COVID-19 Update:

The IBBS Council met via Zoom on 25 January. One of the major topics on the agenda was the IBBS18 meeting. Council enthusiastically supported the continued planning for an in-person meeting for September 6-9, 2021 in Bozeman, Montana, USA. As you know, planning for the triennial IBBS meeting was discontinued because of health concerns and travel restrictions related to COVID-19. The international situation remains in a state of flux as new COVID mutations pop up concurrently with vaccination programs. Given the race between the spread of the contagion and global immunization efforts, the Council felt that our Society was uniquely positioned to risk ‘normalcy’. However, it remains essential to plan. 

As the meeting time for IBBS18 nears, we will be exploring options for virtual sessions. We are making housing and venue arrangements with multiple contingencies, should they be required. 

The important thing now is to move forward and support the meeting by preparing and submitting your abstracts. The call for papers will be announced on this website, by direct email notice and on social media platforms in the immediate days ahead.  The organizing committees and IBBS Council will continue to monitor events, but final decisions related to the meeting format will be made by 31 May and will be based on the health and safety concerns of our attendees. This should still allow enough time for attendees to make the requisite travel arrangements.

Details of all meeting logistics can be obtained on this website. Please bookmark this site and check it often for updated information. 

Previous abstract submissions will be retained, but authors can revise if necessary. Elsevier, publisher of International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation (IBB) journal, the official IBBS journal, has approved a virtual special issue (VSI) to celebrate the 50th year of the Society. Particularly meritorious papers presented at IBBS18 will be invited to submit to this VSI.  Elsevier introduced VSI as a fast-track approach for getting accepted manuscripts into print. The IBB website explains that papers receive the standard peer-review process and accepted papers are immediately migrated to the online workflow, ensuring the final, citable article is online faster than possible with the traditional special issue publication route. Simultaneously, articles appear in a section on ScienceDirect, set up specifically for IBB VSI articles. As articles are accepted, the VSI grows. Submitted articles are assigned to the VSI at the time they first appear online.

Many of you have been writing during the isolation mandated by the global pandemic. Please submit your abstracts to IBBS18 and consider the VSI option of IBB for the publication of your work.