The ESA is excited to be launching our new-look ESA Hot Topics!

What’s new?

Hot Topics will now be published as part of the journal of Austral Ecology. This means each Hot Topic will appear as a journal-style article, with a citable DOI. Hot Topics will be submitted through Wiley’s online portal, but head out to our panel of reviewers in just the same way as they have in the past.

For now, Hot Topics will be submitted by invitation-only, but we welcome idea pitches from anyone, especially requests for Hot Topics from practitioners, industry and government. You can send these to .

Check out the first new-look Hot Topic here.

What’s stayed the same?

In addition to the Austral Ecology article, we will still be producing our eye-catching, easy-access Hot Topic factsheets. These are hosted on the ESA website and are formatted to provide excellent one or two-page summaries for non-specialists. Great to print out and hand to people and meetings and conferences! Our requirements for what constitutes a Hot Topic will also remain the same, including the review process.

You can see the factsheet version of the above Hot Topic here.

What even is a Hot Topic?!

An ESA Hot Topic is a short communication (~500 words), which summarises a current issue or idea in ecology and conservation for a general audience. They are designed to provide a mini-review, collating what may be considered as the most relevant recent research on a particular subject. The short summary is accompanied by a table of references for more in-depth reading.

You can find all our ESA Hot Topics here and the updated author guidelines here.

Great, how can I get involved?!

Submit a Hot Topic idea, answer a call for authorship or come along to one of our future Hot Topics workshops (more on these coming soon!)