Category: Neobiota

Global insect science comes to Ohio: Pensoft joins the ECN2026 and Entomolgy 2026 conferences

Ohio’s capital hosted two conferences of global significance when it comes to the study of insects, with Pensoft enjoying a front-row seat.

Earlier this month, the city of Columbus became a focal point for knowledge exchange, groundbreaking innovation and meaningful dialogue on the past, present and future of entomology, with Pensoft enjoying a front-row seat.

Pensoft Publishers at the 2026 ECN annual meeting.

More specifically, Ohio’s capital hosted two conferences of global significance when it comes to the study of insects. First came the annual meeting of the Entomological Collections Network (ECN), which took place on the 6th and 7th of November. A comprehensive two-day agenda delved into the many facets of the organisation’s core focus – existing and emerging best practices in the management of and research into museum collections with insect specimens.

For its part, Pensoft Publishers reaffirmed its support for the community by co-sponsoring the event and exhibiting its publication outlets and tools, including the highly relevant Natural History Collections and Museomics (NHCM) journal. Attendees who stopped by the company’s booth thus had the opportunity to discover this relatively new arrival in the company’s portfolio as well as a variety of other Pensoft-affiliated avenues for bridging the gap between their work and its intended audience.

The publishing house also supported the annual meeting’s silent auction, donating the BioRisk issue “Climatic Risk and Distribution Atlas of European Bumblebees” in printed form. The winning bid was placed by Bill Clark from the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History, with this and all other proceeds going towards the future growth of ECN.

Bill Clark, winner of Pensoft’s contribution to ECN2026’s silent auction.

Numerous researchers who are actively shaping Pensoft’s journals were also present, with two among them delivering important research updates to the Network’s members:

  • Torsten Dikow, Editor-in-Chief of ZooKeys, introduced a conveyor for entomological digitisation (developed by Picturae) and how this technology can help organise and optimise collections of pollinating insects
  • Davide Dal Pos, Subject Editor of ZooKeys and Deutsche Entomologishe Zeitschrift (DEZ), dived into his team’s vision for revitalising the Enns Entomology Museum and its extensive specimen collection, placing it “back on the map”
Pensoft also hosted a booth at Entomology 2026.

This year’s gathering of the Entomological Society of America, Entomology 2026, immediately followed ECN’s proceedings, lasting until 11 November. Yet again, it proved itself among the largest global meetings of insect experts, enthusiasts and businesses, attracting over 2,000 attendees. As in previous editions, Pensoft Publishers sported a booth on the exhibition floor, where a wide variety of journals that push open-access entomological studies forward were on display, including NeoBiota, the Journal of Orthoptera Research (JOR), Alpine Entomology, African Invertebrates, Nota Lepidopterologica, Bulletin of Insectology and the Journal of Hymenoptera Research (JHR).

  • Entomology 2026, ESA’s 74th Annual Meeting.

Notably, another recent addition to the list, Advances in Pollinator Research (APR), was in the spotlight at the stand, with its Editor-in-Chief Lars Straub and Subject Editor Priya Basu engaging with the conference’s participants on site to discuss how the journal could support pollination-centric research from various perspectives and at different scales.

APR editors Lars Straub and Priya Basu, ready to greet Entomology 2026’s attendees.

The wider selection of journals with relevance to insect-based studies was also featured in the display, represented by the long-established Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO), One Ecosystem, Nature Conservation, Frontiers of Biogeography, Metabarcoding & Metagenomics (MBMG) and the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ).

  • Pensoft’s journal portfolio on display.

In terms of Pensoft’s project portfolio, numerous entomological EU-funded initiatives were also introduced to the booth’s visitors – those were namely the pollination-centric PollinERA, WildPosh, VALOR and AGRI4POL as well as FORSAID, an endeavour to combat the spread of forest pests. Last but not least, Pensoft also seized this opportunity to showcase its latest innovations in communicating and disseminating science – the ARPHA publishing platform, the collaborative workspace ORPHO and the research project portal Scientiana.

Turning to Entomology 2026’s programme and the presentations delivered by some of the experts behind the company’s journals, some of the notable featured topics included:

  • The management of biodiversity informatics via innovative resources and tools for entomological research and collections, explored by Deborah Paul, the Editor-in-Chief of NHCM:
New frontiers in entomological informatics with Deborah Paul.
  • TaxonWorks, an integrated web-based workbench for biodiversity scientists, and its promise in pollinator studies, delivered by Matthew Yoder, Subject Editor for BDJ and author in JHR and ZooKeys:
Matthew Yoder with a flash survey on participants’ awareness of TaxonWorks.
  • Revising the taxonomy of more than 300 species of clown beetles (Histeridae), an ambitious research endeavour laid out by Michael S. Caterino, Subject Editor for and author in ZooKeys:
Clown beetles in focus in a showcase by Michael S. Caterino.

All in all, Pensoft’s presence at conferences of the calibre boasted by ECN2026 and Entomology 2026 remains as crucial as ever at a time when champions of open-science research are needed to usher in this concept’s prevalence on a global level.

Repeated attendances over the years, including that in 2026, have made clear the appreciation entomologists of all sub-disciplines express towards the company’s persistent and evolving pursuits of a truly FAIR standard for academic publishing.


Successful bark-beetle biocontrol. A review of the only case in history

Release of Rhizophagus grandis in Georgia, France, the United Kingdom, and Turkey to control the bark beetle Dendroctonus micans, a major forest pest.

Guest blog post by Jean-Claude Grégoire

The bark beetle Dendroctonus micans Kug. (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae) attacks spruce (Picea spp.) and occasionally pine (Pinus spp.). It has spread westward from eastern Siberia, and reached the limits of the natural and planted range of spruce in Europe by the beginning of the 21st century, causing substantial damage along the way. 

Distribution range of Dendroctonus micans.
Adult beetle Dendroctonus micans

Distribution range of Dendroctonus micans (EPPO), and an adult beetle (photo: Gilles San Martin)

Its natural enemy, a specialised predatory beetle, Rhizophagus grandis has partly followed it west and keeps the pest in check wherever it has become established. However, landscape fragmentation and geographic barriers have slowed or prevented the expansion of R. grandis into areas where the pest had been introduced via timber transport. 

Table of Contents

To deal with this problem, biological control was implemented through mass rearing and releases of R. grandis, beginning in Georgia (1963), France (1978), Great Britain (1983) and Türkiye (1985). This method worked and led to lasting control.

Why is this case unique?

