Focus and Scope
The ongoing loss of biodiversity and the associated risk of loss of critical ecosystem services are being driven by massive and rapid anthropogenic changes at all levels and scales. A key task of modern ecology is, therefore, to understand and predict how ecological systems will respond to these changes and to develop appropriate mitigation and restoration measures. However, current approaches in population, community, or ecosystem ecology cannot fully capture the mechanisms underlying responses to change because these fields usually do not focus on the entities that actually and directly respond to change, i.e. individual organisms. In turn, many studies of responses at the individual level focus on subjects in more or less isolated conditions or within small-group interactions, without considering feedback from higher levels of ecological organisation(s).
Individual-based ecology (IBE) means linking individual responses to responses at higher levels of organisation. IBE, therefore, promotes new experimental and monitoring designs and models that focus on individual organisms and their variation and interactions as drivers of eco-evolutionary feedbacks within communities and ecological networks. The recognition of the importance of variation between individuals (inter- and intraspecific trait variation), in adaptive behaviour, energy budgets and physiology, and in specific behaviours such as movement, has increased enormously over the last 10-20 years, supported by technological and methodological (including statistical and analytical) breakthroughs. At the same time, individual-based modelling has matured considerably over the last 10-20 years and now fully complements the still needed aggregated modelling approaches of classical theoretical ecology.
IBE embraces basic and applied, as well as theoretical and empirical research, as theory and models must emerge from real situations and provide answers that can support mitigation and management decisions. IBE, therefore, invites theoretical and empirical contributions that incorporate data or novel insights about individual organisms and their interactions that are relevant for explaining system-level dynamics and responses to ongoing and accelerating change.
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General: Publication and authorship
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General
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Editors
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The ethical standards in medical and pharmacological studies are based on the Helsinki declaration (1964, amended in 1975, 1983, 1989, 1996, 2000 and 2013) of the World Medical Association and the Publication Ethics Policies for Medical Journals of the World Association of Medical Journals (WAME).
Authors of studies including experiments on humans or human tissues should declare in their cover letter a compliance with the ethical standards of the respective institutional or regional committee on human experimentation and attach committee’s statement and informed consent; for those researchers who do not have access to formal ethics review committees, the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki should be followed and declared in the cover letter. Patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers should not be used, not in the text nor in any illustrative material, tables of databases, unless the author presents a written permission from each patient to use his or her personal data. Photos or videos of patients should be taken after a warning and agreement of the patient or of a legal authority acting on his or her behalf.
Animal experiments require full compliance with local, national, ethical, and regulatory principles, and local licensing arrangements and respective statements of compliance (or approvals of institutional ethical committees where such exists) should be included in the article text.
Informed consent
Individual participants in studies have the right to decide what happens to the identifiable personal data gathered, to what they have said during a study or an interview, as well as to any photograph that was taken. Hence it is important that all participants gave their informed consent in writing prior to inclusion in the study. Identifying details (names, dates of birth, identity numbers and other information) of the participants that were studied should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and genetic profiles unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the participant (or parent or guardian if the participant is incapable) gave written informed consent for publication. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve in some cases, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic profiles, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning.
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Gender issues
We encourage the use of gender-neutral language, such as 'chairperson' instead of 'chairman' or 'chairwomen', as well as 'they' instead of 'she/he' and 'their' instead of 'him/her' (or consider restructuring the sentence).
Conflict of interest
During the editorial process, the following relationships between editors and authors are considered conflicts of interest: Colleagues currently working in the same research group or department, recent co-authors, and doctoral students for which the editor served as committee chair. During the submission process, the authors are kindly advised to identify possible conflicts of interest with the journal editors. After manuscripts are assigned to the handling editor, individual editors are required to inform the managing editor of any possible conflicts of interest with the authors. Journal submissions are also assigned to referees to minimize conflicts of interest. After manuscripts are assigned for review, referees are asked to inform the editor of any conflicts that may exist.
Appeals and open debate
We encourage academic debate and constructive criticism. Authors are always invited to respond to any editorial correspondence before publication. Authors are not allowed to neglect unfavorable comments about their work and choose not to respond to criticisms.
No Reviewer’s comment or published correspondence may contain a personal attack on any of the Authors. Criticism of the work is encouraged. Editors should edit (or reject) personal or offensive statements. Authors should submit their appeal on editorial decisions to the Editorial Office, addressed to the Editor-in-Chief or to the Managing Editor. Authors are discouraged from directly contacting Editorial Board Members and Editors with appeals.
Editors will mediate all discussions between Authors and Reviewers during the peer review process prior to publication. If agreement cannot be reached, Editors may consider inviting additional reviewers if appropriate.
The Editor-in-Chief will mediate all discussions between Authors and Subject Editors.
The journals encourage publication of open opinions, forum papers, corrigenda, critical comments on a published paper and Author’s response to criticism.
Misconduct
Research misconduct may include: (a) manipulating research materials, equipment or processes; (b) changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the article; c) plagiarism. Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion. If misconduct is suspected, journal Editors will act in accordance with the relevant COPE guidelines.
