Ukraine Gets a Scientific Journal That Has Been Missing for More Than a Decade
Summer is over, but it brought several landmark events for Ukrainian science. In August, the first issue of the Ukrainian Journal of Nature Conservation was published — a new scientific journal dedicated to nature conservation in Ukraine.
Why does this matter? For more than 10 years, Ukraine has effectively lacked a scientific journal where research specifically focused on nature conservation could be systematically published: research on valuable natural areas, the conservation of plant, animal, and fungal species, conservation practices, and theoretical issues in nature conservation.
Specialized zoological and botanical journals have been and continue to be published. But when it came to publishing scientific research on nature conservation as a comprehensive field, there was no clear answer. The journal Zapovidna Sprava v Ukraini (“Nature Conservation in Ukraine”) once served this role. After its publication ceased, Ukraine was left without a dedicated scientific journal in the field. This led the team of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group to the idea of establishing a scientific journal that could fill this gap.
“In the developed world, conservation biology is a fully established field of science. Here, however, nature conservation is often perceived as the work of amateurs, activists, or government officials — anything but a scientific field. We very much want to change this misconception. That is how we came to the idea of establishing our own scientific journal,” says Oleksii Vasiliuk, editor of the Ukrainian Journal of Nature Conservation.
The first issue has already undergone the necessary registration procedures as an official periodical scientific publication. It features articles by many renowned scientists, further demonstrating the journal’s academic standing. Among them is an article by Yakiv Didukh, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine — an indication that the initiative matters not only to the conservation community, but also to the wider Ukrainian scientific community.
“The situation with nature conservation today is such that we need not just to talk about its state, but to shout about it,” emphasizes scientist Anna Kuzemko. “The Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group is known for its high level of publication activity. Every year, our organization publishes at least several collections of scientific papers, popular science books, and methodological materials. At the same time, we realized that the visibility of these materials in the information space is not as high as we would like. A periodical scientific journal that will be indexed in scientometric databases can reach new groups of readers both in Ukraine and beyond.”
Interestingly, most of the articles in the first issue are in English. All of them were prepared by Ukrainian authors, with one paper co-authored by a researcher from the Czech Nature Conservation Agency. Using English as the main language of the articles reflects the openness of Ukrainian science to the world. The authors want research and conservation work in Ukraine to be known beyond the country’s borders — so that Ukraine does not remain a “blank spot” on the international conservation map.
The Ukrainian Journal of Nature Conservation will be published twice a year. Perhaps its launch is more than just the arrival of a new scientific publication. It may also be an important step towards ensuring that nature conservation in Ukraine is recognized as a fully fledged field of science, research, and professional practice.
Official journal page on the UNCG website: https://uncg.org.ua/journal/
