Guidelines for authors

Before submitting a manuscript to Integrative Conservation, please ensure that your article fits with the journal’s Aims and Scope and that you have read and followed the author guidelines below.

Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/intconservation.

For help with submissions, please contact: [email protected]

Integrative Conservation does not charge submission fees.

 

Sections

  1. Article Types
  2. Submission and Peer Review Process
  3. After Acceptance 
  4. Appendix

1. Article Types

The list below presents information on the types of articles published in Integrative Conservation. Word limits refer to main body of the manuscript, i.e., from introduction to conclusions and excluding the abstract, references, tables, and legends.

1. Research Article
New research findings or conceptual analyses that make a significant contribution to conservation science. Research Articles have a word limit of 6000 for the main body and 350 for the abstract; they can include up to six figures and/or tables.
2. Short communication
Brief observations and research reports that do not warrant a full-length research article. Short communications have a word limit of 2000 for the main body and 200 for the abstract; they can include up to two figures and/or tables.
3. Review article
Overview of developments in fields or the current lines of thought. Synthesizes multiple sources of information and has long list of references. Emphasis is more factual and less on opinion. It includes systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Reviews have a word limit of 8000 for the main body and 350 for the abstract, and there is no a priori limit for the number of figures and tables.
4. Practice and Policy
Public statement of evidence-based and state-of-the-art knowledge on an aspect of conservation practice and/or policy. Practice and policy papers have a word limit of 5000 for the main body and 350 for the abstract; they can include up to six figures and/or tables.
5. Method
Procedural method in the design and implementation of an experiment or study. Method and protocol papers have a word limit of 6000 for the main body and 350 for the abstract, and there is no a priori limit for the number of figures and tables.
6. Editorial
To convey an opinion, or overview of an issue, by the Editor or someone invited by the editor. Editorials have no word limit.
7. Correspondence
A letter, or response to a letter, sent to the journal to raise a point of interest, discuss a difference of opinion or encourage participation. Letters to the editor have a word limit of 1000 for the main body and 50 for the abstract, and can include up to 10 references. Normally they do not include figures and/or tables.
8. Commentary
Expert opinion from one or more people (who may agree or disagree) on a published work, current understanding/status of an area, or how practice should be undertaken. Commentaries have a word limit of 1000 for the main body and 50 for the abstract, and can include up to 10 references. Normally they do not include figures and/or tables.
9. Opinion
Personal opinion on a topic, often with a novel/imaginative approach to a provocative question, with an engaging though rigorous investigation, including new developments, and moderate referencing. Opinion papers are only accepted by invitation. Interested authors can email the editors with suggestions. They have a word limit of 1000 for the main body and 50 for the abstract, and can include up to 10 references.
10. Correction
To correct an inadvertent error or omission in an article, where no foul play has been detected or reported, and the conclusions of the study remain intact. Word limit is 1000.
11. Retraction or Concern
Warning to readers that an article has been retracted or withdrawn, or has prompted serious concerns that cannot be resolved and hence should be treated with caution or discounted entirely. Word limit is 1000.
12. Obituary
Celebration of the life of a deceased researcher of significance, by giving an account of the work and influence of that individual. Obituary papers are only accepted by invitation. Interested authors can email the editors with suggestions. Word limit is 1000.

2. Submission and Peer Review Process

Article Preparation Support

Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence.

Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

 

Double-blind peer review and anonymized files

Integrative Conservation operates a double-blind peer review policy. You will need to anonymize your manuscript file and any supplementary material for review and supply a separate title page file.

 

Free format submission

Integrative Conservation offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process.

Before you submit, you will need:

  • The title page of the manuscript, including:
    • All the co-author details, including affiliation and email address. (We will keep all co-authors informed of the outcome of the peer review process.)
    • Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies (important to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication), which may include any of the following:
      • data availability statement
      • funding statement
      • conflict of interest disclosure
      • ethics approval statement
      • permission to reproduce material from other sources
    • Your anonymized manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files—whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract, introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded at an appropriate resolution. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. If the manuscript, figures, or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.
    • Supporting information, if any: supporting information material should be submitted in separate files. Please remember to anonymize supporting information files if they are to be used for review.
    • An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. (Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.) The ORCID information is mandatory for the Corresponding author.