Plagiarism and duplicate publication policy
A special case of misconduct is plagiarism, which is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit. Plagiarism is considered theft of intellectual property and manuscripts submitted to this journal which contain substantial unattributed textual copying from other papers will be immediately rejected. Editors are advised to check manuscripts for plagiarism via the iThenticate service by clicking on the "ïThenticate report" button. Journal providing a peer review in languages other than English (for example, Russian) may use other plagiarism checking services (for example, Antiplagiat).
Instances, when authors re-use large parts of their publications without providing a clear reference to the original source, are considered duplication of work. Slightly changed published works submitted in multiple journals is not acceptable practice either. In cases of plagiarism in an already published paper or duplicate publication, an announcement will be made on the journal publication page and a procedure of retraction will be triggered.
Responses to possible misconduct
All allegations of misconduct must be referred to the Editor-In-Chief. Upon the thorough examination, the Editor-In-Chief and deputy editors should conclude if the case concerns a possibility of misconduct. All allegations should be kept confidential and references to the matter in writing should be kept anonymous, whenever possible.
Should a comment on potential misconduct be submitted by the Reviewers or Editors, an explanation will be sought from the Authors. If it is satisfactory and the issue is the result of either a mistake or misunderstanding, the matter can be easily resolved. If not, the manuscript will be rejected or retracted and the Editors may impose a ban on that individual's publication in the journals for a certain period of time. In cases of published plagiarism or dual publication, an announcement will be made in both journals explaining the situation.
When allegations concern authors, the peer review and publication process for their submission will be halted until completion of the aforementioned process. The investigation will be carried out even if the authors withdraw the manuscript, and implementation of the responses below will be considered.
When allegations concern reviewers or editors, they will be replaced in the review process during the ongoing investigation of the matter. Editors or reviewers who are found to have engaged in scientific misconduct should be removed from further association with the journal, and this fact reported to their institution.
Retraction policies
Article retraction
According to the COPE Retraction Guidelines followed by this Journal, an article can be retracted because of the following reasons:
- Unreliable findings based on clear evidence of a misconduct (e.g. fraudulent use of the data) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error).
- Redundant publication, e.g., findings that have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification.
- Plagiarism or other kind of unethical research.
Retraction procedure
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Expression of concern
In other cases, the Journal editors should consider issuing an expression of concern, if evidence is available for:
- Inconclusive evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors.
- Unreliable findings that are unreliable but the authors’ institution will not investigate the case.
- A belief that an investigation into alleged misconduct related to the publication either has not been, or would not be, fair and impartial or conclusive.
- An investigation is underway but a judgement will not be available for a considerable time.
Errata and Corrigenda
Pensoft journals largely follow the ICMJE guidelines for corrections and errata.
Errata
Admissible and insignificant errors in a published article that do not affect the article content or scientific integrity (e.g. typographic errors, broken links, wrong page numbers in the article headers etc.) can be corrected through publishing of an erratum. This happens through replacing the original PDF with the corrected one together with a correction notice on the Erratum Tab of the HTML version of the paper, detailing the errors and the changes implemented in the original PDF. The original PDF will be marked with a correction note and an indication to the corrected version of the erratum article. The original PDF will also be archived and made accessible via a link in the same Erratum Tab.
Authors are also encouraged to post comments and indicate typographical errors on their articles to the Comments tab of the HTML version of the article.
Corrigenda
Corrigenda should be published in cases when significant errors are discovered in a published article. Usually, such errors affect the scientific integrity of the paper and could vary in scale. Reasons for publishing corrigenda may include changes in authorship, unintentional mistakes in published research findings and protocols, errors in labelling of tables and figures or others. In taxonomic journals, corrigenda are often needed in cases where the errors affect nomenclatural acts. Corrigenda are published as a separate publication and bear their own DOI. Examples of published corrigenda are available here.
The decision for issuing errata or corrigenda is with the editors after discussion with the authors.
COPE Compliance
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Submission Procedure
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Registration and login are required to submit items online and to check the status of current submissions.
Submission of manuscripts to this journal is possible only through the online submission module. We kindly request authors to consult the Focus and Scope section prior to submission. In order to submit a manuscript to the journal, authors are required to register with the journal and/or to login. Once logged in, you will find the online submission system by clicking the "Submit manuscript" button.
The manuscript submission process is separated into the following steps:
- Step 1: Specifying the manuscript type and completing the submission checklist
- Step 2: Choosing the payment option and requesting optional services
- Step 3: Typing in the author(s) names and affiliation, title, abstract, keywords, and other metadata
- Step 4: Assigning classifications categories for your manuscript using hierarchical classification trees
- Step 5: Completing the submission metadata by adding details about any supporting agencies, conflict of interest, ethical statetment, comments to the editors
- Step 6: Agreeing with the journal's Data Publishing Policy and specifying the availability of the data underpinning your article
- Step 7: Uploading the submission file and the additional files: the cover letter, the manuscript WORD file for review (which must not contain indications of authorship) and all other required files (see below for details on how to prepare them).
