Howard I. Browman

The centenary of ICES Journal of Marine Science offers a unique opportunity to examine 100 years of continuous publication in marine science. Scientometric and bibliometric methods were used to quantify changes in research topics and citations in articles published in the Journal (1926–2025), and to identify patterns in topic evolution and drivers of the changes observed. The contribution, relative importance, and diversity of topics in the Journal have changed over time, reflecting shifts in topics (and the manner in which they are formulated and framed), technological advancements, funding mechanisms, and research priorities. The overall trend is away from purely descriptive marine biology and fish/fisheries-centric topics towards more applied, process-oriented, and ecosystem-based studies. The diversity of topics has also increased over time, consistent with trends in science broadly towards more interdisciplinary work. Funding and policy developments have surely played a key role. While citation patterns were strongly driven by publication year, article type (i.e. research, review, or conference article) and author number, there were measurable effects of topic and topic diversity. More diverse and novel articles (relative to the Journal average) tended to receive higher citations. High variability among these articles suggests that some works are initially less influential or require additional time to gain recognition. During the last 15–20 years the Journal has more actively shaped its content through editorial policies and criteria, initiatives, and a stringent and more selective peer-review process. The Journal has also become a home for a wide range of perspective articles. We hope that this has served to solidify the Journal’s position as a bastion of the core principles of scientific publication and positioned it as a compass for the future of marine research, a role we trust will continue long into the future.

While acknowledging that peer review is imperfect, we argue that preprint servers, which disseminate non-peer-reviewed research, represent a significant risk to society. Preprints can lead to the spread of misinformation, undermine public trust in science, and contribute to harmful public health outcomes, as occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. We challenge the premise that preprints accelerate discovery and we argue that the absence of pre-publication peer review compromises the reliability of scientific findings. We contend that scientists have a duty of care to society and that the lack of pre-publication vetting, and the minimal oversight associated with preprinting, neglects this responsibility. Because of these harms, and to safeguard both public health and trust in science, we propose that journals should not publish manuscripts posted on preprint servers.

A fierce debate develops between two editorial board members over a recent submission, possibly extensively written using a large language model generative artificial intelligence. They represent two worldviews: one that legitimizes manuscripts solely on their content, and the other that identifies the authors as a crucial component of the production and legitimacy of the manuscript. Whether to proceed with the peer review of this manuscript and eventually publish it relies on how these two viewpoints intersect with accountability, misattributed authorship, and scholarship.

Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua ) and haddock ( Melanogrammus aeglefinus ) are found on both sides of the North Atlantic and often their spawning overlaps in time and space. Yet, haddock has a much more variable recruitment than cod in areas where they are sympatric, a difference that is consistent across ecosystems. At the larval stages, differences in feeding behavior have consequences for growth and survival, potentially contributing to the differences in recruitment between these species. We tested whether haddock displayed different swimming behavior to cod under abundant food conditions, while also comparing their growth every 7 days until 38 days post hatching (dph). Swimming kinematics were quantified from the three‐dimensional trajectories of larvae filmed in an aquarium at 11, 21, and 32 dph. Cod swam faster than haddock starting at 21 dph. Differences in swimming speed between species were consistent with body morphology. Haddock was heavier than cod at a given age and body length. At 11 dph, haddock exhibited longer pauses and wider horizontal and vertical turn angles than cod, indicating a moderately larger visual search field compared to cod. Longer pause duration indicates that haddock are searching for prey for longer periods than cod at 11 dph. The differences in prey search disappeared at 21 and 32 dph. The differences in feeding and swimming behavior reported here could play an important role for survival, with consequences for the recruitment of these species.

Stakeholders need scientific advice on the environmental impacts of offshore wind (OW) before the facilities are installed. The utility of conventional environmental monitoring methods as a basis for forecasting OW impacts is limited because they do not explain the causes of the observed effects. We propose a multistep approach, based on process-oriented hypothesis testing, targeted monitoring and numerical modeling, to answer key stakeholder questions about planning an OW facility: Q1—Where do we place future OW farms so that impacts on the ecosystem are minimized? Q2—Which species and ecosystem processes will be impacted and to what degree? Q3—Can we mitigate impacts and, if so, how? and Q4—What are the risks of placing an OW facility in one location vs. another? Hypothesis testing can be used to assess impacts of OW facilities on target species-ecological process. This knowledge is transferable and is broadly applicable, a priori, to assess suitable locations for OW (Q1). Hypothesis testing can be combined with monitoring methods to guide targeted monitoring. The knowledge generated can identify the species/habitats at risk (Q2), help selecting/developing mitigation measures (Q3), and be used as input parameters for models to forecast OW impacts at a large spatial scale (Q1; Q4).