 

Open Access

This journal is a Gold open access title. Submissions will be subject to an APC if accepted and published in the journal. You can read more about this journal's APC's and whether you may be eligible for waivers or discounts, through your institution, funder, or a country waiver on the Open Access Page

Please note: Article Publication Charges (APCs) are currently waived.

 

Preprint policy:

Please find the Wiley preprint policy here.

Integrative Conservation accepts articles previously published on preprint servers.

If you opt to publish your manuscript as a preprint, you are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article. You may also post the final published version of the article immediately after publication.

Since this Journal operates a double-blind peer review processand and accepts posting of preprints, authors should note that sharing their manuscript in preprint form this may compromise their anonymity during peer review..

 

Preprint your manuscript on Authorea

You can now opt to seamlessly preprint your manuscript at submission, through Wiley’s Under Review service, powered by Authorea. Make your work citable and discoverable, before it is accepted or published.

 

Registered Reports

See the Registered Reports Author Guidelines for full details.

 

Data Sharing and Data Availability

Integrative Conservation expects data sharing. This means that the data supporting the results in the paper will be archived in an appropriate public repository. Authors are required to provide a data availability statement to describe the availability or the absence of shared data. When data have been shared, authors are required to include in their data availability statement a link to the repository they have used, and to cite the data they have shared. Whenever possible the scripts and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper should also be publicly archived. If sharing data compromises ethical standards or legal requirements, then authors are not expected to share it.

Review Wiley’s Data Sharing policy where you will be able to see and select the data availability statement that is right for your submission.

 

Data Citation

Please review Wiley’s Data Citation policy.

 

Data Protection

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication. Please review Wiley’s Data Protection Policy to learn more.

 

Funding

You should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. You are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature.

 

Authorship

All listed authors should have contributed to the manuscript substantially and have agreed to the final submitted version. Review editorial standards and scroll down for a description of authorship criteria.

 

ORCID

This journal requires ORCID for Corresponding author (and we encourage using it for all other co-authors). Please refer to Wiley’s resources on ORCID.

 

Reproduction of Copyright Material

If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, credit must be shown in the contribution. It is your responsibility to also obtain written permission for reproduction from the copyright owners. For more information visit Wiley’s Copyright Terms & Conditions FAQ.

The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce the material "in print and other media" from the publisher of the original source, and for supplying Wiley with that permission upon submission.

 

Title Page 

The title page should contain: 

  1. A brief informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations (see Wiley's best practice SEO tips);
  2. A short running title of less than 40 characters;
  3. The full names of the authors;
  4. The author's institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted;
  5. Corresponding author(s);
  6. Acknowledgments;
  7. Ethics and integrity statements.

  

Main Text File

Please ensure that the main file is anonymized and all identifying information such as author names and affiliations, acknowledgements or explicit mentions of author institution in the text are on a separate page.

Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. Should your manuscript reach revision stage, figures and tables must be provided as separate files. The main manuscript file can be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or LaTex (.tex) format.

Your main document file should include:

  • A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations.
  • Abstract, in unstructured format.
  • Up to seven keywords.
  • Practitioner Points (optional): authors will need to provide no more than 3 ‘key points’, written with the practitioner in mind, that summarize the key messages of their paper to be published with their article.
  • Plain language summary (<200 words, see below).
  • Main body: generally formatted as introduction, materials & methods, results, discussion, conclusion.
  • References.
  • Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes).
  • Figure legends: Legends should be supplied as a complete list in the text. Figures can be embedded in the main file and high resolution figures should be uploaded as separate files (see below) after acceptance. You should review the basic figure requirements for manuscripts for peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements.

 

Reference Style

This journal uses Harvard reference style; as the journal offers Free Format submission, however, this is for information only and you do not need to format the references in your article. This will instead be taken care of by the typesetter.

