Conservation Biology Journal Awards

The editors ofConservation Biology are excited to recognise outstanding contributions to the advancement of conservation science and to celebrate the success of authors who contributed the highest quality papers published in the journal in recent years.

Through a series of awards and special recognitions, we hope to inspire a sense of pride and achievement in the field of conservation science. Starting in 2016, we will honor the best student-led papers and recognize papers that achieve the most citations and highest altmetric scores. 

Rising Star Award
Award for the best student-led paper published in 2015 as judged by Conservation Biology's senior editors. This award recognises outstanding student scientific researchers and communicators. 

  1. “E-commerce trade in invasive plants” by Franziska Humair, Luc Humair, Fabian Kuhn, and Christoph Kueffer
  2. “A meta-analysis of functional group responses to forest recovery outside of the tropics” by Rebecca Spake, Thomas H. G. Ezard, Philip A. Martin, Adrian C. Newton, and C. Patrick Doncaster
  3. “Planning for ex situ conservation in the face of uncertainty” by Stefano Canessa, Sarah J. Converse, Matt West, Nick Clemann, Graeme Gillespie, Michael McFadden, Aimee J. Silla, Kirsten M. Parris, and Michael A. McCarthy

Franziska Humair in southern Germany to look at a collection of non-native trees, which were brought to Germany to demonstrate for local people the variety of global tree species. Pictured with Fanziska is Balzac, who she called a friendly dog who feels at home wherever he is welcome!

"I feel very honored to receive the Rising Star Award from Conservation Biology, and I express my sincerest thanks in the name of my co-author colleagues," Humair said. "In fact, our article has caused a lot of discussion, particularly in the public media. I hope the award will help to further raise awareness about this issue." 

The Society awarded Franziska with a complimentary one-year membership and she will be featured in a Q&A on the SCB website. We extend a special congratulations to Rebecca Spake and Stefano Canessa, the first authors of the second and third place papers, for their outstanding contributions to the journal. 

Most Cited Paper 
Recognition for the paper with the most citations in the two calendar years following publication. For the most cited paper, editors considered only papers published in 2013 and measured citations for the calendar years 2014 and 2015.  

  1. “Six common mistakes in conservation priority setting” (open access) by Edward T. Game, Peter Kareiva, and Hugh P. Possingham (35 citations)
  2. “Achieving conservation science that bridges the knowledge–action boundary” by Carly N. Cook, Michael B. Mascia, Mark W. Schwartz, Hugh P. Possingham, and Richard A. Fuller (29 citations)
  3. “Current near-to-nature forest management effects on functional trait composition of saproxylic beetles in beech forests” by Martin M. Gossner, Thibault Lachat, Jörg Brunet, Gunnar Isacsson, Christophe Bouget, Hervé Brustel, Roland Brandl, Wolfgang W. Weisser, and Jörg Müller (29 citations)
  4. “The “New Conservation” “ by Michael Soulè (29 citations)

A paper on mistakes in conservation priority setting by Edward Game, Peter Kareiva, and Hugh Possingham was most cited paper published in Conservation Biology in 2013.

Paper with the Highest Altmetrics Score
Recognition for the paper published in 2014 with the highest altmetric score between publication date and 5 April 2016. 

  1. “Key role for nuclear energy in global biodiversity conservation” by Barry W. Brook and Corey J. A. Bradshaw (altmetric score of 458)
  2. “Estimating the normal background rate of species extinction” by Jurriaan M. De Vos, Lucas N. Joppa, John L. Gittleman, Patrick R. Stephens, and Stuart L. Pimm (altmetric score of 272)
  3. “Legal ivory trade in a corrupt world and its impact on African elephant populations” by Elizabeth L. Bennett (altmetric score of 245)

Members of SCB who subscribe to Conservation Biology can access all papers by logging in to their SCB member home page.