About the Issue

Students and early career professionals (jointly referred to as early career researchers, or ECRs) in aquatic sciences often learn how to perform the many intricate activities necessary for the craft by doing them. For some, completing these tasks may be facilitated by direct guidance from someone with relevant expertise. For others, ‘doing’ entails not only the action itself, but also spending countless hours and potentially resources first trying to figure out how to do the task. We have all struggled with a professional task at one moment or another – sometimes even when expert guidance was available. The L&O Bulletin is a great vehicle for sharing knowledge with peers, especially first-timers, and has previously published pieces on incorporating science communication into graduate training (e.g., Hundey et al., 2016), explaining the process of peer review (e.g., Poulson-Ellestad et al., 2020), negotiating your salary (e.g., Cziesielski, 2020), managing your time (e.g., Filstrup 2020), and other topics. Scientists highly value such publications because they make their lives easier.

The L&O Bulletin is actively seeking to further develop these resources and is pleased to announce this call for expressions of interest to publish in the upcoming ‘How to’ Virtual Issue. These submissions will gather and compile knowledge on various topics in aquatic sciences that can then be used by ECRs (and anyone at later career stages) who need to perform a given task for the first time in their career (or are looking for a different way to approach a routine task). We invite submissions from professionals at all career stages who have expertise in a particular area related to a career in aquatic sciences, such as how to: plan a field trip or sampling protocol, create a sample tracking system, set up and run your own lab, organize a workshop, write a successful grant proposal, be a good mentor or mentee, create an effective learning and development plan, search for and apply for jobs, produce a survey questionnaire, among other topics.

How to Submit an Article

To contribute to the L&O Bulletin Virtual Issue, please submit a 250-300 word summary (expression of interest) by 30 September 2026, to the Editor of L&O Bulletin, Laura Falkenberg (lobulletin-editor@aslo.org), who will evaluate these along with the Virtual Issue Curator Rita Franco-Santos. Questions about submissions should also be sent to the Editor. Full manuscript submissions are expected by 31 March 2027. When preparing the summary, please consider that all contributions to the Virtual Issue must fit within the scope of the L&O Bulletin (https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/15396088/aims-and-scope/read-full-aims-and-scope), and will be assessed with the same level of rigour as regular journal contributions. Accepted papers will be published online in Early View with a permanent DOI, and then bound into the ‘How to’ Virtual Issue and added to the journal website collections page (https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/topic/vi-categories-15396088/d451681b-72f1-4ab4-a0ae-f2789676725d/15396088).

If you have any questions, or would like to check the fit of your submission to the Virtual Issue, please reach out to us at Rita Franco-Santos (rita.franco-santos@outlook.com) and Laura Falkenberg (lobulletin-editor@aslo.org).

Cziesielski, M.J., 2020. How to take a proactive approach on your next salary negation. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, 29: 23-24

Filstrup, C.T., 2020. How to be a better scientist: time management. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, 29: 25-26

Hundey, E.J., Olker, J.H., Carreira, C., Daigle, R.M., Elgin, A.K., Finiguerra, M., Gownaris, N.J., Hayes, N., Heffner, L., Roxanna Razavi, N. and Shirey, P.D., 2016. A shifting tide: recommendations for incorporating science communication into graduate training. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, 25(4): 109-116

Poulson‐Ellestad, K., Hotaling, S., Falkenberg, L.J. and Soranno, P., 2020. Illuminating a black box of the peer review system: Demographics, experiences, and career benefits of associate editors. Limnology and Oceanography Bulletin, 29(1): 11-17