The avifauna of the large area located in the northeastern boundaries of Asia (Russian Far East), according to
recent estimates, accounts for 557 species (Nechaev V.A. and Gamova, T.V., «Birds of the Far East of Russia: An
Annotated Catalogue,» 2009, 654 p.). From the standpoint of taxonomy, chorology, and ecology, this is a complex
and dynamic regional fauna. In terms of ornithological investigation of this interesting region, special concerns
are caused by an obvious lack of correspondence between the intensity of field studies performed here and the
possibility of timely publishing the results of these studies, which has occurred in the past decades. Publishing a
regional ornithological journal might help to reduce this inconsistency.
The idea of establishing a local ornithological journal has been suggested more that several decades ago. It
was planned to switch from publishing collected scientific papers to the journal format even in the years when
the Amur–Ussuri Branch of the All-Union Ornithological Society functioned. In post-perestroika (1990s) years,
these plans could not be realized. Later Natalia Litvinenko, permanent editor of a series of collected ornithological
papers published by the Institute of Biology and Soil Sciences (Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of
Sciences) and the main mastermind of this idea, passed away too early. The realization of this idea seemed to be
impossible without her publishing experience and energy for a long time. Only a decade later we have decided to
face this complex issue again.
A journal format has a number of advantages compared to collected scientific papers, such as immediacy and a
simpler access to readers from other countries. In opinion of the editorial board, immediacy will be reached due to
the article-by-article approach to publishing, when an accepted manuscript is designed according to the journal’s
standards and becomes a publication since the time of its publishing on a website (i.e., before the full number
of the journal is formed and printed). The accessibility to foreign readers will be ensured by simultaneously
publishing some materials both in Russian and in English (in editor translation) and their distribution through
the Web.
The project is realized in cooperation of scientific and public organizations. The former are represented by
the Institute of Biology and Soil Sciences (Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences), a leading
academic institution that is responsible for the scientific support of the edition (editing, reviewing, translation
into English, etc.); the latter, by the nongovernmental association «Amur–Ussuri Center for Avian Biodiversity,»
which fulfills coordinating and financial functions. The claimed periodicity of the edition is two issues a year. At
the beginning of the project, financial guarantees are provided by the Publishing Fund, which possesses funds
for publishing ten issues of the journal. The foreseeable perspective of supported issues is five years; however,
the accumulated funds may be used up within a shorter time period depending on the rate of editorial portfolio
replenishment. The editorial board estimates the prospects of the journal’s portfolio fairly conservatively. The
specificity of ornithological studies often does not allow materials meeting the requirements of a complete
scientific paper to be obtained within one or two fieldwork seasons. For this reason, the factual information of
great scientific significance remains without any chance to be ever published. One of the key objectives of the Far-
Eastern Journal of Ornithology is to retrieve such materials and put them into the scientific public domain. We
invite our colleagues from Far-Eastern institutions to actively participate in work on the journal, both as authors
of articles and as members of the editing team or as duty editors (coeditors) of certain issues. Further fate of the
journal will largely depend on your energy.
Editor-in-Chief, Director of IBSS FEB RAS, Academic RAS Yu.N. Zhuravlev
Recomended citation:
Yu.N. Gluschenko, V.A. Nechaev, V.P. Gluschenko. Birds of Primorsky Krai: Fauna, Distribution, Protection and Bibliography (Reference Book) // Far East. J.Orn 1: 3-150 (2010) (In Russian)