This case results from the interaction of two uncommon features: the bark beetle is parasitic and the predator is highly specific.

Parasitic bark beetles

Egg gallery with adult female
larvae feeding gregariously in the phloem
pupae in individual niches dispersed in the frass

Development of Dendroctonus micans. Egg gallery with adult female (A1); eggs (A2); young larvae (A3); larvae feeding gregariously in the phloem (B); pupae in individual niches dispersed in the frass (C). Photos: J.-C. Grégoire

Contrasting with the numerous saprophagous bark beetle species (colonising dead trees) and tree-killing species (mass-attacking and killing living trees), the parasitic bark beetles, represented by only a few species (D. micans, D. punctatus, D. murrayanae), do not need to kill their living hosts because they are tolerant to the tree’s chemical and physical defences. 

One or a few solitary females, each fertilised by a brother in their natal nest, settle alone on a living tree. Their gregarious larvae feed on the living phloem (the inner bark), probably to build a fast feeding front that outruns the tree’s defensive reactions. Because these  parasitic bark beetles do not attack en masse and are not regularly associated with tree-killing fungi, the tree stays alive. This allows for a slow life cycle of up to three years, and several generations can succeed one another on the same tree. Because attacks are solitary, competition between broods is rare or absent. 

Furthermore, the hostile environment of a fully defended tree also protects parasitic bark beetles against competition from other phloeophages (organisms that feed on the pholem) and against most bark-beetle natural enemies.

So, the causal chain [sib-mating + resistance to tree defences => no mass attack + no pathogenic fungi => tree survives => long life cycle] characterises the parasitic bark beetles.

A highly specific predator

Only one specific predator, Rhizophagus grandis, has adapted to D. micans‘ peculiar ecology.

It tracks its prey very efficiently, by following chemical cues (oxygenated monoterpenes emitted by the larval frass), even where prey is scarce. The female R. grandis, lays her eggs right inside the prey’s brood chambers, and both adults and larvae feed on every immature stage of the prey.

Rhizophagus grandis
Rhizophagus grandis. Adult (A); larvae feeding gregariously on a prey (B); mature larva in an almost completely consumed prey larva (C). Photos A, C: J.-C. Grégoire; photo B: Kent Daane.

Like D. micans and unlike more generalist natural enemies of bark beetles, it is highly resistant to the chemical defences of the host trees. The protracted life cycle of D. micans makes it vulnerable to discovery by R. grandis over an extended time window, so that the proportion of prey broods discovered and colonised increases over time, reaching 90% even in Belgian forest stands that have low densities of D. micans. Once in a brood chamber, the predator finds the clustered prey larvae an easy meal.

Highly specific predatory insects are uncommon

Such narrow prey specificity is rare, found in only a few ladybirds (coccinellids), lacewings (chrysopids) and tooth-necked fungus beetles (derodontids), in addition to R. grandis. These species display one common trait: the adults generally secure resources for their larvae, behaving very much like parasitoids (insects whose young develop on a host and eventually kill it), by depositing their eggs inside the prey’s concealed, defended microhabitat.

Mass-producing natural enemies: a constant challenge

In theory, a specialised predator should need only a small release: a few individuals would spread through the forest and find their prey on their own (also known as inoculative biocontrol).

In practice, however, large numbers of individuals must be released in many sites and, when possible, several times in each site, to compensate for forest fragmentation, unpredictable weather and possible bad timing relative to the prey (for example, when the prey are pupae dispersed in the frass, or pre-emergent adults, which are harder to attack). 

In addition, some rearing batches can be contaminated by insect-killing fungi, such as Beauveria bassiana, or show unexplained prolonged dormant phase before pupation or an inability to fly. 

log rearing
Log-rearing. Photos: H. Alkan Akıncı. A. A slit in the phloem, on top de the log, contains prey larvae. It is sealed with wax; B. Each log is deposited on a layer of moist sand in a basin; the prepupae will pupate in the sand; C. Basins and logs are stored on shelves and visited daily.
 

In total, 4,000,000 R. grandis were produced and released in Georgia, 800,000 in France, 250,000 in Britain and 10,880,000 in Türkiye.

Predator mass production relies either on D. micans-infested spruce logs in all four countries or, later, on a semi-artificial technique in plastic boxes in France and Britain.

  • Oviposition in polystyrene boxes.
    Oviposition in polystyrene boxes. Prey larvae are enclosed with pieces of fresh phloem and rehydrated phloem powder. Photos: J.-C. Grégoire
  • Larval rearing and pupation boxes.
    Larval rearing and pupation boxes. Photos: J.-C. Grégoire. A. Three feeding boxes in a pupation container; B. Rhizophagus grandis larvae feeding on artificial medium; C. R. grandis prepupae in the sand in a pupation container; D. The feeding and pupation containers can be easily stored and inspected.

How successful were the releases?

In all four countries, after six to eight years, the releases resulted in a significant drop of the pest populations, as measured by the numbers of infested trees in the treated stands, by the proportions of brood chambers colonised by the predators and by the predator/prey ratios in the brood chambers. Dendroctonus micans did not totally disappear from the treated stands but remained at very low densities, with more than 90% of the broods colonised by R. grandis as observed in France. Temporary pest upsurges are occasionally observed, after a dry year or on severely stressed trees.

Why has biocontrol largely failed against tree-killing bark beetles?

In a global review, Goundar et al. (2026) highlight the partial or total failure of biocontrol attempts against other bark beetle species. This may be related to the much more eruptive population dynamics of these pests, which are very much influenced by bottom-up forces such as host stress linked to site and climate. In addition, most species targeted so far complete one or more generations per year, leaving natural enemies little time to find and exploit their broods.

The take-home message here may be that a careful preliminary assessment of the nature of a target pest and of its known or likely relationship to a candidate biocontrol agent could spare time and effort.

Original source: 

Grégoire J-C, Alkan Akıncı H, Burjanadze M, Evans HF, Fielding N, Mayer F (2026) Successful bark-beetle biocontrol. A review of the only case in history Releasing Rhizophagus grandis in Georgia, France, Britain and Türkiye against Dendroctonus micans. NeoBiota 109: 271-313. https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.109.205672 

Pensoft publishes the collection of abstracts for LTER Bulgaria 20th anniversary conference

The “sea capital” of Bulgaria, the city of Varna, hosted a very special occasion during the past week – an international conference marking the 20th anniversary of the LTER-BG network. Over the past two decades, its members have been dedicated to establishing roadmaps and infrastructures for generating, consolidating and sharing ecosystem research data across the Balkan country and beyond.