- Step 8: Confirming the automatically generated pdf review version of the article, and the metadata (or revising them, if needed)
- Step 9: Uploading supplementary files (see below for details) and associated metadata
- Step 10: Suggesting reviewers, final verification of the submitted files and confirmation
Stepwise guidance on new manuscript submission, with screenshots of the interface embedded, is available online in this section of the User Manual.
Organizing Your Submission
Before starting your submission please make sure that your manuscript is formatted in accordance with the Author Guidelines.
Manuscripts submitted to this journal must be divided into separate files (no larger than 20 MB each) to allow their processing by our software. Before attempting an online submission, please consider preparing the following file types:
1. Cover letter
This part is for the handling Subject Editor only and will not be sent to the reviewers. Please check the Author Guidelines section and follow the specific indications that apply for Individual-based Ecology. In case it is a mandatory requirement, please structure the cover letter accordingly.
2. Submission file
Review version of the manuscript: a TEXT (MS WORD) file in either DOC, DOCX, RTF or ODT format, which does NOT contain indications of authorship.. The total file size must be no larger than 80 MB. The system allows two options for the submission file upload:
-
it could contain all figures embedded at their respective places within the manuscript:
-
Advantage: The review version of the manuscript will be more convenient for reading and understanding by the reviewers and editors. Likewise, if you opt to post your manuscript on ARPHA Preprints and this is allowed by the current journal’s policies, it will be better organised for the readers.
-
Drawback: Additional effort is needed to place and number the figures within the text.
-
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it could contain the article text only, while the figures are added separately in the allowed formats (see below), so that the system can add them automatically to the PDF version that will be sent for review. The authors have the option to check and replace, if needed, the PDF review version generated at the first submission step:
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Advantage: No additional effort is needed for placing and numbering the figures within the text.
-
Drawback: All figures will be placed at the end of the manuscript and the review version will be less convenient for reading and understanding by the reviewers and editors. The same concerns your preprint if you decide to post it on ARPHA Preprints and this is allowed by the current journal’s policies.
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3. Additional files
High-resolution figures must be submitted during the same submission process as the additional files (Step 7) in one of the accepted file formats (see below). These may be compressed in order to reduce bandwidth during upload:
- Figures (each figure as an individual file in one of the following image file formats: EPS, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, not larger than 20 MB each)
- Equations (each equation as an individual file in one of the above-mentioned image file formats)
Please note that the maximum file size that may be uploaded through our online submission system is 20 MB.
4. Supplementary files (appendices)
Large datasets or multimedia files, usually published as appendices in conventional print journals, should be uploaded as supplementary files complete with the associated metadata on the online submission form. Supplementary files should have their own legends. However, no authors' names must be given at this stage in any of the files because reviewers will have access to them. (Note that the system requires you to enter the authors of the files in separate fields. This information is not visible to the reviewers.)
Most file formats are accepted. Text-only appendices must be in DOC, DOCX, RTF, or ODT formats.
Submissions that do not meet these formal requirements will be returned without review.
Should you have any technical problems in submitting a manuscript to this journal, please contact the Editorial Office at journals@pensoft.net.
English Language Editing
This journal has well-defined policies for English language editing.
Authors are required to have their manuscripts written in fluent English or edited by a professional English language editor BEFORE submission. Authors have to confirm by checking a tick box in the submission process that they have followed the above requirement:
"The text is edited by a professional English language editor, duly acknowledged in the manuscript. I am aware that non-edited manuscripts could be rejected prior to peer-review".
The submission process includes an option to request a professional linguistic editing at a price of EURO 15 per 1800 characters:
The authors are NOT obliged to use Journal's linguistic services, but they must ensure that their manuscripts have passed a proper linguistic editing before submission.
Main Text
Due to the double-blind peer review system, you have to submit your manuscript (apart from the letter to the editor and supplementary material) as two separate files (for further details, see under Submission Guidelines):
(i) Cover part (with personal information)
Authors and Affiliations: Provide the complete names of all authors. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors’ institutional affiliation (e.g. university, institute), city, state/province (if applicable), and country below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. It is the corresponding author's responsibility to ensure that the author list, and the individual contributions to the study are accurate and complete. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
(ii) Main part (anonymised)
Title: The title should be in a sentence case (only scientific, geographic or person names should be with a first capital letter, i.e. Nobel Prize, Stockholm, etc.), and should include an accurate, clear and concise description of the reported work, avoiding abbreviations.
Abstract: A concise and factual abstract is required. The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Keywords: Please have your keywords ready for input into the submission module.
Body Text: The text should be in single-column format. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. In particular, do not use the word processor’s options to hyphenate words. Single-space all material (text, quotations, figure legends, tables, references, etc.). Use a 12-point font (preferably Times New Roman). Do use italics for emphasis. Underlining of any text is not acceptable. Short quotations should be embedded in the text and enclosed in double quotation marks ("). Long quotations should be on a separate line. Single quotation marks are to be used only for a quotation that occurs within another quotation. To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the "spell-check" and "grammar-check" functions of your word processor.
