dolphins

Going Green

Aquatic Mammals “Goes Green”Green”

Aquatic Mammals is sincerely concerned about the use of consumables such as paper, ink, and mailing envelopes. The journal’s editors, Editorial Board, and sponsors—the European Association of Aquatic Mammals, the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, and the International Marine Animal Trainer’s Association—want to minimize the impact of journal publications on the environment. As a result, we have made several changes over the last five years. In 2004, Aquatic Mammals committed to printing the journal on paper made with 30% post-consumer recycled content while retaining a high standard for print quality. In 2005, the journal made manuscripts available as PDF online format through the Aquatic Mammals website and ProQuest, and as of 2011 offers all current and past articles as PDFs available directly from the Aquatic Mammals website. In 2009, the journal made progress toward this goal by adopting an electronic manuscript management system, Manuscript Fast Track, which allows authors, reviewers, and editors to exchange articles via a paperless, online method.

As of 2010, thethe journaljournal made further changes toward this goal:

Real-Time, Online Journal —Once an article has been peer-reviewed and accepted for publication, it will be immediately formatted by our copy edit team (Larimer and Sullivan). After review of the galley proofs by the editors and authors, a final PDF of the article will be made available to the authors for distribution. No more waiting for months for an accepted article to be available for distribution!!! Articles will have a volume number, an issue number, a DOI number, and page numbers, so they will be immediately citable. As soon as an entire issue is available, all articles will be placed online directly on the Aquatic Mammals website and ProQuest.

On Demand Print Option—Journals often needlessly print large numbers of an issue that take up storage space and add to the cost of publication. As a result, Aquatic Mammals has an “On Demand” hard-copy option. The editors of Aquatic Mammals realize that in some circumstances a hard copy of an article or a whole issue is needed by authors or subscribers or by a library to continue their holdings of the journal. Aquatic Mammals, in conjunction with MinuteMan Press in Connecticut, can print one or multiple hard copies of a single article or of a whole issue for the author(s)’ or subscriber’s specific needs or for library collections. In addition, four CDs per year can be produced if requested by a subscriber or library. These small changes will not reverse global warming or staunch the relentless depletion of natural resources; however, the editors and Editorial Board of Aquatic Mammals support environmentally responsible activities and want the journal to play its part in conservation.

To submit a manuscript, please access the Manuscript Fast Track URL: http://am.expressacademic.org/actions/author.php