With a biomass of ∼4 million tonnes, and annual catches of 900 000 tonnes, the northeast Atlantic (NEA) cod stock in the Barents Sea is the world’s largest. Scientists have been trying to explain the variability in recruitment of this stock for over 100 years, in particular connecting it to spawning stock biomass and environmental factors such as temperature. It has been suggested that the combination of ocean acidification and global warming will lead to a significant decrease in the spawning stock biomass and an eventual (end of this century) collapse of the NEA cod stock in the Barents Sea. We show that a temperature- and OA-driven decline in recruits will likely lead to a smaller cod stock, but not to a collapse. Instead, the level of fishing pressure and, not least, the choice of the recruitment function applied in simulations and how it relates to temperature, is extremely important when making such forecasts. Applying a non-linear relationship between temperature and spawning stock biomass—as has been done in studies that predict a collapse of the NEA cod stock—does not improve accuracy and, in addition, adds a large decrease in number of recruits that is not biologically supported.

This candid perspective written by scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds is intended to advance conversations about the realities of peer review and its inherent limitations. Trust in a process or institution is built slowly and can be destroyed quickly. Trust in the peer review process for scholarly outputs (i.e., journal articles) is being eroded by high-profile scandals, exaggerated news stories, exposés, corrections, retractions, and anecdotes about poor practices. Diminished trust in the peer review process has real-world consequences and threatens the uptake of critical scientific advances. The literature on “crises of trust” tells us that rebuilding diminished trust takes time and requires frank admission and discussion of problems, creative thinking that addresses rather than dismisses criticisms, and planning and enacting short- and long-term reforms to address the root causes of problems. This article takes steps in this direction by presenting eight peer review reality checks and summarizing efforts to address their weaknesses using a harm reduction approach, though we recognize that reforms take time and some problems may never be fully rectified. While some forms of harm reduction will require structural and procedural changes, we emphasize the vital role that training editors, reviewers, and authors has in harm reduction. Additionally, consumers of science need training about how the peer review process works and how to critically evaluate research findings. No amount of self-policing, transparency, or reform to peer review will eliminate all bad actors, unscrupulous publishers, perverse incentives that reward cutting corners, intentional deception, or bias. However, the scientific community can act to minimize the harms from these activities, while simultaneously (re)building the peer review process. A peer review system is needed, even if it is imperfect.

Static magnetic fields (B-fields) are introduced in marine ecosystems by anthropogenic sources such as subsea power cables. Larvae of the gadoids Atlantic haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) disperse over the continental shelf and may encounter B-fields, which could alter their behavior. We tested the behavior of 184 gadoid larvae while they were being exposed to a B-field (22–156 μT), which is in the intensity range of that produced by a high-voltage direct current cable, for a duration of 10 min in a raceway tank. We present a reanalysis of published data on 92 haddock larvae combined with newly collected data on 92 cod larvae tested under the same settings. Exposure did not affect the spatial distribution of the larvae. Both species displayed the same proportion of nonexploratory (78%) and exploratory (22%) individuals. Exposure significantly reduced the average swimming speed of the nonexploratory larvae by 32% and the average acceleration by 30%. Exploratory larvae were not affected. These results indicate that the swimming behavior of a high proportion of gadoid larvae would be reduced by weak static B-fields. Consequences of exposure on dispersal and survival at the population scale awaits further work using biophysical-coupled models.

Sources of anthropogenic noise in the ocean have temporal and directional characteristics. Characterizing the soundscape requires identifying the directionality of the sources of noise in addition to the non-directional sound pressure. An underwater acoustic vector sensor (AVS) can be used to provide the directionality of incoming noise, and the concomitant sound pressure. We present an analysis of measurements from an AVS deployed in a Norwegian fjord in which there is frequent commercial ship traffic. We assessed the directionality of various known and unknown noise sources and used it to interpret the associated sound pressure. The fjord soundscape consists of time-varying noise directionality and intensity from anthropogenic sources, especially shipping activity. This case study highlights the benefits of using information from an AVS to assess noise directionality in a soundscape.

Anguillid eels were once considered to be the classic example of catadromy. However, alternative life cycles have been reported, including skipping the freshwater phase and habitat shifting between fresh, brackish, and saltwater throughout the growth phase. There is a lack of knowledge regarding these alternate life strategies, for example, the proportion of individuals in the population that adopt them compared to classic catadromy. We provide a description of these alternate life cycle strategies in temperate anguillids, their possible drivers, and the methods available to investigate them. These methods (lethal and non-lethal), include otolith microchemistry, fatty acid and stable isotope analyses, parasite identification, blood transcriptomics, and electronic tags. We argue that since the current management framework for the European eel and other temperate eels is based mainly on the freshwater component of the population, it ignores eels growing in saline waters. Many of the factors that are thought to be responsible for the precipitous decline of the eel population are more prevalent in freshwater systems. Therefore, the contribution of saline eels may be more important than currently estimated. The habitat-shifting ability of eels may be all the more crucial for the persistence and recovery of those species that are endangered.