In celebration of this milestone, members of the wider eLTER community, encompassing the whole of Europe, contributed to a three-day agenda packed with progress updates, innovative showcases and meaningful discussions on the past and future of long-term ecosystem, critical zone and socio-ecological research.

eLTER network at the LTER-BG International Scientific Conference 2026
The participants in the LTER Bulgaria international scientific conference 2026.

Pensoft Publishers has served as the communication and dissemination partner for the eLTER Research Infrastructure for the past six years. Pensoft has also always supported the activities of LTER Bulgaria.

For this 20th anniversary conference, all 55 abstracts for oral and poster presentations were organised and published in a special collection titled “Long-Term Ecosystem Research: Contributions, Challenges and Future Perspectives” on the ARPHA Conference Abstracts, and for less than a week it has already garnered over 6,000 views.

ARPHA Conference Abstracts from LTER-BG International Scientific Conference 2026

Conference abstracts published in ARPHA Conference Abstracts.

Impressed by the statements of engagement made by young scientists within the eLTER community, the Pensoft team supported the organisers’ idea to provide an Early Career Scientist Award, which granted its recipient a free publication in the One Ecosystem journal.

Following a unanimous vote by the  dedicated jury members Svetla Doncheva, Vesela Evtimova, Elena Todorova and Alexandra Tzvetkova, early career researcher Sabica Naz from the Slovak Academy of Sciences was selected as the winner. She distinguished herself with the presentation “Impacts of pre-season climatic and functional drivers on the spring onset of phenocam-derived GCC”. 

As the official communication partner of eLTER and its affiliated projects, Pensoft provided dissemination materials by eLTER RI at the dedicated booth where attendees also had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the company’s wider publishing and research project portfolio.

At the booth, participants could get acquainted with Pensoft’s wider scientific journal portfolio. With One Ecosystem and Nature Conservation covering ecosystem science and conservation practices, NeoBiota focuses on biological invasions and Advances in Pollinator Research dedicated to all things pollinator science. Individual-based Ecology publishes research on individual-level ecological processes while the Biodiversity Data Journal supports the publication of biodiversity data. Alongside these, Research Ideas and Outcomes offers a platform for sharing research across the whole project cycle, from proposals to final results.

  • ORPHO and Scientiana promo materials
    ORPHO and Scientiana promo materials
  • Metabarcoding and Metagenomics brochure.
    Metabarcoding and Metagenomics brochure.
  • Frontiers of Biogeography brochure.
    Frontiers of Biogeography brochure.
  • Advances in Pollinator Research
    Advances in Pollinator Research promo materials.
  • Individual-based Ecology
    Individual-based Ecology promo material.
  • One Ecosystem journal
    One Ecosystem journal brochure.
  • NeoBiota promo materials.
    NeoBiota promo materials.

Beyond these commitments, Pensoft was front and centre within the event’s agenda as well.

Alexandra Tzvetkova during the opening panel of LTER-BG International Scientific Conference 2026
Alexandra Tzvetkova during the opening panel.

During the opening panel, Alexandra Tzvetkova, part of the Pensoft team working for eLTER RI, welcomed the participants, reminded them to start sharing the special collection of abstracts with their networks and highlighted the innovative propositions from Pensoft that were about to be presented in the next days and could be very useful for the eLTER community in the future – Scientiana and ORPHO.

Further, two Pensoft presentations were delivered as part of the thematic session “Emerging Technologies in Ecosystem Research, Data Management and Open Science in LTER”, and brought the audience closer to the publisher’s vision for the future:

Senior Communications Officer Peter Bozakov delved into the forthcoming science communication platform for research projects Scientiana. Launching in early 2027, it is set to be a portal for consolidating knowledge, mapping out collaborations and innovating outreach in the context of past, present and future scientific initiatives at all scales.

Pensoft’s newest platform Scientiana
Peter Bozakov introduces Pensoft’s newest platform – Scientiana.

While, Events and Marketing Coordinator Victoria Stoyanova explored the new frontiers that an AI-FAIR outlook unveils in the domain of academic publishing. Specifically, she showcased the evolution of the ARPHA platform and the newly launched ORPHO, Pensoft’s next-gen collaborative writing tool, as examples of innovation placed directly in the hands of authors.

Together, ARPHA and ORPHO support the entire manuscript workflow from submission to publication, with structuring, taxon tagging, classification, and data publication  taking place as part of the publication process itself. 

A crash course in using ORHPO
A crash course in using ORHPO by Victoria Stoyanova

The presentations proved themselves a stepping stone to further discussions on potential collaborations with scientists, conversations that were bolstered by on-site demonstrations of the tools in question.

The conference in Varna was enjoyable, fruitful and full of hope and esteem for the better future of long-term ecosystem research. And our Pensoft team left with many ideas and an affirmed ambition to keep working to provide better solutions and services for the development of European science. What we will always remember are the words of our host – the national coordinator of LTER Bulgaria in the past 20 years, Svetla Doncheva-Bratanova: 

I would like to thank the Pensoft team for the wonderful participation in the conference. You are amazing and I am certain we could do wonders together!

Many thanks to the Bulgarian LTER community and the wider eLTER community for bringing together so many passionate researchers and making these past few days special.

Pensoft at TDWG2026: Pushing the boundaries of innovation in biodiversity data management forward

Last week marked another annual meeting of the Biodiversity Information Standards network, otherwise known as TDWG, with the Norwegian capital Oslo hosting the event between 20 and 25 September.

Last week marked another annual meeting of the Biodiversity Information Standards network, otherwise known as TDWG, with the Norwegian capital Oslo hosting the event between 21 and 25 September.

TDWG is the international, non-profit organisation formerly known as the Taxonomic Databases Working Group, which develops and maintains the standards, such as Darwin Core, that allow biodiversity data to be shared, integrated and understood across institutions worldwide.

The six-day programme was a meeting point for over 300 stakeholders from research, practitioner and corporate circles, with proceedings centred around one central topic – “Research and Robot-Ready Biodiversity Data Standards”. In that sense, the themes of accessibility, responsibility, innovation and collaboration were foremost on the minds of participants as they contemplated how information on the biosphere should be extracted, consolidated and shared in the years to come.