 

Supporting Information

Supporting information and appendices should be supplied as separate files. Remember to anonymize any supporting information that will undergo peer review. View Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.

 

Peer Review

This journal operates under a double-blind peer review model. Papers will only be sent to review if the editor determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements.

In-house submissions, i.e. papers authored by Editors or Editorial Board members of the title, will be sent to Editors unaffiliated with the author or institution and monitored carefully to ensure there is no peer review bias.

Wiley's policy on the confidentiality of the review process is available here.

Special issues

All the Special Issue papers will go through the same peer review process procedure as the regular papers to ensure the quality of the special issue papers. 

The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the content of the entire journal, including all special issues, which fall within the scope of the journal
Special issue articles have the same editorial oversight as regular papers, including external peer review, and be clearly labelled
Guest editors’ credentials are checked and approved by the Editorial Office
The Editor-in-Chief or dedicated board members oversee the guest editors
Papers submitted to a special issue by the guest editor(s) will be handled under an independent review process 

Refer and Transfer Program

Wiley believes that no valuable research should go unshared. This journal participates in Wiley’s Refer & Transfer program. If your manuscript is not accepted, you may receive a recommendation to transfer your manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal’s editor or through our Transfer Desk Assistant.

 

Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics in Journal Articles

The journal requires that you include in the manuscript details IRB approvals, ethical treatment of human and animal research participants, and gathering of informed consent, as appropriate. You will be expected to declare all conflicts of interest, or none, on submission. Please review Wiley’s guidances on human studies, animal studies, clinical trial registration, biosecurity, and research reporting guidelines.

This journal follows the core practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and handles cases of research and publication misconduct accordingly (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).

This journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley’s Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors and Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines.

Artificial Intelligence Generated Content

Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) tools—such as ChatGPT and others based on large language models (LLMs)—cannot be considered capable of initiating an original piece of research without direction by human authors. They also cannot be accountable for a published work or for research design, which is a generally held requirement of authorship (as discussed in the previous section), nor do they have legal standing or the ability to hold or assign copyright. Therefore—in accordance with COPE’s position statement on AI tools—these tools cannot fulfill the role of, nor be listed as, an author of an article. If an author has used this kind of tool to develop any portion of a manuscript, its use must be described, transparently and in detail, in the Methods or Acknowledgements section. The author is fully responsible for the accuracy of any information provided by the tool and for correctly referencing any supporting work on which that information depends. Tools that are used to improve spelling, grammar, and general editing are not included in the scope of these guidelines. The final decision about whether use of an AIGC tool is appropriate or permissible in the circumstances of a submitted manuscript or a published article lies with the journal’s editor or other party responsible for the publication’s editorial policy.

Author Contributions

For all articles, the journal mandates the CRediT (Contribution Roles Taxonomy). During the submission process you will be asked to indicate the contribution roles of each co-author. The CRediT categories are:

  • Conceptualization
  • Data Curation
  • Formal Analysis
  • Funding Acquisition
  • Investigation
  • Methodology
  • Project Administration
  • Resources
  • Software
  • Supervision
  • Validation
  • Visualization
  • Writing – Original Draft Preparation
  • Writing – Review & Editing

More information is available on our Author Services site.

 

Brief summary and graphical abstract

During the submission process you will be asked to provide a brief summary (~three sentences and <80 words) and an image that will be used in the journal’s table of contents in case of the article being accepted for publication. See more details below.

 

Plain Language Summary

The Plain Language Summary (PLS) should convey the same information as the Abstract but in a completely different language and tone. It should summarize your scientific study, its results, and their broader relevance without using jargon so that it is understandable by scientists from outside of your discipline, as well as science journalists and science educators. The PLS should be a single paragraph no more than 200 words long

 

Territorial descriptions, maps, and affiliations

Manuscripts in Integrative Conservation often include maps and geographical descriptions of lands that are affected by ongoing territorial disputes over boundaries and designations. Statements in research papers that declare that the maps published in these represent the borders of a country, can cause difficulties for Integrative Conservation and Wiley with the country in question and its national laws. If a perceived dispute or complaint is raised, our editorial team will attempt to find a resolution that works for all parties. Ultimately, the final decision on content is an editorial matter, and will rest with the journal Editors which, where necessary, will be in consultation with the Publisher.


