Call for Manuscript Submissions for the New L&O Bulletin Virtual Issue: “How to”—Compiling Collective Knowledge to Reduce Barriers for Aquatic Scientists

Students and early career professionals (jointly referred to as early career researchers, or ECRs) in aquatic sciences often learn how to perform the many necessary tasks in the field by doing them. For some, completing these tasks may be facilitated by direct guidance from someone with relevant expertise. For others, “doing” entails not only the action itself, but also spending countless hours, energy, and potentially financial resources first trying to figure out how to do the task. We have all struggled with a professional task at one moment or another—sometimes even when expert guidance was available. The L&O Bulletin is a great vehicle for sharing knowledge with peers, especially first-timers, and has previously published pieces on incorporating science communication into graduate training (e.g., Hundey et al. 2016), explaining the process of peer review (e.g., Poulson-Ellestad et al. 2020), negotiating your salary (e.g., Cziesielski 2020), managing your time (e.g., Filstrup 2020), and other topics. Scientists highly value such publications because they make their lives easier. The L&O Bulletin is actively seeking to further develop these resources and is pleased to announce this call for submissions to the upcoming “How to” Virtual Issue. This collection of manuscripts will compile guidance on various topics within the aquatic sciences and serve as a resource to those who need to perform a given task for the first time in their career or to anyone looking to refresh their knowledge or reimagine a routine task. We invite submissions from professionals at all career stages who have expertise in a particular area related to a career in aquatic sciences, such as (but not limited to) how to: plan a field trip or sampling protocol, create a sample tracking system, set up and run your own lab, organize a workshop, write a successful grant proposal, be a good mentor or mentee, create an effective learning and development plan, search for and apply for jobs, produce a survey questionnaire, among many other topics (Fig. 1). To contribute to the L&O Bulletin Virtual Issue, please submit a 250–300 word summary of your manuscript idea (expression of interest) and indicate the manuscript type you intend to write (more information in the AuthorGuidelines) by 30 September 2026. Submissions should be sent to the Editor of the L&O Bulletin, Laura Falkenberg, who will evaluate these along with the Virtual Issue Curator, Rita Franco-Santos. When preparing your summary, please consider that all contributions to the Virtual Issue must fit within the scope of the L&O Bulletin and will be assessed with the same level of rigor as regular journal contributions. As a general approach, you may wish to begin with the broader context, use your experience (and that of your co-authors) as a case study, and conclude with lessons or insights that are more widely applicable. Questions about submissions should also be sent to the Editor. Full manuscript submissions are expected by 31 March 2027. Accepted papers will be published online in Early View with a permanent DOI and then bound into the “How to” Virtual Issue and added to the journal website. If you have any questions, or would like to check the fit of your submission to the Virtual Issue, please reach out to Rita Franco-Santos (email: email protected) and Laura Falkenberg (email: email protected). You can also approach us in person if you're attending any of the next ASLO meetings (2026 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow, 2026 ASLO-SIL Joint Meeting in Montréal, and 2027 Aquatic Sciences Meeting in Puerto Rico). A version of this announcement was originally published on the ASLO Blog: News and Announcements and is republished with permission from the copyright holder, the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. LJF declares she is Editor of L&O Bulletin. RMF-S is a Member-at-Large in the ASLO Board of Directors.