As a long-standing partner of TDWG, Pensoft Publishers served as both a sponsor and an exhibitor for the event. In the latter capacity, the company contributed with a joint booth for three of the EU-funded projects it is leading the outreach efforts for:

  • BMD – an initiative working towards a Biodiversity Explorer for high-throughput biodiversity monitoring tools, biodiversity data and biodiversity analyses for better conservation across Europe
  • TETTRIX – a new arrival building a next-generation taxonomic system connecting knowledge, expertise and innovation for all across the Old Continent
  • ANERIS – a pan-European effort to mobilise a network of operational marine biology via a new technological infrastructure
The Pensoft team at the joint booth of the BMD, TETTRIX and ANERIS projects.

A number of other projects from Pensoft’s communication portfolio also found a place in the display, including BEAGLE, OneSTOP, B-Cubed, MAMBO, OBSGESSION and BioAgora. Furthermore, 14 of the company’s journals were in the spotlight, including Biodiversity Information Science and Standards (BISS), the official journal of the TDWG community (where all of the conference’s abstracts are set to be published).  

Crucially, the event also saw the official launch of ORPHO, Pensoft’s new collaborative workspace for scientific writing. Founder and CEO Prof. Lyubomir Penev and CTO Teodor Georgiev conducted live demos of the tool, showcasing how manuscripts crafted within it with full version control for authors become discoverable, interoperable and FAIR-compliant.

In the context of TDWG2026’s agenda, they also presented ORPHO’s integrated semantic annotation and communication instruments as part of the workshop “How Literature Services can Support & Benefit from Biodiversity Publication and Data Standards?” on 24 September. The workspace was received with anticipation and enthusiasm by attendees, with many expressing a desire to test it out for themselves.

They were also treated with a tease of Pensoft’s next large-scale endeavour, as Senior Communications Officer Peter Bozakov pulled the curtain behind the forthcoming communication platform for research projects Scientiana.

  • Pensoft’s CTO Teodor Georgiev introduces the collaborative scientific workspace ORPHO.

As for other notable contributions to the wider conference agenda by researchers affiliated with Pensoft’s publishing or project activities:

  • The session “Operationalising Biodiversity Digital Twins within Data Space Ecosystems”, which was co-led by BMD coordinator and long-time author and reviewer across several Pensoft journals, including Biodiversity Data Journal and Research Ideas and Outcomes, Niels Raes, and showcased a number of innovative outputs from the project. As such, it was an important occasion to assess the initiative’s progress towards unifying Europe’s Data Space within a single Biodiversity Explorer.
Niels Raes presenting “Mainstreaming high-throughput biodiversity monitoring using AI” at TDWG 2026.
  • The symposium “Publishing and Communications Promoting Biodiversity, Natural History Collections, People, Data and Data Standards”, for which Deborah Paul (co-Editor-in-Chief of the Natural History Collections and Museomics (NHCM) journal) had the role of co-organiser. Within it, the TETTRIX project’s vision for the automated tracking of taxonomic research activities was laid out by consortium member David Fichtmüller. Moreover, Shelley James (co-Editor-in-Chief for NHCM) delivered an insightful talk on the creative promotion of biodiversity data and standards for success and recognition.
Co-Editors-in-Chief of NHCM, Shelley James and Deborah Paul, presenting “Hit or miss? Creative promotion of biodiversity data and standards for success and recognition” at TDWG 2026.

Notably, the Biodiversity Information Science and Standards (BISS) journal is the home for TDWG conference abstracts. TDWG 2026 presenters can currently submit their abstracts there and publish them in an extended abstract or mini-paper format completely free of charge. The journal also hosts abstracts from conferences held over the past decade. You can browse the TDWG 2026 collection here.

Last but not least, the company’s sponsorship supported two awards at TDWG2026 (with a free publication in a Pensoft journal as an accompanying prize):

  • Best Student Oral Presentation – awarded to Yeshan Qui for “Reporting structure and sampling-bias correction in citizen-science bird data across Asian cities”
  • Best Student Poster – awarded to Claudia Campanini for “Improving marine fieldwork documentation and metadata with Adaptable Standardised Methods Reporting (ASMR)”
Claudia Campanini receiving the Pensoft Best Student Poster Award at TDWG 2026.

Overall, TDWG2026 proved itself a crucial forum for mapping out the future of biodiversity monitoring and the management of the myriad data streams that emerge from it. Pensoft is proud to be an important actor in this process, contributing with innovative tools and solutions at the heart of the interface between research and practice. As summarised by Prof. Penev:

“Given its status as a large-scale conference centred around the future of biodiversity sciences in the age of AI, TDWG2026 was a crucial venue for unveiling Pensoft’s forward-looking vision for academic publishing and science communication. The “pearl” of these pursuits is undoubtedly the ORPHO workspace, a tool that is well-placed to introduce a new standard when it comes to collaborative AI-FAIR research in Europe and beyond.”

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Pensoft at the Nordic Oikos-GfÖ 2026 conference: Integrating the Diversity of Ecology

Between 13-17 September 2026, Pensoft Publishers joined the Nordic Oikos-GfÖ 2026 conference in Odense, Denmark.

Between 13-17 September 2026, Pensoft Publishers joined the Nordic Oikos-GfÖ 2026 conference, jointly organised by the Nordic Society Oikos and the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ) in Odense, Denmark.

Themed “Integrating the Diversity of Ecology”, the event welcomed over 1,000 researchers in the field from across career stages, who had the opportunity to enjoy conference talks across 36 thematic sessions, as many as six keynote talks, two poster sessions, several open society meetings and quite a few social events, including excursions and a conference dinner. 

Conference delegates enjoying the musical clock installation mounted on an elevated balcony on the glass façade of the ODEON building, where the Nordic Oikos-GfÖ 2026 conference took place between 13 and 17 September 2026.

Throughout the scientific event, conference delegates had the opportunity to also explore the various publishing services offered by Pensoft to authors of research, journal managers, conference organisers; the diverse portfolio of almost 100 open-access peer-reviewed journals published on Pensoft’s ARPHA Publishing Platform.

Beyond publishing solutions, a key focus was given to OBSGESSION: a Horizon Europe-funded project where Pensoft is actively involved. To better understand and predict changes in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, the OBSGESSION consortium integrates multi-source Earth Observation data (such as high-resolution satellite imagery and drone monitoring) with ground-based in-situ research, including advanced environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling. By coupling these data streams with cutting-edge detection-attribution modelling and machine learning algorithms, the project generates scalable Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). These ecological approaches and analytical frameworks are actively tested and validated through six biodiversity pilots across diverse European ecosystems. In the open-science Research Ideas and Outcomes journal, you can find a collection of project outputs, including research papers, project reports and deliverables, and guideline papers published across journals and platforms.