3. After Acceptance

First Look

After your paper is accepted, your files will be assessed by the editorial office to ensure they are ready for production. You may be contacted if any updates or final files are required. Otherwise, your paper will be sent to the production team.

 

Wiley Author Services

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. You will be asked to sign a publication license at this point.

 

Copyright & Licensing

Integrative Conservation is an Open Access journal: papers are published under a Creative Commons license. This journal uses the CC-BY Creative Commons License. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used.

 

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online/with their proofs included as a pdf. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email.

 

Article Promotion Support

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

 

Author Name Change Policy

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the paper and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.

 

Correction to authorship

In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, Integrative Conservation will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the author list, please complete the Request for Changes to a Journal Article Author List Form and contact either the journal’s editorial or production office, depending on the status of the article. Authorship changes will not be considered without a fully completed Author Change form. [Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name; the relevant policy for that can be found in Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines under “Author name changes after publication.”]

 

4. Appendix

 

Open Research Badges

This journal is part of Wiley’s Open Research Badges program.

 

Graphical TOC/Abstract

The journal’s table of contents will be presented in graphical form with a brief abstract.

The table of contents entry must include the article title, the authors' names (with the corresponding author indicated by an asterisk), no more than 80 words or 3 sentences of text summarizing the key findings presented in the paper and a figure that best represents the scope of the paper. The figure could be one of the figures used in the manuscript but we encourage the use of images specifically-designed to act as graphical abstract. The image supplied should fit within the dimensions of 50mm x 60mm and be fully legible at this size.

Table of contents entries should be submitted to ScholarOne as ‘Supplementary material for review’ during the initial manuscript submission process.

 

Resource Identification Initiative

The journal supports the Resource Identification Initiative, which aims to promote research resource identification, discovery, and reuse. This initiative, led by the Neuroscience Information Framework and the Oregon Health & Science University Library, provides unique identifiers for antibodies, model organisms, cell lines, and tools including software and databases. These IDs, called Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs), are machine-readable and can be used to search for all papers where a particular resource was used and to increase access to critical data to help researchers identify suitable reagents and tools.

You will be asked to use RRIDs to cite the resources used in your research where applicable in the text, similar to a regular citation or Genbank Accession number. For antibodies, you should include in the citation the vendor, catalogue number, and RRID both in the text upon first mention in the Methods section. For software tools and databases, please provide the name of the resource followed by the resource website, if available, and the RRID. For model organisms, the RRID alone is sufficient.

Additionally, you must include the RRIDs in the list of keywords associated with the manuscript.

 

To Obtain Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs):

  • Use the Resource Identification Portal, created by the Resource Identification Initiative Working Group.
  • Search for the research resource (please see the section titled “Search Features and Tips” for more information).
  • Click on the “Cite This” button to obtain the citation and insert the citation into the manuscript text.

If there is a resource that is not found within the Resource Identification Portal, you are asked to register the resource with the appropriate resource authority. Information on how to do this is provided in the “Resource Citation Guidelines” section of the Portal.

If any difficulties in obtaining identifiers arise, please contact [email protected] for assistance.

 

Example Citations:

Antibodies: "Wnt3 was localized using a rabbit polyclonal antibody C64F2 against Wnt3 (Cell Signaling Technology, Cat# 2721S, RRID: AB_2215411)"

Model Organisms: "Experiments were conducted in c. elegans strain SP304 (RRID:CGC_SP304)"

Cell lines: "Experiments were conducted in PC12 CLS cells (CLS Cat# 500311/p701_PC-12, RRID:CVCL_0481)"

Tools, Software, and Databases: "Image analysis was conducted with CellProfiler Image Analysis Software, V2.0 (http://www.cellprofiler.org, RRID:nif-0000-00280)"

 

Species Names

Upon its first use in the title, abstract, and text, the common name of a species should be followed by the scientific name (genus, species, and authority) in parentheses. For well-known species, however, scientific names may be omitted from article titles. If no common name exists in English, only the scientific name should be used.

