CONTRIBUTE TO THE WCS PUBLICATIONS DATABASE
Dissemination of knowledge is key to WCS’s grounding as a science-based organization. Through both peer-reviewed publications and grey literature, WCS staff inform and inspire conservation knowledge and action.
The WCS Publications Database collects, makes accessible, and assists in the preservation of all research publications produced by WCS staff.
Guidelines for Contributing
The current guidelines for contributing are available here. If you download a copy, please be sure to check back here regularly for updates.
Benefits of Contributing
The Publications Database furthers WCS’s mission as a science-based conservation organization by serving as a centralized repository to collect, publicly disseminate, and manage WCS’s research publications.
As a contributor to the WCS Publications Database, the benefits to your publications include fast, worldwide dissemination and increased visibility. Additional benefits are:
Tracking in Altmetric
All publications with DOIs appearing in the Publications Database are tracked in Altmetric. For more information about Altmetric, see here. For more information about DOIs, see here.
Supporting Open Access
WCS encourages staff to produce Open Access publications, including by:
- publishing Open Access in peer-reviewed journals when funds permit
- making grey literature available through the Publications Database
- making author’s/original manuscripts of publications that are behind paywalls available through the Publications Database.
WCS grey literature with DOIs in the Publications Database are also discoverable by open access tracking tools such as Unpaywall.
For more on how WCS supports Open Access to publications, see here.
Supporting WCS’s Leadership in Research Publications
WCS’s research publication output has steadily grown, and among peer conservation organizations, we typically lead in number of research publications annually.
WCS Library and Archives staff track WCS-authored publications on a weekly basis. To monitor WCS’s grey literature, we rely on what program staff have entered into the Publications Database. We compile these citations in bibliographies that we publish:
Long-Term Preservation
WCS-published research publications, as well as metadata for all publications, is ingested into the WCS Archives for long-term preservation.
Publications Database Content Types
The WCS Publications Database records two types of content:
- peer-reviewed research publications written by WCS staff members from peer-reviewed journals, books, or other peer-reviewed sources.
- grey literature research publications written by WCS staff members. Grey literature includes:
- preprints
- unpublished conference abstracts and presentations (conference proceedings and other published conference outputs are considered peer-reviewed publications)
- reports, including working papers and white papers
- policy statements
- training manuals, policies, and procedures
- storymaps and other data visualizations.
Support
For assistance regarding the WCS Publications Database, please contact the WCS Library at library@wcs.org.