At the Pensoft-OBSGESSION-branded booth, conference participants would stop by to chat with Pensoft’s Head of Journal development and PR: Iva Boyadzhieva and Senior Communications Officer: Desislava Raykova.

As a leader of the “Dissemination, Multi-stakeholder outreach and synergies” work package at OBSGESSION, Pensoft is tasked with stakeholder engagement and community building, ultimately contributing to the high impact of the resulting outputs, methodologies and policy recommendations that aim to strengthen public understanding of biodiversity change.

Earth Observation meets in-situ biodiversity monitoring: Pensoft joins the OBSGESSION project

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One of the six keynote talks was presented by Prof. Dr. Isabell Hensen (Martin Luther University Halle, Germany), who received the GfÖ Honorary Medal 2026 for her leading, forward-looking contributions to ecological research and the scientific community. Her work examines how genetic variation, environmental conditions, disturbance, and plant-animal interactions shape plant populations, with particular emphasis on rare species, biological invasions, and the regeneration of degraded forests.

In her talk, titled “One spark is enough: regeneration ecology of Andean forests under global change”, she reported on post-fire regeneration processes in tropical Andean forests, based on long-term field experiments and observational studies. 

Hensen focused on the well-studied endemic plant genus Polylepis, which forms the world’s highest-elevation forests and illustrates how fire has shaped ecosystem dynamics over millennia. Her talk also mentioned a 2022 monograph of the genus, published in the Pensoft journal PhytoKeys by Tatiana Erika Boza Espinoza (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) and Michael Kessler (University of Zurich), which brought together results from 35 years of field and herbarium experience.

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On Wednesday, Pensoft’s Iva Boyadzhieva delivered a presentation titled “Scholarly Communication: Lessons from the Publisher’s Kitchen”. She highlighted the vital role publishers play in helping researchers communicate their insights not only to peers, but also to decision-makers and the public. Emphasizing the publisher’s responsibility to support authors with robust infrastructure and dedicated human expertise, she outlined how Pensoft works to FAIRify scholarly publishing and future-proof scientific knowledge in an era of rapid AI development and expanding research output.

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Pensoft’s team was delighted to meet up with dedicated readers, authors, reviewers, and editors from across Pensoft’s portfolio, as well as introduce Pensoft journals to attendees discovering them for the first time.

Unsurprisingly, well-established society journals published by Pensoft, such as Frontiers of Biogeography, NeoBiota, Vegetation Classification and Survey, Vegetation Ecology and Diversity and Italian Botanist drew plenty of attention, alongside long-standing Pensoft’s own titles like Nature Conservation, PhytoKeys, One Ecosystem and the Biodiversity Data Journal. 

Visitors were also particularly intrigued by several newly launched Pensoft journals. Developed in close collaboration with passionate researchers, these fresh outlets directly address key gaps in academic publishing. 

One of the newly launched journals in the spotlight was Agricultural and Environmental Modelling (AEM), which provides a unique scholarly outlet thanks to its modern approach to publishing by increasing transparency, giving credit to research objects across the entire modelling research lifecycle. This is achieved through publishing specialised article types, such as: Formal Model, Model Testing and Calibration, Model Implementation and Documentation, Data Papers and Software Descriptions. These new publishing formats are designed to keep pace with advances in Modelling research and to make it FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) by enabling scholarly credit for diverse research outputs, often created by different groups of authors. For the time being, AEM remains a Diamond Open Access journal, meaning that it will not charge authors for open-access publication. 

Other recently founded journals addressing emerging and fast-developing disciplines within the ecological field that took the spotlight were:

  • Individual-Based Ecology: launched to support understanding and predicting ecological systems’ response to rapidly changing and novel conditions by linking individual responses to responses at higher levels of organisation.
  • Advances in Pollinator Research: a multidisciplinary journal publishing research on pollination ecology, pollinator-plant interactions, pollinator health and drivers of pollinator declines, crop and wild flower pollination, pollinator conservation practices, molecular ecology of pollinators, pollinator and pollination monitoring, decision support for policy and socio-economics.
  • Journal of Regeneration: a multidisciplinary journal for the dissemination of research results on regeneration and tissue repair across phyla. These mechanisms can be framed within an evolutionary framework and integrate a variety of cellular processes involving stem cells, dedifferentiating or even transdifferentiating cells. 

All of these journals operate with no article fees for either authors, nor readers.

To receive updates on new publications and relevant news, sign up for Email Alerts on any journal’s homepage. Creating a Pensoft account also allows users to  easily customise their notification preferences, follow additional journals, or filter updates by research topic. You can also follow journals on social media, including BlueSky, Facebook and Linkedin.

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Supporting European Policy Through Priority Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs)

Delegates at the event showed strong interest in OBSGESSION’s first policy brief: “Prioritising Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) to support European Union (EU) policy needs based on the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.” To tackle a critical challenge in environmental monitoring, OBSGESSION focuses on prioritising key EBVs to directly support the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 – a roadmap designed to put Europe’s biodiversity on a path to recovery through 102 specific actions and sub-actions.

To align these policy needs with actionable data, the OBSGESSION team conducted an assessment to identify priority EBV candidates. By categorising EBV-applicable actions and indicators across different ecosystem realms and implementation stages, the project pinpointed the most essential variables needed to strengthen monitoring, reporting, and policy execution. The document is based on a deliverable by the project (D1.1 Policy Landscape and Needs Assessment).

This policy brief is part of a broader, ongoing effort within OBSGESSION to bridge the gap between biodiversity data and policy execution. To dive deeper into the science behind this topic, the project has hosted a dedicated seminar series exploring key aspects of the framework:

Bringing Methodologies to Life Across European Ecosystems

Beyond theoretical frameworks, OBSGESSION grounds its research in six biodiversity validation pilots across Europe. The case studies represent European biodiversity and ecosystem conservation challenges at scales varying from local to regional. Full details on each ecosystem pilot are now available in a collection of newly published pilot factsheets, which made their debut at the conference, where people could take a look at their digital versions. 

Reading those materials gives an insight into the practical testing environment to demonstrate how Earth observation, field research, and ecological modelling come together to deliver actionable biodiversity insights. You can also check out OBSGESSION’s biodiversity pilots on the project’s website.

The OBSGESSION in a Nutshell video presents a concise overview of the project’s overarching mission and components.

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To relive the conference by exploring the detailed programme alongside the full abstracts, visit the conference website.

Keep up with future updates and news from Pensoft by following us on Bluesky, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn. 

