015). that 13 Chapter was 21 by included in Agenda 1992 with developmenteffort policyactorstoensure and tists’ developmenttranslatedjoint alsointoa concerns in developing countries (Ives 1990). scien Mountain charge the beginning, MRD was distributed free of resources of development and fare, wel environments, human mountain between better balance a – ourpurpose of for decision makinglies at the heart base scientific sound a providing, and urging, by management tor Jack Ives declared: “The challenge to influence mountain development in1981. MRD’s concern foundingedi researchwith a collaboration this international from sustainableglobal development debate. MRDemerged nascent the of context the in concern scientific wide and development in mountainsthus became a world focus mountains,on highland-lowland interactions, cance also tolowland communities (Ives 1981). The signifi of are that mountains in concerns ronmental conferences focusingenvion - international organize to as well –joinedefforts them geographers most of – Man andthe Biosphere program interdisciplinary several countries involved inUNESCO’s innovative Mountain ResearchandDevelopment(MRD) nteery17s ag ru fscientists from of In the early 1970s, group alarge To addresssalient societal issues, in2000MRD , with articles targeting amuch targeting broader audience , with articles https://dx.doi.org/10.1553/eco.mont-10-2s84 eco.mont –Volume 10,Number2,July2018 th centuryfromaneedto collect very ” (JAR-RGA 2018). Authors’ ” (Ives 1981, p. 4). From askey for to seek ------Zimmermann et al. 85

tracted and supported more authors from the global It is thus obvious that sustainable mountain de- South; and as of 2009, MRD went open access, as a velopment matters to scientists worldwide. Clearly, means of making scientific knowledge and develop- English has become the lingua franca of their work – ment debates entirely accessible to the South. In 2013, whether for better or for worse is not something to then-editors-in-chief Hans Hurni (CDE, University be debated here. This led several national and regional of Bern) and David Molden (ICIMOD) launched a mountain research communities to decide to publish third peer-reviewed section presenting target knowledge their work in English. The most recent case is that of (Hurni et al. 2013). Thus, the journal now offered all the Russian journal Sustainable Development in Mountain three dimensions of knowledge for sustainable moun- Territories, launched by the North Caucasian Institute tain development. of Mining and Metallurgy (State Technological Uni- versity) as a quarterly in 2009: it is now seeking ways eco.mont – Journal on Protected Mountain of making key articles in Russian become available to Areas Research and Management an English-speaking audience, while also translating The need for linking science and practice is also selected articles from MRD for its Russian scientific what drove the launching in 2008 of eco.mont – Journal readership. on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Management, pub- As a final note, in addition to consulting mountain lished open access twice a year. Representing a vibrant journals (Table 1), readers looking for work relevant to European scientific community concerned with the mountains and mountain development will certainly future of mountains, founding editors Axel Borsdorf also find articles in disciplinary journals explicitly or () and Günter Köck (Austrian not explicitly devoted to mountains (Körner 2009; Academy of Sciences) aimed to offer “a platform specifi- Sarmiento & Butler 2011). These journals have also cally for scientists and practitioners working in and on protected been informing debates about mountain-specific mountain areas in Europe and overseas”, calling for papers challenges and dynamics. So what is the advantage from both the academic and practice communities. eco. of specific mountain journals? They bring together mont has succeeded in publishing an impressively large knowledge from different disciplines to strengthen number of articles despite the comparatively narrow the debate and the knowledge on mountain-specific definition of its scope – arguably a sign of the impor- challenges, also integrating the different views in tance of mountains in efforts to achieve SDG 15 of the one place. This integration and contextualization of 2030 Agenda, i. e. to conserve our natural environment knowledge is crucial for transformation towards sus- while offering new development options to humanity. tainable development. This mountain journal thus also reveals a strong com- mitment to disseminating knowledge for sustainable References mountain development, and to using adequate modes of enhancing this knowledge through rigorous review Borsdorf, A. & G. Köck 2008. Editorial. eco.mont – that takes into account interdisciplinary and transdisci- Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research and Manage- plinary approaches (Borsdorf & Köck 2008). ment 1(1): 3–8. Future Earth 2014. Future Earth Strategic Research Journal of Mountain Science (JMS) Agenda. Paris. Meanwhile, on the other side of the earth, in Chi- Hurni, H., D. Molden, A. Zimmermann & S. na, research on mountain environments and mountain Wymann von Dach 2013. MountainNotes becomes development had obviously also become a strong con- MountainAgenda: MRD’s third peer-reviewed section. cern. In 2004, JMS was launched by the Institute of Mountain Research and Development 33(4): 362–363. Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Acade- Ives, J.D. 1981. Editorial. Mountain Research and De- my of Sciences, with the explicit aim of enhancing in- velopment 1(1): 3–4. ternational academic exchange on mountain research Ives, J.D. 1990. Editorial. Mountain Research and De- and integrating Chinese research into the global de- velopment 10(1): 1–1. bate. The journal is not open access but subscriptions JAR-RGA [Journal of Alpine Research / Revue de are supported in developing countries by the United géographie alpine] 2018. [Journal website]. http:// Nations University. The journal started as a quarterly journals.openedition.org/rga/ (accessed 01/02/2018) from 2004 until 2010, then published six issues a year Körner, C. 2009. Global statistics of “mountain” until 2015, and since then has been appearing as a and “alpine” research. Mountain Research and Develop- monthly journal. Its objective to publish research and ment 29(1): 97–102. technical papers on mountain environment, mountain Mathieu, J. 2011. The globalisation of perception. ecology, mountain hazards, mountain resources, and In: The Third Dimension: A Comparative of Moun- mountain development, with a clear predominance tains in the Modern Era. Translated by K. Brun. Cam- of disciplinary papers, reveals a different understand- bridge. ing of science for sustainable development, with less Messerli, B. 2012. Global change and the world’s emphasis on transdisciplinarity and transformative sci- mountains. Mountain Research and Development 32(S1): ence than MRD and eco.mont. S55–S63. 10th anniversary report 86

