We are happy to announce an open competition for the JAB Review Award. The JAB Review Award will be given to an early career research scientist (criteria below) who has an exceptional mini-review manuscript accepted for publication in JAB. The review should focus on new developments and/or emerging concepts in the areas of avian research that fall within the scope of the journal. If the award is given for a paper with multiple authors (the lead and corresponding author(s) must be early career) those meeting the early career research criteria at the time of publication will share the monetary prize.

The winner of the JAB Review Award will receive a 1000€ honorarium and the runner-up will receive 500€. All accepted papers that are entered in the competition will appear together in a virtual issue in Journal of Avian Biology. To increase visibility and readership, we will actively promote JAB Review Award papers on social media, and we will help authors to write blog posts and create video abstracts.

To be considered for the JAB Review Award 2025, authors must submit their manuscript before 31 January 2025. In the cover letter, it must be clearly stated that the authors wish to enter their manuscript in the competition for the JAB Review Award. We particularly encourage submissions coming from underrepresented geographic areas and historically underrepresented groups.

These mini-reviews do not need to cover an entire research area, and in fact should be concise summaries (about 6000 words including references) of subject areas in avian biology that merit coverage and/or present novel ideas for moving a field forward. Mini-reviews can (but don’t need to) synthesize exciting findings in rapidly progressing fields.

Manuscripts that meet the basic criteria for a JAB Review Award paper will go through the normal peer review process. However, as much as possible, mini-reviews considered for the JAB Review Award will be reviewed by members of the editorial board to reduce review time. 

Accepted submissions will be reassessed by an award-decision committee that will choose the winner and runner-up of the JAB Review Award. All submissions, whether or not they win a prize, will appear in Journal of Avian Biology if they meet the journal’s standards.

Author Criteria
The winner must have finished her/his PhD within 8 years prior to the deadline (MSc students and PhD students are also eligible). Journal of Avian Biology realizes that life intervenes occasionally, so this cut-off is meant to be a suggestion and not a hard requirement. However, applicants should provide an explanation if they are requesting an exception (e.g. absence due to family leave, dramatic shifts in research area, etc.). For support with Open Access fees see below.

Award-decision committee
Staffan Bensch, Theresa Burg, Jan-Åke Nilsson, Dominique Potvin

Open Access
As Journal of Avian Biology is a full gold Open Access journal, we charge an Article Processing Charge (APC) for all accepted papers. More and more funders/institutions/universities have unique agreements with our publisher Wiley, where the full or part of the APC is covered. A list of the current agreements can be found here. Wiley also offers automatic waivers and discounts to corresponding authors based in low and lower middle-income countries in partnership with research4life (a list of countries with automatic waivers and discounts can be found here).

JAB also offers a limited number of internal waivers for authors not covered by any agreements or waivers that fall under the research4life partnership. These waivers are given on a first come, first serve basis and must be requested BEFORE submission of the manuscript. Internal waivers can be requested by any early career researcher but priority will be given to submissions coming from underrepresented geographic areas and historically underrepresented groups. You can read more about how to request internal waivers here.

For questions about the award or waivers please contact the editorial office: jab [at] oikosoffice [dot] lu [dot] se.