Pensoft at NeoBiota 2026: Talking about Europe’s Invasive Species Response

Pensoft Publishers took part in the 14th International Conference on Biological Invasions (NeoBiota 2026) in Brussels, Belgium, between 7-11 September 2026.

Pensoft Publishers took part in the 14th International Conference on Biological Invasions (NeoBiota 2026) in Brussels, Belgium, between 7-11 September 2026. The well-established biennial series brought together researchers, practitioners, policymakers and stakeholders from around the world to share cutting-edge scientific research on biological invasions. 

Over five days, the conference covered the full arc of the field, from how alien species arrive and spread to what they do to ecosystems and to people. The conference sessions also tackled how risks are assessed and prioritised, and what management, policy and public engagement can realistically achieve. 

Pensoft’s Presence

During the days of the conference, we showcased our journals’ portfolio and project materials from OneSTOP and other projects, which were of interest to the participants.

  • Pensoft's stand at the 14th International Conference on Biological Invasions.
    Pensoft’s stand at the 14th International Conference on Biological Invasions.
  • Pensoft's stand at the 14th International Conference on Biological Invasions.
  • Pensoft's stand at the 14th International Conference on Biological Invasions.

More specifically, Pensoft was represented with a booth showcasing the relevant journals such as:

  • NeoBiota – publishes all disciplines interested in biological invasions, specifically on the ecology, evolution and biogeography of non-indigenous aquatic and terrestrial animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms
  • Nature Conservation – publishes all disciplines interested in basic and applied conservation ecology and nature conservation in general at various spatial, temporal and evolutionary scales
  • Biodiversity Data Journal – publishes biodiversity science containing taxonomic, floristic/faunistic, morphological, genomic, phylogenetic, ecological or environmental data on any taxon of any geological age from any part of the world
  • Metabarcoding and Metagenomics – publishes on metabarcoding and metagenomics from both basic and applied aspects
  • One Ecosystem – provides a forum for studies in the field of ecology and sustainability
  • PhytoKeys – publishes in systematic Botany containing taxonomic/floristic data on any taxon of any geological age from any part of the world
  • MycoKeys – publishes on the monophyletic kingdom Fungi containing taxonomic or ecological data on any taxon of any geological age from any part of the world
  • ZooKeys – launched to support free exchange of ideas, data and information in all branches of Zoology
  • Research Ideas and Outcomes – publishes all outputs of the research cycle, including: project proposals, data, methods, workflows, software, project reports and research articles
  • Visitors at Pensoft's booth
    Pensoft at the 14th International Conference on Biological Invasions.
  • Visitors at Pensoft's booth
  • Visitors at Pensoft's booth

During the days of the conference, we met many project partners and journal editors. Indeed, Pensoft’s presence at the conference was significant, with a Pensoft NeoBiota editorial meeting held and the Pensoft Award for the Best Talk given by Ana Novoa to Rajat Rastagi at the closing ceremony of the conference.

The Highlights

Pensoft Editorial Meeting 

On Tuesday evening, NeoBiota convened its editorial board to review the journal’s progress. The meeting highlighted significant developments, including increases in article submissions and continued improvement in the journal’s impact and reputation within the field.

  • NeoBiota journal editorial meeting 2026
    NeoBiota Editorial Meeting, 2026.
  • NeoBiota journal editorial meeting 2026
  • NeoBiota journal editorial meeting 2026

Visiting Meise Botanic Garden 

On Wednesday, meanwhile, we visited Meise Botanic Garden, the home of OneSTOP’s coordinators and the Plant Ecology and Evolution journal. The trip allowed us to meet some editors from the journal and talk to them about their plans and publications. In addition, the project OneSTOP was showcased, and the walk in the garden allowed participants to test OneSTOP’s web app for the identification of invasive species. 

  • Meise Botanic Garden, 2026.
    Meise Botanic Garden, 2026.
  • Meise Botanic Garden, 2026.

Notable Presentations 

While the conference included numerous notable presentations, Joana Vicente’s keynote Prioritisation in the Age of Invasion Science: From Risk Ranking to Adaptive Governance, is especially worth mentioning. Joana represented BIOPOLIS-CIBIO, one of OneSTOP’s partners, and showcased OneSTOP’s work in prioritisation. The key takeaway was as follows:

“Prioritisation should not be a one-off ranking of species but an ongoing, adaptive process built into how invasions are governed”. 

Joana Vicente presenting at NeoBiota 2026.
Joana Vicente presenting at NeoBiota 2026.

Another important session was one on Friday morning, where Quentin Groom (coordinator of OneSTOP and author, reviewer and subject Editor in Biodiversity Data Journal, NeoBiota, One Ecosystem) presented the importance of developing an early-alert system for invasive alien species in the session – From prototype to infrastructure: building a cross-realm European alert system for invasive alien species.

Quentin Groom presenting at NeoBiota 2026.
Quentin Groom presenting at NeoBiota 2026.

During the session, he showcased how such a system would help the management of IAS and highlighted the work that has already been done for its development by OneSTOP and its sister project GuardIAS.  

The Takeaway

NeoBiota 2026 has closed, but the work of limiting the spread and impact of invasive alien species does not pause between conferences. We met many project partners and editors from journals, and talked about the next steps in the science of biological invasions. 

Follow us on Bluesky, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn for future conference updates.

Pensoft launches ORPHO: A new intelligent workspace for scientific writing

The beta release of an innovative collaborative stand-alone authoring tool transforms manuscript preparation with semantic enrichment and real-time collaboration capabilities.

Scholarly publisher and technology provider Pensoft Publishers announces the beta launch of ORPHO, a revolutionary online platform designed to streamline collaborative scientific writing and produce AI-ready, future-proof scholarly literature. 

ORPHO presents a significant advancement in scholarly publishing technology, combining intuitive writing features with sophisticated semantic enrichment capabilities. The new platform builds upon Pensoft’s fifteen years of experience as a developer of semantic publishing infrastructure.

Key Features

Within a shared online workspace, researchers can start with built-in customisable templates, create their own or import an existing file. They can then team up with collaborators in real time using track changes, role-based user rights, inline comments, and document-level chat. More significantly, ORPHO automatically structures scientific content according to international publishing standards, making research outputs findable, discoverable, interoperable and reusable (FAIR) once published. 

Unlike its predecessor, the ARPHA Writing Tool, ORPHO is available as a standalone real-time collaborative workspace decoupled from journals hosted on Pensoft’s ARPHA Publishing Platform. Once a manuscript is ready, authors receive AI-FAIR machine-readable content that can be formatted to meet multiple journal requirements at the click of a button.