Footnotes: Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript Arabic numbers. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Do not include footnotes in the Reference list. Table footnotes: Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters.
Math formulae: Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. Symbols for variables and constants, but not for mathematical abbreviations (log, ln, etc.) should be italicized in the text, equations and illustrations. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text (if referred to explicitly in the text).
Tables: Each table should be numbered in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, 2, 3 etc.). Tables should also have a title that summarizes the whole table, maximum 10 words. Detailed legends may then follow, but should be concise. Tables should be embedded within the text, in portrait format (note that tables on a landscape page must be reformatted onto a portrait page or submitted as additional files). These will be typeset and displayed in the final published form of the article. Such tables should be formatted using the 'Table object' in a word processing program to ensure that columns of data are kept aligned when the file is sent electronically for review. Do not use tabs to format tables or separate text. All columns and rows should be visible, please make sure that borders of each cell display as black lines. Color and shading should not be used; neither should commas be used to indicate decimal values. Please use a full stop to denote decimal values (i.e., 0.007 cm, 0.7 mm).
Citations and References
Citations within the text: Before submitting the manuscript, please check each citation in the text against the References and vice-versa to ensure that they match exactly.
Citations in the text should be formatted as follows:
One author: Smith (1990) or (Smith 1990)
Note: The citations format depends on the way it is incorporated within the article’s text:
Example:
- According to Smith (1990), these findings…
- These findings have been first reported in the beginning of the nineties (Smith 1990).
Two authors: Brock and Gunderson (2001) or (Brock and Gunderson 2001)
Note: When choosing between formats refer back to examples above.
Three or more authors: Smith et al. (1998) or (Smith et al. 1998)
Note: When choosing between formats refer back to examples above.
When citing more than one source, in-text citations should be ordered by the year of publication, starting with the earliest one:
(Smith et al. 1998, 2000, 2016; Brock and Gunderson 2001; Felt 2006).
Note: When you have a few citations from the same author but from different years (such as the case with Smith et al. above), the first year is taken into consideration when ordering the sources (in this case 1998, which is why Smith et al. come first in the list).
When having two or more fully identical citations (this can happen when you have more than one reference with exactly the same authors and years for one or two authors, or the same first author and year for author teams of three or more), the references are distinguished by adding the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc. after the years and this marking is followed in the in-text citations, respectively:
(Reyes-Velasco et al. 2018a, 2018b)
Authorship references for species should include a "," between author and year:
Brianmyia stuckenbergi Woodley, 2012.
References: It is important to format the references properly, because all references will be linked electronically as completely as possible to the papers cited. It is desirable to add a DOI (digital object identifier) number for either the full-text or title and abstract of the article as an addition to traditional volume and page numbers. If a DOI is lacking, it is recommended to add a link to any online source of an article.
List all authors cited in the References. For multiauthored papers, give all author names in full; the abbreviation "et al." is only allowed in the text. All journal titles should be spelled out completely and should not be italicized. Ensure that the References are complete and arranged according to name and year of publication. Personal communications and submitted manuscripts should be listed as unpublished results in the text and not listed in the References section.
Please use the following style for the reference list (or download the Pensoft EndNote style): here. It is also available in Zotero, when searched by journal name or by "Pensoft Journals".
Published Papers:
Polaszek A, Alonso-Zarazaga M, Bouchet P, Brothers DJ, Evenhuis NL, Krell FT, Lyal CHC, Minelli A, Pyle RL, Robinson N, Thompson FC, van Tol J (2005) ZooBank: The open-access register for zoological taxonomy: Technical Discussion Paper. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 62: 210–220.
Accepted Papers:
Same as above, but ''in press'' appears instead of the year in parentheses.
Electronic Journal Articles:
Mallet J, Willmott K (2002) Taxonomy: Renaissance or Tower of Babel? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18(2): 57–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(02)00061-7
Paper within conference proceedings:
Orr AG (2006) Odonata in Bornean tropical rain forest formations: Diversity, endemicity and applications for conservation management. In: Cordero Rivera A (Ed.) Forest and Dragonflies. Fourth WDA International Symposium of Odonatology, Pontevedra (Spain), July 2005. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia-Moscow, 51–78.
Book chapters:
Mayr E (2000) The biological species concept. In: Wheeler QD, Meier R (Eds) Species Concepts and Phylogenetic Theory: A Debate. Columbia University Press, New York, 17–29.
Books:
Goix N, Klimaszewski J (2007) Catalogue of Aleocharine Rove Beetles of Canada and Alaska. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia-Moscow, 166 pp.
Book with institutional author:
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1999) International code of zoological nomenclature. Fourth Edition. The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London.
