Aims and scope
Aims and Scope
International Marine Science Journal publishes research in marine and ocean science: the study of the ocean and the coastal systems continuous with it, across physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and the human pressures acting on them.
The scope spans core marine disciplines and interdisciplinary research. The guidance below describes the scientific contribution expected of submissions and helps authors assess fit.
ISSN 2643-0282 (electronic) Abbreviation IMSJ Publisher Open Access Pub Field Marine science and oceanography
Aim
What the journal exists to publish
IMSJ welcomes observational, experimental, theoretical, methodological, synthesis, and modeling research that advances understanding of marine systems. The journal takes the ocean as a coupled system: circulation and mixing set the physical setting, chemical cycling and biological production run within it, the seabed and the coast bound it, and fishing, contamination, noise and climate act across all of them. Scope is assessed by the marine or oceanographic contribution. Evidence must support the stated claims: sampling, controls, uncertainty, and the limits of inference are assessed according to the study design. Local studies, small samples, and null results can qualify when their conclusions are appropriately bounded.
The journal welcomes descriptive and regional science. A well-documented species record, a faunal inventory, a first observation from an under-sampled sea, or a carefully bounded local study is a legitimate contribution to marine science, and IMSJ publishes such work where the observation is sound and properly reported.
Marine science is the discipline: IMSJ publishes research on the ocean and the coastal systems continuous with it. Hydrology, limnology and general aquatic science fall outside that remit, and inland-water research is in scope only where a marine connection is central — see Scope boundaries.
Core
Core disciplines
These seven domains describe the journal's core coverage. Manuscripts may contribute to any core discipline, a wider field below, or an interdisciplinary marine-science question. The examples illustrate the scope rather than exhaust it.
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Physical oceanography
Ocean circulation and current systems, water-mass structure, waves, tides and mixing, stratification, air–sea interaction, shelf and coastal dynamics, and sea-level variability.
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Chemical oceanography and marine biogeochemistry
Carbon and nutrient cycling, ocean acidification, trace elements and dissolved gases, dissolved and particulate organic matter, deoxygenation and hypoxia, and exchange at the sediment–water interface.
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Biological oceanography and marine biology
Marine organisms and their physiology, plankton and benthic biology, marine microbiology, reef and symbiont biology, deep-sea and pelagic organisms, population biology, and the structure of marine food webs.
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Marine ecology, biodiversity and systematics
Community and ecosystem structure and function, species interactions, habitat ecology, biodiversity patterns and faunal inventories, species records and range extensions, marine taxonomy and systematics, non-indigenous species, and ecological responses to environmental change.
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Fisheries science and living marine resources
Fish and invertebrate population dynamics, life history and reproductive biology, stock structure and assessment, fisheries ecology, bycatch and fishing effects on habitats and communities, diadromous populations, and the science underlying sustainable harvest.
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Coastal and estuarine science, and marine geoscience
Estuarine circulation and biogeochemistry, land–sea fluxes, coastal ecosystems and shoreline change, sediment transport and coastal erosion and accretion, seabed morphology and marine sedimentology, and paleoceanography.
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Marine environmental science
Marine pollution and contaminants including microplastics, metals and hydrocarbons, nutrient enrichment and eutrophication, marine ecotoxicology, underwater sound and its effects on marine animals, environmental monitoring, and the assessment of human pressures on marine systems.
Breadth
Wider marine-science coverage
These fields are within scope on the same terms as the core domains. They are listed separately because they cut across several of them, not because they are held to a different standard.
- Marine conservation science
- Marine protected areas and their evaluation
- Coral-reef science
- Deep-sea and seamount systems
- Polar and high-latitude marine science
- Ocean–climate interactions
- Marine bioacoustics and soundscapes
- Marine invasive and non-indigenous species
- Marine natural products and marine biotechnology
- Marine genomics and environmental DNA
- Ocean observation, remote sensing and marine instrumentation
- Marine ecological and biogeochemical modeling
- Marine spatial planning and evidence-based resource management
- Marine ecosystem services
- Coastal hazards and sea-level science
- Environmental assessment of marine renewable energy
All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review. Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
Interdisciplinary work
When adjacent research fits
IMSJ publishes work that draws on climate science, environmental chemistry, molecular biology, remote sensing, computation and resource management. One test applies to all of it: the marine or oceanographic contribution must be central and substantive, not incidental. A study does not become marine science because the sampling site was near a coast, because the organism lives in seawater, or because a contaminant may eventually reach the ocean.
Applied that way, the test admits a great deal. Climate research fits when marine systems are the object of study — ocean warming and heat content, acidification, sea-level change, circulation–climate coupling, marine ecosystem responses, carbon uptake and storage in marine and coastal systems. Molecular and genomic work fits when it answers a marine biological, ecological, evolutionary, or biotechnology question. Marine natural-product studies may examine structure, function, bioactivity, or potential applications when the marine resource is central. Modeling and remote sensing fit when they resolve a marine process or improve a marine observation. Management and conservation research fits when it provides a substantive, evidence-based analysis of marine systems, resources, or their governance. Appropriate quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods are welcome; a new ecological dataset is not required for every governance study.
