In connection with the 14th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS 2020), originally planned to be held in Bremen, Germany, in July 2020, arrangements were made with the journal Oceans to produce a Special Issue associated with the conference, to which conference delegates could submit papers based on their oral presentations or posters.
However, due to the coronavirus epidemic, the conference was postponed. A virtual conference was held as the 14th ICRS online in July 2021, while an in-person meeting (15th ICRS) is now expected to take place in July 2022 in Bremen, Germany.
Nevertheless, to provide attending delegates with an appropriate outlet for their material, a first Special Issue (entitled “The Future of Coral Reefs: Research Submitted to ICRS 2020/21”) based on papers submitted by July 2021 is in the process of publication in Oceans. Twelve accepted manuscripts have been published online as they are finalized (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/oceans/special_issues/coral_reefs) by 8 November 2021 (more will come later), thus ensuring publication of 2020/21 manuscripts in the near future.
However, since the follow-up in-person meeting is now to take place in July 2022, it has been agreed that a second Special Issue will be published in 2021/22 in Oceans. This sister volume will retain the same name and continue to reflect the conference themes. Manuscripts for this second volume need to be submitted by 30 September 2022. More details could be read at the link (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/oceans/special_issues/coral_reefs2) Oceans is an open access journal that normally charges authors a fee (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/oceans). However, MDPI have agreed with the organizers of the 14th and 15th ICRSs to publish papers related to abstracts presented at ICRS 2021 Virtual and ICRS 2022 In-person free of any charge or fees. This is a unique and opportunity for participants of the 14th and 15th to publish their work in an international, open access, and peer-reviewed journal without any associated costs.
Instructions for submission are found at (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/oceans/instructions). All submissions will be subject to standard reviewing procedures to ensure quality standards of writing and accuracy. Oceans has no restrictions on the length of manuscripts, and hence short papers based on either oral presentations or posters will be considered.
This second volume will be edited by Oceans editors in cooperation with an editorial support team, led by Prof. Dr. Christian Wild, chair of 14th and 15th ICRS.
Authors whose first language is not English are encouraged to submit manuscripts, but they need to have their text checked by a native English speaker or make use of MDPI’s English editing service (https://www.mdpi.com/authors/english). Only manuscripts which are well written in quality scientific English will be considered and sent out for review.
Christian Wild (Chair ICRS2021/22 Organising Committee)
Leila Chapron, Sebastian Ferse, Rupert Ormond, Ronald Osinga, Peter Schupp (Coordinating editors, OCEANS second special issue)
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