PhD thesis:
Dalebout ML (2002) Species identity, genetic diversity and molecular systematic relationships among the Ziphiidae (beaked whales). PhD Thesis, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Link/URL:
BBC News: Island leopard deemed new species http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Citations of Public Resource Databases: It is highly recommended all appropriate datasets, images, and information to be deposited in public resources. Please provide the relevant accession numbers (and version numbers, if appropriate). Accession numbers should be provided in parentheses after the entity on first use. Examples of such databases include, but are not limited to:
- ZooBank (www.zoobank.org)
- Morphbank (www.morphbank.net)
- Genbank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank)
- BOLD (www.barcodinglife.org)
Providing accession numbers to data records stored in global data aggregators allows us to link your article to established databases, thus integrating it with a broader collection of scientific information. Please hyperlink all accession numbers through the text or list them directly after the References in the online submission manuscript.
All journal titles should be spelled out completely and should NOT be italicized.
Provide the publisher's name and location when you cite symposia or conference proceedings; distinguish between the conference date and the publication date if both are given. Do not list abstracts or unpublished material in the References. They should be quoted in the text as personal observations, personal communications, or unpublished data, specifying the exact source, with date if possible. When possible, include URLs for articles available online through library subscription or individual journal subscription, or through large international archives, indexes and aggregators, e.g., PubMedCentral, Scopus, CAB Abstracts, etc. URLs for pdf articles that are posted on personal websites only should be avoided.
Authors are encouraged to cite in the References list the publications of the original descriptions of the taxa treated in their manuscript.
Ordering references: All references should be ordered alphabetically by author name (but see below).
If the references have the same first author and a varying number of co-authors, the ordering should be based on the number of co-authors starting with the lowest; all articles with the same first author and two or more co-authors (thus cited as et al. in the text) should be listed chronologically, as follows:
Smith J (2018) Article Title. Journal Name 1: 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3897
Smith J, Gunderson A (2017) Article Title. Journal Name 1: 10–20. https://doi.org/10.3897
Smith J, Gunderson A, Brock B (2011) Article Title. Journal Name 1: 20–30. https://doi.org/10.3897
Smith J, Brock B, Gutierrez R, Gunderson A (2013) Article Title. Journal Name 1: 15–30. https://doi.org/10.3897
Smith J, Brock B, Gunderson A (2015) Article Title. Journal Name 1: 10–30. https://doi.org/10.3897
If both the first author and year of publication match within the categories above, the references are distinguished by adding the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc. after the year of publication and this marking is followed in the in-text citations, respectively.
Illustrations, Figures and Tables
Figures and illustrations are accepted in the following image file formats:
- EPS (preferred format for diagrams)
- TIFF (at least 300dpi resolution, with LZW compression)
- PNG (preferred format for photos or images)
- JPEG (preferred format for photos or images)
- GIF
- BMP
- SVG
Vector files in any of the following formats EPS, SVG or PDF are requested for phylogenetic trees and cladograms.
The journal is printed in A4 paper size with the maximum printing area of 167 mm × 242 mm. Whenever possible, individual figures should be prepared as composite figures.
Should you have any problems in providing the figures in one of the above formats, or in reducing the file below 20 MB, please contact the Editorial Office at journals@pensoft.net
Figure legends: All figures should be referenced consecutively in the manuscript; legends should be listed consecutively immediately after the References. For each figure, the following information should be provided: Figure number (in sequence, using Arabic numerals − i.e. Figure 1, 2, 3 etc.); short title of figure (maximum 15 words); detailed legend, up to 300 words.
Illustrations of measurable morphological traits should bear mute scale bars, whose real size is to be given in the figure captions.
Please note that it is the responsibility of the author(s) to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce figures or tables that have previously been published elsewhere.
Figure citations in the text should always be with Capital "F" and En-dash for ranges. One figure with a full stop, figures without.
Example: Fig. 1, Figs 1–3, Fig. 2A–E.
Citations of figures from other publications should always be Lower Case (fig. / figs). When two subsequent figures or parts are cited (for instance figures 1 and 2 or A and B), a comma should be used.
Example: Figs 1, 2 and Fig. 1A, B.
Parts belong to one figure.
Example: Fig. 1A, B and Fig. 2A-E.
On the use of Google Maps
All uses of Google Maps and Google Earth Content must provide attribution to Google, according to Google Maps/Earth Additional Terms of Service (see also Permission Guidelines for Google Maps and Google Earth). The attribution should be visible on each map in the form, for example: "Map data 2019 (C) Google".
Tables: Each table should be numbered in sequence using Arabic numerals (i.e. Table 1, 2, 3 etc.). Tables should also have a title that summarizes the whole table, maximum 15 words. Detailed legends may then follow, but should be concise.
Small tables can be embedded within the text, in portrait format (note that tables on a landscape page must be reformatted onto a portrait page or submitted as additional files). These will be typeset and displayed in the final published form of the article. Such tables should be formatted using the 'Table object' in a word processing program to ensure that columns of data are kept aligned when the file is sent electronically for review. Do not use tabs to format tables or separate text. All columns and rows should be visible, please make sure that borders of each cell display as black lines. Colour and shading should not be used; neither should commas be used to indicate decimal values. Please use a full stop to denote decimal values (i.e., 0.007 cm, 0.7 mm).