The platform’s adaptability to domain-specific workflows is currently being piloted in biodiversity science. ORPHO integrates seamlessly with leading biodiversity data aggregators, including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD) and PlutoF, via import and export facilities for structured data, making ORPHO particularly valuable for researchers handling taxonomic, ecological and biodiversity data. 

Taxon names, for example, can be automatically imported and linked through persistent identifiers from sources like the Catalogue of Life (CoL), International Plant Names Index (IPNI), World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and World Flora Online (WFO).

  • ORPHO: A new intelligent workspace for scientific writing.

Why ORPHO?

The name draws inspiration from multiple sources which reflect the tool’s philosophy and heritage. Named after Orphium: a unique plant genus endemic to South Africa whose sole species (Orphium frutescens) is known as the sea rose, ORPHO reflects the platform’s distinctive nature, heritage, and core philosophy.

It also evokes Orpheus, the legendary musician of ancient Thrace whose home region, the Rhodopi Mountains, lies in present-day Bulgaria, where ORPHO’s developer, Pensoft, is headquartered. The name thus honours the tool’s origins whilst embodying the exceptional creative performance it enables. 

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Prof. Dr. Lyubomir Penev, founder and CEO of Pensoft, comments:

“We are well aware that researchers today face an overwhelming list of formatting requirements and technical demands in an AI-driven landscape. It is true that rapid technological advancement presents both immense opportunities and mounting complexities for researchers.

We built ORPHO to remove that friction by offering an intuitive, collaborative workspace that lets scientists focus on their research. As a scientific publisher, our mission is to make scholarly publishing a seamless, rewarding experience fit for the modern age.”

The beta release invites researchers, institutions and publishing platforms to trial ORPHO and provide feedback. Access is available at orpho.net.

Peer Review Week 2026: Building Capacity for the Long Run

Pensoft Publishers mark Peer Review Week 2026 by spotlighting some of its Editors-in-Chief across its diverse portfolio.

Every September since 2015, the scholarly publishing world has paused to examine the process that quietly underwrites the integrity of scientific knowledge. This year, Peer Review Week runs from 14 to 18 September, bringing together publishers, societies, funders, libraries and researchers to talk about the often unglamorous but essential job of reviewing each other’s work.

Table of Contents

The 2026 theme was chosen by community vote – 2,115 votes in total, the highest participation in Peer Review Week’s history. “Peer Review Capacity: Volume, Speed, and Quality” emerged as the winner, taking 40% of the vote. The result reflects a strain the whole system is experiencing: submissions are rising faster than the pool of willing, qualified reviewers, while authors and funders expect faster decisions than ever. While editors are being asked to hold the line on rigour with the same volunteer hours they always had – or less.

So, to celebrate the essential work that reviewers do, highlight some of the strains the current system is under, and show how we at Pensoft are trying to support our reviewers, we wanted to spotlight our editors-in-chief, the people who see the submission pipeline every single day, by asking them what “capacity” really means to them, and what would need to change for peer review to become more sustainable.

Capacity starts with people

Person working on a laptop
Person working on a laptop. Credit to poungsaed_eco via Envato.

We asked our editors how they would describe “peer review capacity“. Almost every answer was rooted in the same place: people, and whether enough of them are still willing to do the work.

Mark Hauber, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Individual-based Ecology, points to:

It’s about people – their willingness to give the best scientific thought to review and evaluate a fellow scientist’s work.

Tammy Robinson, Editor-in-Chief of NeoBiota, described the day-to-day challenge of finding those people:

NeoBiota editors try to avoid repeatedly asking the same people to review, but it’s very difficult to get people to accept a review invitation these days.

While for Florian Leese, Editor-in-Chief of Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, the strain of growing submissions without letting quality or turnaround times slip is a daily balancing act he’s refreshingly candid about:

Submissions in MBMG are growing faster than the time I and our editors can give them – and I think it’s worth saying that openly.

Open Laptop Displaying a Blue Network of Data
Open Laptop Displaying a Blue Network of Data. Credit to GoldenDayz via Envato.

This is precisely the problem Pensoft set out to address earlier this year, when ARPHA – our end-to-end publishing platform – integrated with Prophy, an AI-driven reviewer-discovery tool that matches manuscripts to qualified researchers from a database of millions. Across more than 90 ARPHA-powered journals, editorial teams can now reach well beyond the small circle of familiar names, surfacing reviewers by expertise and research focus rather than by who comes to mind first – directly widening the pool editors like Robinson are struggling to tap.

Freeing up expertise for what matters most

Pensoft designed the ARPHA Publishing Platform to carry every manuscript through review, editing, publication, dissemination and archiving within a single collaborative environment – precisely so that the whole publishing process is made straightforward. 

ARPHA homepage
ARPHA homepage

As Leese reflects:

The workflow side is not the problem; ARPHA handles editor assignment, plagiarism checks and the mechanics of the process efficiently, and the Pensoft team is quick to spot where things are piling up and need fixes.

Where he sees the next opportunity is in the technical, time-consuming checks that sit just beneath editorial judgment: 

What no workflow tool currently helps with is the part that actually defines quality in our field: are the sequence data and metadata deposited and usable, are the bioinformatic steps reproducible, do the results actually support the conclusions? Those checks take time that has to be carved out of an already full working day, for editors as much as for reviewers.

As numbers rise, the honest answer is that editors will need support – trained data auditors, or validated AI-based tools from the publisher that pre-screen the technical parts – or the model of the volunteer editor/reviewer will not scale. We are not there yet, but we are at the point where that has to be said.

Prof. Benjamin Burkhard, Editor-in-Chief of One Ecosystem adds:

I think that One Ecosystem and ARPHA are providing a very straight-forward authoring, editing and reviewing system. Everything happens directly in the same platform, so no additional documents have to be filled. I also appreciate that the reviewers can (optionally) reveal their identity, which adds a lot of transparency to the whole process and helps to avoid/reduce unconstructive comments.

Making reviewing sustainable

“Recognition” was the word the editors returned to most often when the conversation turned to sustainability, and this is an area in which Pensoft has been investing for a decade and continues to develop.

Person working on a computer
Person working on a computer. Credit to puhhha via Envato.

Since 2016, ARPHA has been integrated with Publons (now part of Web of Science’s Reviewer Recognition Service), so every review logged through the platform becomes part of a reviewer’s visible professional record rather than disappearing into an inbox.