 

Genetic Nomenclature

Sequence variants should be described in the text and tables using both DNA and protein designations whenever appropriate. Sequence variant nomenclature must follow the current HGVS guidelines; see varnomen.hgvs.org, where examples of acceptable nomenclature are provided.

 

Sequence Data

Nucleotide sequence data can be submitted in electronic form to any of the three major collaborative databases: DDBJ, EMBL, or GenBank. It is only necessary to submit to one database as data are exchanged between DDBJ, EMBL, and GenBank on a daily basis. The suggested wording for referring to accession-number information is: ‘These sequence data have been submitted to the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under accession number U12345’. Addresses are as follows:

Proteins sequence data should be submitted to either of the following repositories:

 

Cover Image Submissions

This journal accepts artwork submissions for Cover Images. This is an optional service you can use to help increase article exposure and showcase your research. For more information, including artwork guidelines, and submission details, please visit the Journal Cover Image page.

Wiley Editing Services offers a professional cover image design service that creates eye-catching images, ready to be showcased on the journal cover.

 

Additional Guidelines for Cover Pictures, Visual Abstracts, Frontispieces and Table of Contents Graphics

  • Concepts illustrated in graphical material must clearly fit with the research discussed in the accompanying text.
  • Images featuring depictions or representations of people must not contain any form of objectification, sexualization, stereotyping, or discrimination. We also ask authors to consider community diversity in images containing multiple depictions or representations of people.
  • Inappropriate use, representation, or depiction of religious figures or imagery, and iconography should be avoided.
  • Use of elements of mythology, legends, and folklore might be acceptable and will be decided on a case-by-case basis. However, these images must comply with the guidelines on human participants when they are present.
  • Generally, authors should consider any sensitivities when using images of objects that might have cultural significance or may be inappropriate in the context (for example, religious texts, historical events, and depictions of people).
  • Legal requirements:
  • All necessary copyright permission for the reproduction of the graphical elements used in visuals must be obtained prior to publication.
  • Clearance must be obtained from identifiable people before using their image on the cover or the like and such clearance must specify that it will be used on the cover. Use within text does not require such clearance unless it discloses sensitive personal information such as medical information. In all situations involving disclosure of such personal info, specific permission must be obtained. And images of individuals should not be used in a false manner.

Graphics that do not adhere to these guidelines will be recommended for revision or will not be accepted for publication.

 

Embedded Rich Media

This journal has the option for authors to embed rich media (i.e. video and audio) within their final article. These files should be submitted with the manuscript files online, using either the “Embedded Video” or “Embedded Audio” file designation. If the video/audio includes dialogue, a transcript should be included as a separate file. The combined manuscript files, including video, audio, tables, figures, and text must not exceed 350 MB. For full guidance on accepted file types and resolution please see here.

Ensure each file is numbered (e.g. Video 1, Video 2, etc.) Legends for the rich media files should be placed at the end of the article.

The content of the video should not display overt product advertising. Educational presentations are encouraged.

Any narration should be in English, if possible. A typed transcript of any speech within the video/audio should be provided. An English translation of any non-English speech should be provided in the transcript.

All embedded rich media will be subject to peer review. Editors reserve the right to request edits to rich media files as a condition of acceptance. Contributors are asked to be succinct, and the Editors reserve the right to require shorter video/audio duration. The video/audio should be high quality (both in content and visibility/audibility). The video/audio should make a specific point; particularly, it should demonstrate the features described in the text of the manuscript.

Participant Consent: It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to seek informed consent from any identifiable participant in the rich media files. Masking a participant’s eyes, or excluded head and shoulders is not sufficient. Please ensure that a consent form (https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/licensing-info-faqs.html) is provided for each participant.


Author Guidelines updated on 1 September 2023.


Pubdate: 2024-07-09    Viewed: 35