Larger datasets can be uploaded separately as Supplementary Files. Tabular data provided as supplementary files can be uploaded as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls), as an OpenOffice spreadsheets (.ods) or comma-separated values file (.csv). As with all uploaded files, please use the standard file extensions.
Materials and Methods
In line with responsible and reproducible research, as well as FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability) data principles, we highly recommend that authors describe in detail and deposit their science methods and laboratory protocols in the open access repository protocols.io.
Once deposited on protocols.io, protocols and methods will be issued a unique digital object identifier (DOI), which could be then used to link a manuscript to the relevant deposited protocol. By doing this, authors could allow for editors and peers to access the protocol when reviewing the submission to significantly expedite the process.
Furthermore, an author could open up his/her protocol to the public at the click of a button as soon as their article is published.
Stepwise instructions:
- Prepare a detailed protocol via protocols.io.
- Click Get DOI to assign a persistent identifier to your protocol.
- Add the DOI link to the Methods section of your manuscript prior to submitting it for peer review.
- Click Publish to make your protocol openly accessible as soon as your article is published (optional).
- Update your protocols anytime.
Authorship of AI
Supplementary Files
Online publishing allows an author to provide datasets, tables, video files, or other information as supplementary information, greatly increasing the impact of the submission. Uploading of such files is possible in Step 9 of the submission process.
The maximum file size for each Supplementary File is 20 MB.
The Supplementary Files will not be displayed in the printed version of the article but will exist as linkable supplementary downloadable files in the online version.
While submitting a supplementary file the following information should be completed:
- File format (including name and a URL of an appropriate viewer if format is unusual)
- Title of data
- Description of data
All supplementary files should be referenced explicitly by file name within the body of the article, e.g. 'See supplementary file 1: Movie 1" for the original data used to perform this analysis.
Ideally, the supplementary files should not be platform-specific, and should be viewable using free or widely available tools. Suitable file formats are:
For supplementary documentation:
- PDF (Adobe Acrobat)
For animations:
- SWF (Shockwave Flash)
For movies:
- MOV (QuickTime)
- MPG (MPEG)
For datasets:
- XLS (Excel spreadsheet)
- CSV (Comma separated values)
- ODS (OpenOffice spreadsheets)
As for images, file names should be given in the standard file extensions. This is especially important for Macintosh users, since the Mac OS does not enforce the use of standard file extensions. Please also make sure that each additional file is a single table, figure or movie (please do not upload linked worksheets or PDF files larger than one sheet).
Revising Your Article
Authors must submit the revised version of the manuscript using Track Changes/Comments tools of Word so that the Subject Editor can see the corrections and additions.
Authors must address all critiques of the referees in a response letter to the editor and submit it along with the revised manuscript through the online editorial system. In case a response letter is not submitted by the authors, the editor has the right to reject the manuscript without further evaluation. When resubmitting a manuscript that has been previously rejected with resubmission encouraged, authors must include the response letter to the article text file, and the pdf review version, so that it gets to the Subject Editor and the reviewers during the peer review.
When submitting corrections to proofs (during the layout stage), authors must upload the latest proof (in PDF format) containing their revisions as track changes.
Concise Copyediting Instructions
The copyediting instructions below represent a concise summary of the journal's formatting requirements. The instructions are intended for use by the authors during preparation of the final revised versions of their manuscripts, technical editors, copy editors and typesetters.
Author names
- Omit titles, degrees, etc.
- Provide ORCID if available
Affiliation
(Department,) Institution, City, Country
Article title
Title of article: Subtitle of article
- Title: Sentence case
- Colon between title and subtitle (if any)
- No footnotes
- No bold (use when needed sub-/superscript, and/or italics only for the terms in Latin)
- Higher taxa within the title should be separated with commas and not with a semicolon
Running head
- A short version of title up to 50 characters (including spaces); normally the short title should have been suggested by the authors and checked for clarity by the copy editor
Abstract
- No references to tables, figures, etc., no footnotes
- No citations (preferably)
- If citations unavoidable: Complete citations, allowing unambiguous identification of cited publication!
- Should be written consistently in either third or first person
- Note: The abstract has to be a stand-alone entity, to present a really well written and concise summary of the article! A special care for copy editors to check!
- Designations of nomenclatural novelties should be in bold and spelled in the way suggested ( sp. nov., gen. nov., comb. nov. )
Keywords (up to 8 words)
keyword a, keyword b, keyword n
- Do not repeat words from the title
- Listed in alphabetical order and separated by commas
- Lowercase letters, except proper names
- No bold font
- Without any punctuation marks after last keyword
Tables
- Table caption: Start with label "Table N." in bold. Sentence case, i.e.:
- Table 2. Table caption text.
- Numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals
- Heading for every column (including the leftmost!)
