Peter Cranston
(long retired)

All students of Chironomidae will know of Zootaxa, the journal devoted to animal taxonomic studies, now in its 25th year. For nearly half that time, our community was well served by Bruno Rossaro who was the sole editor for all submitted papers on the family. As the author of over a dozen papers in the journal, and a reviewer of submissions, I appreciated the size of the task Bruno had undertaken, but I also understood that such sterling service had to end one day. Thus, Bruno has stepped back at the end of 2024, and a search for a new editor has resulted in two colleagues, Armin Namayandeh and Will Bouchard, agreeing to share the task. We should thank them for volunteering (it is unrewarded) and wish them well in the role. They contribute a few comments below.

I would like to use this opportunity to make a few comments of my own concerning Zootaxa. I know from Bruno that often he had great difficulty in finding reviewers for many submissions. Please do accept any invitation from the new editors to provide advice on the suitability of manuscripts for publication. The model for publication of Zootaxa remains valid today as at the outset and includes an optional almost nominal fee (US$20 per page) for making a paper “Open Access.” This is good value, even within constrained research budgets, and greatly improves research visibility (and hence citations). ResearchGate is a valuable resource in our field, where legitimately open access papers are made readily available without the need to contact the authors, who often do not mail out copies. Many Zootaxa papers on Chironomidae are not available on ResearchGate, and remain uncited, and unread. We all have an obligation to make our studies accessible.

Armin Namayandeh
(Trent University/Taxanama Corp)

Over the past few weeks, I have been in contact with many fellow colleagues that I admired and looked up to as a young, fresh scientist in our field of study. They unexpectedly bestowed upon me the responsibility of taking the role as editor of Chironomidae section in the Journal of Zootaxa. It has been a deep reflection on my not so long ago past. When I, as a mere junior scientist, doubtful, scared, and shy, received encouragement, guidance, and support from my senior colleagues who furnished me with the opportunity to continue studying this important family of flies. As I step into this new role, I am reminded of the large shoes that I must fill because of the remarkable work by my predecessor Dr. Bruno Rossaro. He not only oversaw the editorial duties of Zootaxa for many years, but he has also provided us with decades of scientific contributions to the knowledge of Chironomidae taxonomy and ecology. I thank him sincerely for his service to us and the Journal of Zootaxa. I will consider meeting his standards my foremost responsibility, not only as an editor but also as a scientist. My co-editor Will Bouchard and I eagerly looking forward to seeing your scientific contributions from across the globe and we hope to be of service to our small, yet dedicated community of Chironomidae scholars.

Will Bouchard (University of Minnesota, USA)

I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Bruno Rossaro for the great service he has provided to our community of chironomid researchers. I know him by reputation and through my interactions with him when submitting my papers to Zootaxa. Dr. Rossaro was always very kind with his responses and also timely with returning reviews of my articles. His sound stewardship of submissions was part of why I was pleased to submit my research to Zootaxa, in addition to the other appealing attributes of this journalmentioned by Dr. Cranston. I am honored to be taking over the position of editor along with Armin Namayandeh. It is apparent by the high number of papers published in Zootaxa on Chironomidae that this is an important journal for those of us who study this group. Armin and I will strive to continue Dr. Rossaro’s fair and prompt oversight of the peer review process for papers on Chironomidae submitted to Zootaxa. We look forward to seeing your excellent research.

Page last edited: 13-Feb-2025 (EB)