The British Ecological Society (BES), in partnership with its publisher John Wiley & Sons, has announced the launch of a new international journal.

People and Nature is an open access journal dedicated to publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed work from research areas exploring relationships between humans and nature.

The journal will be led by Kevin J Gaston, Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of Exeter. Gaston will work closely with lead editors Robert Fish, Rosie Hails, Kai Chan and Cecily Maller, and an expert board of associate editors drawn from a wide array of fields that intersect with ecology, including economics, law, geography, sociology and the wider arts and humanities.

Recognising the importance of human aspects in all areas of ecology, People and Nature fosters innovation and experimentation. Authors may use quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies.

Dr Robert Fish, Reader in Human Ecology at the School of Anthropology and Conservation, added: ‘Ecological questions are wrapped up inside a wider set of political, social and cultural concerns and conundrums. This journal will be an important venue for debate and innovation in the complex arena of people-nature interactions.’

People and Nature will open for submissions in June.

Available exclusively online, People and Nature will be published in partnership with John Wiley & Sons, alongside five established journals from the BES, namely: Journal of Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, Functional Ecology, and Journal of Animal Ecology.

Follow @PaN_BES for updates.