- No shading of cells, rows, columns; no colored fonts
- No horizontal or vertical lines in table body
- Same number of decimal places for same statistics (usually within same column)
- Text formatting in the cell without paragraph and line break
- Table must be in an editable format (.docx, .xlsx, etc., not as images)
- Caption and footnotes as texts (not as part of a table)
Figures
- Figure caption: Start with label "Figure N." in bold. Sentence case, i.e.:
- Figure 6. Figure caption text.
- Numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals
- Figure parts: Use capital letters in bold. No punctuation separator, i.e.:
- Figure 1. Figure general caption text. A part caption text B part caption text N part caption text.
- If abbreviations are used, these are placed after the parts with a colon, i.e.:
Abbreviations: xxxx - If there are scale bars on the figure parts, reference to them is last and in the format: Scale bars: 20 μm (D, N, O, Q); 50 μm (F, K); 10 μm (G, P); 5 μm (H); 100 μm (M).
- High quality (at least 300 dpi)
- Text sharp and readable (e.g., no overlap of text and graphical elements like lines)
- White or transparent background
- No image border
- Caption as text (not as part of the image)
Capitalization
- Article title: Sentence case
- Running head: Sentence case
- Section and subsection titles:
- For separated titles (usually H1-H3): Sentence case
- For paragraph titles (usually H4): Sentence case
- Table captions: Sentence case
- Headings of table rows and columns:
- Sentence case or lower case (check for consistency only!)
- Figure captions: Sentence case
- In text body: Nouns followed by numerals/letters (citations of figures, tables, appendices and supplementary files) e.g.:
- Fig. 4; Figs 1, 2; Table 2; Appendix 1
- In text body: Titles of articles, book chapters, books, tests
- In references: Sentence case
Equations and statistical symbols
- Typeface
- standard typeface for Greek letters, sub-/superscripts, and abbreviations that are not variables
- italic typeface for all other statistical symbols
- Space before and after equal/inequality signs
- Same number of decimal places for decimal values
- Use leading zeros before a decimal fraction including for statistical values pertaining to probability
Text body
- Regular font usage:
- Main text
- Abbreviations e.g., i.e., et al., etc., cf., vs.
- Greek letter e.g., α, β, γ, δ, ε, σ, φ, χ, ω
- Italic font usage:
- Scientific names of taxa of species and genera (authorities in regular font, not in italics)
- Long direct quotations
- Symbols for variables and constants, such as p, F, U, T, N, r , but not for SD (standard deviation), SE (standard error), DF (degrees of freedom), and NS (non significant). These symbols in illustrations and equations should be in italics to match the text.
- Do not use italics for emphasis
- No underlining
- Bold font usage:
- Subheadings, sections and subsections
- Figure captions – For the label and designation of figure’s parts:
- Figure 1. Figure general caption text. A part caption text B part caption text N part caption text.
- Table captions – For the label:
- Table 1. Table caption text.
- In systematic sections for specimen designation such us: holotype, paratype, syntype, lectotype, isotype , etc.
- Abbreviations of institutions or morphological characters or indices listed alphabetically in the section Materials and methods, i.e.:
- NHML Natural History Museum, London
- MW Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna
- EL length of elytra
- EW maximum width of elytra
- TL total length (PL+EL)
- In species descriptions – designation of main anatomical structures followed by a colon mark, i.e. Head:…, Thorax:…, Legs:…, Abdomen:…, etc., in this case these should be followed by a section describing other anatomical organs and structures attached to these.
- Subsection "Specimens examined" - the preferred order is as follows, HOWEVER THESE FINE-GRAINED FORMATTING GUIDELINES ARE NOT COMPULSORY. Authors who follow the guidelines will benefit from the submission of their specimen records to GBIF after publication. The records on GBIF will bear the article citation details contributiing to a wider dissemination and re-use of the published data.
- COUNTRY • specimens [e.g. 1 ♂, size ]; geographic/locality data [from largest to smallest]; coordinates; altitude/elevation/depth [using alt./m a.s.l. etc.]; date [format: 16 Jan. 1998]; collector [followed by "leg."]; other collecting data [e.g. micro habitat/host/method of collecting]; barcodes/identifiers [e.g. GenBank: MG779236]; institution code and specimen code [e.g. CBF 06023].
For Example: Holotype: CHINA • ♀; Sichuan, Kangding; 30.04°N, 101.57°E; 15.VI.2017; Yanzhou Zhang leg.; Hyp-2018-06, original number ZYZ-2017-28. Paratypes: CHINA • 1♀1♂; Sichuan, Kangding; 29.VI.2017; Yanzhou Zhang leg.; Hyp-2018-01, Hyp-2018-02, original number ZYZ-2017-08 • 1♀; Sichuan: Kangding; 2.VIII.2017; Yanzhou Zhang leg.; Hyp-2018-03, original number ZYZ-2017-20 • 1♂, Sichuan: Kangding; 29.VI.2017; Yanzhou Zhang leg.; Hyp-2018-08, original number ZYZ-2017-029. - Punctuation:
A bullet point "•" (unicode: 2022) is used to signify the beginning of a material citation. Within each citation, the different fields are delimited by a semicolon. A single field can be composed of several elements, which are separated by commas (e.g. the details region, area, town and street for the ‘locality’ field). Semicolons should not be used elsewhere in a material citation. - Repetitive data: Authors can indicate repetitive data with indications such as "same data as for holotype", "same data as for preceding", "same locality", "ibid", etc. as long as the same method and wording are used consistently throughout the paper.
