Copyright © 2005 Vingada, Fonseca.
Published by: Portuguese Wildlife Society

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

• J. Vingada *
  Universidade do Minho and Sociedade Portuguesa de Vida Selvagem, Dept. Biologia, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
• C. Fonseca *
  Universidade de Aveiro. Dept. Biologia, Campus de Santiago

Abstract

And now for something completely different: the Wildlife Biology in Practice. The quest for a new wildlife journal in open-access format.

This is the first issue of a new Journal on the field of Wildlife Research. Your first reaction to this first issue of Wildlife Biology in Practice will probably be a mixture of despondency and surprise. In fact, you might think of Wildlife Biology in Practice as yet another journal covering the area of Wildlife, although Journals entirely dedicated to Wildlife outside the American Continent are not particularly abundant. However, the innovation stands on the fact that you will be looking at the first Wildlife Journal published in open-access format. Furthermore, this Journal aims at increasing the number of submitted papers related with Wildlife in Europe (without prejudice to the other parts of the World), allowing at the same time, all Wildlife researchers to fully and freely access the journal.
This and the next two issues are a selection of papers presented at the XXVIth IUGB Conference and Xth International Perdix Symposium held in September of 2003 in Braga, Portugal. These events were organised by the Portuguese Wildlife Society, the Entre Douro e Minho Agriculture Directory, the Institute of Nature Conservation, the Universidade do Minho (Dep. of Biology) and the Universidade de Aveiro (Dep. of Biology). Both events were attended by biologists, foresters, veterinarians, modellers, managers, hunters, environmentalists, students and other interested parties. A total of 197 participants representing 27 countries attended both meetings, presenting 62 oral communications and 92 posters.
One of the most important things about Wildlife is that this discipline is not only the object of scientists, but it is also important for a large number of concerned citizens and institutions of modern society. Undoubtedly, the wildlife science is an interdisciplinary subject and thus the knowledge achieved must be widely distributed and available for all. Hunting associations, environmental associations, local organizations, tourism organizations, policy-makers, state agencies and local communities may profit from the increment of wildlife research. With so many people and institutions focusing their attention on our work, it is understandable why this journal represents such a challenge to us. Wildlife scientists are called upon to give their opinion about conservation and exploitation actions and management of wildlife resources. So, the only way to guarantee that our discipline is widely accepted in the society is to make a huge effort in the dissemination of our results, allowing a free access to all of those who need our published data. The open-access format is presently the best way to ensure Wildlife Science for all.

Keywords

Wildlife; new journal; editorial; open access.