Amsterdam, NL, 28 March 2007 -- Elsevier announced today the launching of a new journal, Marine Genomics. The journal will be published quarterly, and will focus on the advances in the very rapidly expanding field of genomic studies on marine organisms. The first issue will appear in March 2008. Prof. William Martin, Group Director at Heinrich-Heine University in Dsseldorf (Germany) will be the Co-Editor of the new journal. A very prestigious International Advisory Board comprising Profs. Rita Colwell (chair), Eric Davidson, Takashi Gojobori and Daniel Hartl, will be actively involved in developing the editorial policy of the journal. An international Editorial Board composed of the most prominent investigators in the field will be in charge of the reviewing procedure.

The scope of the journal will address the most interesting and dynamic subjects in the field of aquatic genomics, including population genomics, developmental, functional and comparative genomics. More specific topics will include: biogeochemistry, microbial carbon utilization and metabolic pathways, ecosystem modelling, distribution and phylogenetic characterization of aquatic organisms, genomics applied to microbial ecology, tracking of infectious diseases and environmental stress. The journal will also publish reviews and topical special issues.

Editor-in-Chief Prof. Giorgio Bernardi, President of the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (Naples Italy) explains: "The need for a new journal hosting high quality papers in aquatic genomics crystallized after the success of the "Marine Genomics" international meeting jointly organized by the European Union "Marine Genomics" Network of Excellence, the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn and the Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology (Bergen, Norway), which took place in Sorrento (Italy) in October 2006".