Editors and reviewers across the Pensoft portfolio also receive discounts on article processing charges.

Hauber shared his vision for sustainability in five years:

A broad reviewer base, with folks at all stages of their academic and industry careers, still willing to review and evaluate peer-workers’ studies.

Robinson sees growth coming from investing in the next generation:

Training courses for early career researchers so that they are upskilled and can be drawn in as skilled reviewers. This will be good for them and the system.

Burkhard notes:

I think the community needs to be strengthen and encouraged to do reviews. If each publishing author would review as many articles as they are submitting, the problem of reviewer fatigue would be solved rather easily. Otherwise we need to think about rewarding system for reviewers, perhaps even offering a small financial incentive.

Leese proposes fewer publications and a bit more visibility for reviewers’ input: 

Stop rewarding the number of papers. My proposal: publish less, and treat reviewing as an obligation to the community that scales with your own output. Review roughly twice as many papers as you publish, and make that visible as a metric. ‘Are you paying back?’ should be a question that counts in evaluations.

He also laid out what he sees as the two changes that would help most, and what’s at stake if the field doesn’t act on them:

Two things would help in parallel. First, better recognition or (even monetary) rewards for reviewers, as long as it does not end up inflating article processing charges. Second, and specifically for a data-heavy field like in our journal: the publishing field should take the necessary but tedious checks – data and metadata availability, code, reproducibility – away from reviewers and automate them, so that human expertise is spent where it is really needed: study design, context, whether the data support the claims, and whether something essential is missing that only an expert would notice. Classical peer review is at a turning point. It can be reformed, and I think it should be; the alternative is that it slowly gets replaced by AI-generated reviews that may often not do the job as we had hoped for.

Building toward that future

Past or future sign.
Past or future sign. Credit to fotodestock via Envato.

Having been around for 34 years, Pensoft treats Peer Review Week as more than a thank-you. Rather, it reflects a continued effort to build a publishing environment that makes reviewing sustainable, from AI-assisted reviewer matching to permanent recognition to the tools that take tedious checks off editors’ plates.

The record turnout in this year’s theme vote shows the community itself has named capacity as the defining challenge of this moment. As we look at insights from editors like Mark Hauber, Tammy Robinson, Florian Leese and Benjamin Burkhard, the message is clear: the field can only be sustainable if reviewing is treated as seriously as publishing.

Pensoft at SERE2026: Connecting Projects, Publications and People in Brest

Pensoft attended the 15th European Conference on Ecological Restoration (SERE2026) in Brest, France, where it presented a selection of EU-funded projects and scientific journals.

From 24 to 28 August 2026, Pensoft joined around 600 researchers and professionals at the 15th European Conference on Ecological Restoration (SERE2026) in Brest, France, bringing together the ecological restoration community to share knowledge, strengthen collaborations and explore new approaches to restoring ecosystems across Europe.

Table of Contents

Hosted by the University of Brest in collaboration with the French Ecological Restoration Network (REVER) and the European Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER-Europe), SERE2026 provided a vibrant meeting point for researchers, practitioners and policymakers working across ecological restoration. The conference covered a broad range of topics, including wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems, ecological networks and the implementation of European restoration policies.

Pensoft was there with a selection of EU-funded projects and open-access journals, offering conference participants the chance to discover new research, explore project results and learn more about opportunities to publish and share their work.

Pensoft at SERE 2026.

A showcase of Pensoft projects

The Pensoft team presented materials from a diverse group of EU-funded projects, reflecting the wide range of environmental research and collaboration supported through the Pensoft network.

Among the projects showcased were FERRO, SpongeBoost, BioAgora, ForestPaths, EUFAWREADY, eLTER, SELINA, COAST SCAPES and COOP4CBD.

The projects cover a broad spectrum of topics, from biodiversity and ecosystem restoration to forest resilience, environmental governance, ecosystem monitoring and nature conservation. Their presence at SERE2026 offered researchers an opportunity to discover ongoing initiatives and see how scientific knowledge is being translated into practical approaches for addressing environmental challenges.

The project materials attracted interest throughout the conference, with participants stopping by to learn more about individual initiatives and explore their latest activities and results.

From ecological restoration to open-access publishing

Alongside the projects, Pensoft presented a selection of its journals and publishing platforms.

Visitors could discover titles including Nature Conservation, One Ecosystem, Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO), Agricultural and Environmental Modelling, Biodiversity Data Journal, Check List, Journal of Regeneration and NeoBiota, alongside several other journals from Pensoft’s open-access, peer-reviewed scholarly portfolio.

The broad selection reflected the interdisciplinary nature of ecological restoration itself. Researchers working on biodiversity, ecosystems, conservation, environmental modelling, species diversity and regeneration could all find publication venues relevant to their work.

There was considerable interest in the journals throughout the conference, with discussions ranging from publishing research articles and project outputs to discovering new ways of sharing scientific data, ideas and results with the wider research community.

Celebrating excellent science

Scientific exchange was at the heart of SERE2026, and participants also had the opportunity to recognise some of the strongest contributions presented during the conference.

Several awards were presented based on votes from conference participants, highlighting outstanding talks and presentations.

Pensoft was pleased to contribute to these celebrations with the Best Talk Award. The award recognises an exceptional conference presentation and comes with a special prize: a free publication in a Pensoft journal.

This time around, the award went to Chloé Dagnelie of Gembloux AgrobioTech for her presentation: “Spontaneous succession under soil and landscape constraints: dispersal filtering and urban species pools shape brownfield true bugs communities”

By supporting awards such as this, Pensoft aims to encourage clear, engaging and impactful scientific communication while helping researchers share their work through open-access publishing.

Connecting research, restoration and communication

SERE2026 offered an inspiring setting for conversations about the future of ecological restoration and the role of research in supporting healthier and more resilient ecosystems.

Pensoft Publishers at 15th European Conference on Ecological Restoration

For Pensoft, the conference was also an opportunity to bring together several strands of its work: supporting EU-funded research projects, publishing scientific knowledge through open-access journals and creating opportunities for researchers to connect, communicate and collaborate.

The strong interest in both the projects and journals showcased in Brest was a reminder of the value of bringing science and scientific communication together in one place.

As Europe moves towards ambitious restoration goals, strengthening the connections between research, practice, policy and communication will be essential. Events such as SERE2026 provide an important space for these connections to grow.

Pensoft was delighted to be part of the ecological restoration community in Brest and looks forward to continuing these conversations at future events.