The same test distinguishes substantive marine contributions from studies that use the ocean only as an incidental setting. The boundaries below apply to the research question and contribution, including in coupled models.
Methods
Methodological research
Methods papers are welcome in their own right. A methodological contribution is judged on whether it advances marine measurement, observation or analysis, and it is not required to demonstrate a management or conservation outcome to qualify.
This includes sampling and survey design, oceanographic measurement and instrumentation, acoustic and optical methods, remote-sensing retrieval and validation, environmental DNA and species-detection methods, taxonomic and morphological description, laboratory and analytical protocols, and statistical, ecological and biogeochemical modeling approaches for marine data. Papers that describe a dataset and the procedures behind it are also considered.
Methods manuscripts should report evaluation appropriate to their purpose, such as calibration, benchmarks, reference material, independent observations, simulation tests, or analytical checks. State assumptions, uncertainty, reproducibility information, and limits of use. Evidence should support the claims made; field deployment, superiority to an existing method, or a management outcome is not a universal condition of scope.
Boundaries
Scope boundaries
These are the cases the journal declines, and the conditions under which each becomes admissible. They are stated so that authors can decide before submitting rather than after review.
- Freshwater and inland waters
- Limnology, river and lake ecology, catchment hydrology and groundwater are outside scope. In scope when the marine connection is central: estuaries and river–ocean interfaces, land–sea fluxes of water, sediment, nutrients or contaminants, coastal watersheds studied for their marine effect, and diadromous species that span both environments.
- Climate science
- In scope: ocean–climate interactions and coupled models that advance understanding of marine processes, ocean forcing, or ocean responses. Atmospheric studies with no substantive marine or ocean–atmosphere contribution are outside scope.
- Human and clinical health
- In scope: marine natural-product discovery, characterization, and preclinical bioactivity research with a substantive marine-biotechnology contribution, including laboratory and computational studies. Claims must match the evidence and distinguish predicted activity from demonstrated efficacy. Human clinical trials, patient-care studies, and epidemiology centered on human health are outside this remit.
- Aquaculture
- In scope: research on marine aquaculture, including species biology, physiology, nutrition, health, reproduction, culture methods, environmental interactions, and resource sustainability. Production or husbandry studies should establish a scientific contribution to marine organisms or systems. Routine farm instructions, product promotion, and treatment reports without that contribution are outside scope.
- Engineering and maritime operations
- In scope: engineering and technology that advance understanding, measurement, observation, or modeling of marine systems, including sensors, autonomous platforms, acoustics, ocean data systems, and ocean–structure interactions with a substantive oceanographic contribution. Environmental assessment of marine structures and operations also fits. Structural optimization, naval architecture, transport logistics, and device design without that contribution are outside scope.
- Terrestrial and agricultural research
- Forest, grassland and soil science, terrestrial wildlife and agricultural production are outside scope without a demonstrated marine or coastal connection.
- Policy commentary and advocacy
- In scope: evidence-based analysis of marine governance, conservation, management, and spatial planning, including stakeholder research and evaluation of policy. Methods and sources must support the conclusions. General advocacy or commentary without a substantive marine-science or marine-resource-management contribution is outside scope.
- Social sciences and humanities
- Social research is considered when it advances understanding or management of marine environments and resources, with evidence and methods appropriate to the question. Maritime history, archaeology, and cultural studies require a substantive connection to marine environmental science or resource management; a maritime subject alone is insufficient.
Before submitting
Assessing fit
These questions help authors assess disciplinary fit. Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal. Decisions remain independent of fees, services, memberships, or roles.
- Is the system you studied marine?The ocean, the seabed, the coast, an estuary, or an organism or process belonging to them. If the system is inland water, land or laboratory-only, the marine connection has to be argued explicitly.
- Is the marine contribution central to the result?Explain the marine question, resource, process, or method that the study advances. A finding may also apply beyond marine systems; broader applicability does not remove a substantive marine contribution.
- Does it sit in one of the fields above?A core discipline, a wider-coverage field, or an interdisciplinary case that meets the test. If you are unsure, the editorial office will give an opinion on fit before you submit.
Manuscript preparation, structure, limits and reference requirements are set out in the Instructions for Authors. Assessment criteria and the review model are on Editorial Policies; the board's fields are listed on the Editorial Board page.
Does your work fit the journal?
If your manuscript sits inside the scope set out above, International Marine Science Journal accepts submissions throughout the year. The editorial office will give an opinion on fit before submission if you are unsure.
Submit a manuscript Ask about scope
International Marine Science Journal (IMSJ) · ISSN 2643-0282 · Crossref DOI prefix 10.14302 · published open access by Open Access Pub under CC BY 4.0, with copyright retained by authors.