The “Arid Ecosystems” journal was organized by the decision of General Biology Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The founders of the journal are the Caspian Institute of Biological Resources, the Institute of Geology (both of Dagestan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS)) and the Water Problems Institute of RAS. The journal has been published in Russia since January 1995, and by the publishing house “KMK Scientific Press LTD” since 2009. The journal has been translated into English since 2011 by Pleiades/MAIK “Nauka/Interperiodika”; the English version has been published by Springer.

The journal has been included into Russian Scientific Citation Index (RINZ), All-Russian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (VINITI), Web of Science (since 2015), and SCOPUS (since 2016).

“Arid Ecosystems” is an independent journal covering a wide range of problems in the theory and methods of the study of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the environment in arid and semi-arid areas. The journal also addresses applied issues including conservation and preventing degradation of arid environments. The journal has an international coverage welcoming manuscripts in both Russian and English languages. In the published issues of the journal, the papers of leading scientists from Russia and abroad are represented.

The journal is registered by the Regional Chamber of Registration and Monitoring of Law Supervision of Russian Federation for Mass Media and Publication of Dagestan Republic (certificate № Д 0238, February 17, 1998) and by the Federal Supervision Service for Information Technologies and Mass Communication (Roskomnadzor) (certificate ПИ № ФС77-56164, November 15, 2013). Its ISSN is 19933916. The subscription index (39775) in the joint catalogue of “Pressa Rossii” was acquired in 2008. Periodicity of the journal is 4 issues per year since 2009; the circulation is 200 copies. Since 2009 the journal has been distributed by subscription; the required number of copies has been transferred to the Russian Book Chamber – the Department of the Information Telegraph Agency TASS. The main territory of distribution of the Russian version of the journal is Russian Federation. Among its subscribers are the Library of Lomonosov Moscow State University and libraries of many universities and institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 2011 by the decision of the Governing Council of Pleiades /MAIK “Nauka/Interperiodika” /Springer (19.02.2010 №6), “Arid Ecosystems”, along with the journals of “Nauka”, has been included into the program of Russian Library of Science, published in English and distributed worldwide by Springer (ISSN 2079-0961 printed version, ISSN 2079-0988 electronic version).

The journal is also included in electronic database eLIBRARY and the system of Russian Scientific Citation (agreement №25-02/09а, February 25, 2009; then registration was renewed – appendix №2 to the license agreement of “KMK Scientific Press” and NEB N 366-08/12, August 28, 2012). Over the last 5 years its impact factor in Russian Scientific Citation Index is 0.556; 0.581 over 2012-2013; 0.858 over 2014-2018. The journal is included in the list of Reviewed Journals and Database of All-Russian Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (VINITI) (agreement R0155/008-06, January 11, 2006). Information about the journal is sent annually to the International Inquiry System on periodicals and proceeding editions – “Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory”. In 2015 “Arid Ecosystems” was included in the list of 650 journals, posted on the Russian platform of Web of Science.

The well-known scientists from Russia and the foreign countries are among the members of our editorial board: 1 academician of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS); 2 corresponding members of RAS; 16 doctors and 6 candidates of biological sciences; 3 doctors and 5 candidates of geographical sciences; 1 doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences. That list includes researchers from USA, Germany, Sweden, Israel, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan as well. The editor in chief is professor, DSc in Biology Zalibekov Zalibek Gadzhievich; he is the chief scientist of Institute of Geology of Dagestan Scientific Center of RAS, the head chairman of Soil Research Department of Dagestan State University, the Honored Scientist of Russian Federation and Dagestan Republic. The independent reviewing of the submitted manuscripts is performed by the members of the editorial board and by the outer reviewers; all of them are the leading scientists, specialized in the respective fields of the journal. Information about the journal, its editor in chief and editorial board (including scientific degrees, titles, positions, affiliations and contacts), rules for the authors about their manuscripts submission, reviewing and publication, full list of journal’s all-time publications, as well as contents of the current issue, summaries with keywords for the last 2 years are shown on the website of Water Problems Institute (http://www.iwp.ru/science/institute-journals/zhurnal-aridnye-ekosistemy/).

The full text version of the journal issues starting from 2004 can be found on the website of eLibrary (http://elibrary.ru/title_about.asp?id=8404), and CYBERLENINKA (https://cyberleninka.ru/journal/n/aridnye-ekosistemy). The journal is included into the list of Reviewed Journals and Publications of High Certification Commission (agreement № 6/6, February 19, 2010 of Presidium of High Certification Commission, Ministry of Education and Science of Russia) in which the main scientific results of doctoral and candidate’s thesis to be defended in Russian Federation have to be published according to such scientific directions as General Biology (ecology, botany, soil sciences) and Earth Sciences (physical geography, biogeography, geochemistry of the landscapes; environment – geoecology-geography).