gcb-literature-positioning

Literature Positioning (gcb-literature-positioning)

GCB is read across ecology, biogeochemistry, ecosystem science, and Earth-system / climate-impacts communities. A submission must show it knows the global-change literature on its driver and response — not just the narrow subfield where the data were collected. This skill positions the contribution so reviewers see the gap and the advance.

When to trigger

• Writing the introduction's "what is known / what is missing" framing
• Reconciling a finding with prior global-change studies (and apparent contradictions)
• Building a Research Review's coverage and argument
• A reviewer said the framing is "too local" or "misses key literature"

How to position for GCB

1. Anchor on the driver-response literature, not only the local system. Cite the global-change studies a GCB reader expects (warming experiments, FACE/eCO2, N-deposition, range shifts, flux syntheses), then show your gap.
2. Speak across systems. A terrestrial result should acknowledge whether the mechanism is expected to hold in aquatic/marine systems and vice versa; GCB rewards generality.
3. Engage the synthesis literature. Meta-analyses and model-intercomparison papers often define the consensus you are confirming, extending, or challenging — engage them explicitly.
4. Be honest about contradictions. If your result conflicts with a prior study, say so and explain the mechanism (scale, system, duration, design), rather than ignoring it.
5. Position the mechanism, not just the magnitude. The contribution is usually why a response occurs or how it scales — make that the gap.

Diagnosing the framing gap

GCB's cross-disciplinary readership means a paper can be well-cited inside its subfield yet read as parochial to the journal. This table maps the symptom an editor or referee flags to the positioning move that closes it.

Symptom in the draft	What it signals	Positioning fix
Only single-taxon citations	Subfield framing, not global-change	Anchor on the driver-response literature across taxa
No meta-analysis or MIP cited	Unaware of the consensus	Engage the synthesis that defines the baseline
"Novel" for a known response	Local novelty mistaken for advance	Reframe the gap as mechanism or scaling, not first sighting
Contradiction unmentioned	Selective reading	Name the conflicting study and explain it mechanistically
Terrestrial-only with no marine nod	Generality unproven	State whether the mechanism is expected across systems

Worked micro-example (illustrative)

A species-range-shift model predicts an illustrative 180 km poleward shift of a montane plant by 2070. A local framing cites only regional floristic surveys. A GCB framing instead anchors on the range-shift synthesis literature (which reports a mean terrestrial shift of an illustrative ~17 km per decade), shows that this taxon shifts faster because of a dispersal-limitation mechanism the syntheses average over, and notes whether the same lag is documented for marine ectotherms. The gap is now mechanistic and cross-system, not "a new record for our mountains." Numbers illustrative.

Referee pushback patterns and the fix

• "Too local; misses key literature" → replace site-specific citations with the driver-response and synthesis literatures a GCB reader expects.
• "This is already known from the meta-analysis" → reframe the contribution as the mechanism or scaling the synthesis cannot resolve.
• "Ignores contradictory evidence" → engage the conflicting result and reconcile it by scale, duration, system, or design.

Anti-patterns

• Citing only the local/regional or single-taxon literature on your study system
• Ignoring large syntheses / model-intercomparisons that already address your question
• Treating a known global-change response as novel because it is new for your site
• Burying contradictory prior findings instead of engaging them
• A citation pile with no argument about where the field is stuck

Output format

【Driver-response literature】key prior global-change work engaged
【Cross-system reach】does the mechanism travel beyond your system? [Y/N/—]
【Synthesis engaged】relevant meta-analyses / MIPs cited?
【Gap】what is missing / contested → your advance
【Contradictions】reconciled with mechanism? [Y/N/NA]
【Next】gcb-study-design

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — data and synthesis sources across systems
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — GCB scope and article types (Reviews)