Price, M.F. 2015. Mountains: A Very Short Introduc- tre; she is also MRD Associate Editor. As an ethnobi- tion. Oxford, U.K.. ologist and human geographer, her research focuses RGA [Revue de géographie alpine] 2013. Prélimi- on the relationships between human societies and naire. Recueil des travaux de l’Institut de géographie al- their natural environment. pine [Revue de géographie alpine] 1(1): 1–3. Available at: http://www.persee.fr/doc/rga_0249-6178_1913_ David Molden3 num_1_1_5573 (accessed on 10/02/2018.) is the Director General of the International Centre Sarmiento, F.O. & D.R. Butler 2011. Where do for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), mountain geographers publish? Mountain Research and and MRD Editor-in-Chief. He specializes in water re- Development 31(1): 61–67. sources management and sustainable mountain devel- opment with an interest in transdisciplinary work to Authors transform knowledge into impact.

Anne B. Zimmermann – corresponding author1 Thomas Breu1 is MRD Associate Editor and senior research sci- is Professor of Sustainable Development and Di- entist at CDE, where she co-leads the Education for rector of the Centre for Development and Environ- Sustainable Development cluster. Her research and ment (CDE), University of Bern. He is also MRD teaching focuses on inter- and transdisciplinary ap- Editor-in-Chief. He conducts research on the effects proaches and on research and education for sustain- of globalization on natural resources and livelihoods able development. E-mail: [email protected] in developing countries.

Susanne Wymann von Dach1 1 Centre for Development and Environment a geographer by training, is senior research scien- (CDE), MRD Editorial Office, University of Bern, tist at the Centre for Development and Environment Hallerstrasse 10, 3012 Bern, Switzerland (CDE) and MRD Associate Editor. Her research 2 World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), c/o CIP, av. focuses on communication and innovation for, and La Molina 1895, P.O. Box 1558 Lima 12, Peru transformation processes towards, sustainable moun- 3 International Centre for Integrated Mountain De- tain development. velopment (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal

Sarah-Lan Mathez-Stiefel1, 2 is senior research scientist at CDE, University of Bern, and researcher at the World Agroforestry Cen- Zimmermann et al. 87

Table 1 – Overview of indexed mountain journals with a global reach, in chronological order of their emergence. The last rows indicate two disciplinary journals that are highly relevant to mountains; admittedly, many more could be listed. Title Exists Weblink Founding Editors Editors-in-Chief Publisher Impact Open since factor 2016 access? Revue de géographie 1913 http://journals. Raoul Blanchard, Dominique Baud, OpenEdition for Asso- 0.365 Yes alpine; now Journal openedition.org/rga/ University of Grenoble Grenoble Alpes Uni- ciation pour la Diffusion of Alpine Research / versity, de la Recherche Alpine Revue de géographie Sylvie Duvillard, (ADRA) alpine (JAR-RGA) Grenoble Alpes Uni- versity, Coralie Mounett, Grenoble Alpes Uni- versity Mountain Research 1981 http://www.mrd-journal. Jack Ives, Thomas Breu, BioOne for Interna- 1.149 Yes and Development org/ Institute of and Centre for Develop- tional Mountain Society (MRD) Alpine Research, ment and Environment, (IMS) University of Colorado University of Bern, Boulder David Molden, Integrated Centre for International Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Journal of Mountain 2004 http://www.springer.com/ Peng Cui, Peng Cui, Springer and Science 1.016 No Science earth+sciences+and+ Institute of Mountain Institute of Mountain Press China for Institute /journal/11629 Hazards and Environ- Hazards and Environ- of Mountain Hazards ment, Chinese Acad- ment, CAS and Environment, CAS emy of Sciences (CAS)

eco.mont – Journal 2008 ecomont. Axel Borsdorf, Valerie Braun, Austrian Academy of 0.333 Yes on Protected Moun- mountainresearch.at Institute of Geography, Institute for Interdiscipli- Sciences and University tain Areas Research University of Innsbruck, nary Mountain Research of Innsbruck and Management Günter Köck, ÖAW, Austrian Academy of Martin Coy, Sciences (ÖAW) Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, Günter Köck, Institute for Interdis- ciplinary Mountain Research, ÖAW Sustainable 2009 http://naukagor.ru/en-gb/ Vladimir S. Vagin, Yuri V. Dmitrak, North Caucasian Applica- Yes Development in North Caucasian North Caucasian Institute of Mining and tion with Mountain Territories Institute of Mining and Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, State Tech- SCOPUS in (in Russian) Metallurgy, State Tech- Metallurgy, State Tech- nological University progress nological University nological University Botanica helvetica 1890 http://www.springer. Carl Schröter, Jürg Stöcklin, Springer for Swiss 2.281 No (until 2010); Alpine com/life+sciences/ ETH Zurich, Institute of Botany, Botanical Society Botany (since 2011) +sciences/journal/35 Eduard Fischer, University of Basel University of Bern Arctic and Alpine 1969 http://aaarjournal.org/ Jack D. Ives, William D. Bowman, Taylor & Francis for 1.782 Yes, as Research (until 1998); Institute of Arctic and Department of Ecol- Institute of Arctic and of 2018 Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research, ogy and Evolutionary Alpine Research, Alpine Research, an In- University of Colorado Biology, University of University of Colorado terdisciplinary Journal Boulder Colorado Boulder Boulder (since 1999) Anne E. Jennings Department of Geologi- cal Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder