The European Vegetation Survey and the IAVS’ gold open access journal “Vegetation Classification and Survey (VCS)” are proud to launch a joint Special Collection dedicated to the broad-scale classification of European vegetation. We welcome both original Research Papers and Review and Synthesis Papers from the national to the continental scale. Presenters at the 33rd conference of the European Vegetation Survey in Perugia are especially welcome to submit papers related to their presentations, but the Special Collection is open to any paper fitting its scope.

Editors: Idoia Biurrun (Spain), Flavia Landucci (Czech Republic), Pavel Novak (Czech Republic), Tomas Peterka (Czech Republic) and Denys Vynokurov (Germany/Ukraine).

Procedure and deadlines

Until 15 December 2025: Please submit your (preliminary) abstract to Idoia Biurrun (idoia.biurrun@ehu.eus). The abstract must follow the VCS Author Guidelines

Until 19 December 2025: Authors will be notified whether their planned work is eligible for submission

Until 31 March 2026: Submission of invited papers

Manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review process and be published on a one-by-one basis once accepted

End of 2026 or early 2027: Completion of the Special Collection

For detailed author guidelines please consult the journal website (https://vcs.pensoft.net/about#Authors-Guidelines) or contact one of the editors of the Special Collection directly: Idoia Biurrun (idoia.biurrun@ehu.eus), Flavia Landucci (flavia.landucci@gmail.com), Pavel Novak (pavenow@seznam.cz), Tomas Peterka (peterkatomasek@seznam.cz) and Denys Vynokurov (denys.vynokurov@gmail.com).

Please note that VCS is a gold open access journal, which requests Article Processing Charges (APCs) from authors. Thanks to the generous support by IAVS, APCs for IAVS members from high- and medium-income countries are strongly subsidized, while IAVS members from low-income countries can publish for free. You can consult prices here: https://vcs.pensoft.net/about#Article-Processing-Charges

We look forward to receiving your contributions and hope that you will join us in making this Special Collection a valuable resource for the IAVS community.