The overall mission of Mountain Research and Development is to foster sustainable development in mountains by supporting peer-reviewed interdisciplinary, disciplinary, and transdisciplinary research on mountains, developing scientific capacity, capitalizing on development experiences, promoting policy dialogue, and strengthening networks within the mountain community. Mountain Research and Development (MRD) is devoted to mountains and their surrounding lowlands – ecoregions of particular global importance, in which communities are often marginalized. MRD seeks to present the best in recent research on and development approaches in the world’s mountain systems. Papers are peer-reviewed and offer internationally and nationally relevant research on key topics relating to mountains, mountain people, and sustainable development in mountains; book reviews are written by acknowledged experts, and institutional members of the International Mountain Society (IMS) present information about their mountain initiatives and priorities. MRD provides open access to all of its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public, especially to developing countries, supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Open access leads to increased readership beyond the international mountain community, thus increasing the benefit of experience in sustainable mountain development presented in MRD. Open access also results in increased recognition and citation of authors’ work.