- ‘Missing’ elements: It is not necessary to include information such as "no date" or "no locality data"; just list the elements that are available.
- see more details here
- COUNTRY • specimens [e.g. 1 ♂, size ]; geographic/locality data [from largest to smallest]; coordinates; altitude/elevation/depth [using alt./m a.s.l. etc.]; date [format: 16 Jan. 1998]; collector [followed by "leg."]; other collecting data [e.g. micro habitat/host/method of collecting]; barcodes/identifiers [e.g. GenBank: MG779236]; institution code and specimen code [e.g. CBF 06023].
- Quotation marks
- Avoid quotation marks except for direct quotations, words defined by the author, and words used in unusual contexts.
- Short quotations should be embedded in the text and enclosed in double quotation marks ("). Long quotations should be on a separate line, italicized, but without quotation marks.
- Single quotation marks are to be used only for a quotation that occurs within another quotation.
- Hyphen and dash characters
- Consistent use of (-, –, —).
- In contrast to parentheses an em-dash can be used alone.
- En-dashes and em-dashes should not be spaced.
- Hyphens (-) are used to:
- link words such as personal names, some prefixes and compound adjectives (the last of which vary depending on the style manual in use)
- En-dash (–) or en-rule (the length of an 'n') is used to:
- link spans.
- link numerals, sizes, dates and page numbers (e.g., 1977–1981; figs 5–7; pp. 237–258)
- geographic or name associations (e.g., Murray–Darling River; a Federal–State agreement)
- character states combinations (e.g., long–pubescent or red–purple).
- Em-dash (—) or em-rule (the length of an 'm') should be used rarely:
- only for introducing a subordinate clause in the text that is often used much as we use parentheses.
- Hyphens (-) are used to:
Section hierarchy
- No more than 4 levels, from hierarchical level 1 (H1) to hierarchical level 4 (H4)
- Unambiguous hierarchy levels
- No numbering of hierarchical levels
Section titles
- Capitalization:
- For separated titles (usually H1-H3): Sentence case
- For paragraph titles (usually H4): Sentence case
Mandatory statements
- Funding
- If missing, add the following statement (depending on the number of authors):
- The author has no funding to report.
- The authors have no funding to report.
- If missing, add the following statement (depending on the number of authors):
- Competing interests
- If missing, add the following statement (depending on the number of authors):
- The author has declared that no competing interests exist.
- The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
- If missing, add the following statement (depending on the number of authors):
- Acknowledgments (= non-financial support)
- If missing, add the following statement (depending on the number of authors):
- The author has no support to report.
- The authors have no support to report.
- If missing, add the following statement (depending on the number of authors):
- Data Resources (mandatory for empirical articles)
Geographical coordinates
One of the following formats should be used:
- Degrees, Minutes and Seconds (DMS), i.e.:
- 36°31'21"N; 114°09'50"W
- Degrees and Decimal Minutes (DDM), i.e.:
- 36°31.46'N; 114°09.84'W
- Decimal Degrees (DD), i.e.:
- 36.5243°S; 114.1641°W
- −36.5243; −114.1641 (using minus to indicate southern and western hemispheres)
In-Text Citations
- References
- 1-2 authors
- Jackson and Miller (2012) found out that...
- A recent study (Jackson and Miller 2012) confirmed that...
- 3 or more authors
- Jackson et al. (2012) found out that...
- A recent study (Jackson et al. 2012) confirmed that...
- Multiple sources in chronological order:
- same authors different years - separated by a comma:
- Jackson and Miller (2012, 2015) found out that...
- Recent studies (Jackson et al. 2012, 2015) confirmed that...
- different authors - separated by a semicolon:
- (Smith et al. 1998, 2000, 2016; Brock and Gunderson 2001; Felt 2006)
- two or more fully identical citations (the same authors and years) are distinguished by adding the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc. after the year:
- Jackson 2008a, 2008b
- Jackson and Miller 2014a, 2014b
- Reyes-Velasco et al. 2018a, 2018b
- same authors different years - separated by a comma:
- Sources with page numbers
- Jackson and Miller (2012: 120–121) found out that
- A recent study (Jackson and Miller 2012: 120) confirmed that
- 1-2 authors
- Figures:
- Fig. 1
- Fig. 1A, B
- Fig. 1A–D
- Figs 1, 2
- Figs 1–3
- Figs 1A, B, 3F, G, 7A
- Tables:
- Table 1
- Tables 1, 2
- Tables 1–3
- Appendixes:
- Appendix 1
- Appendices 1, 2
- Appendices 1–4
- Referenced materials from other sources:
- All figures, tables, etc., from other sources should be written with small letters i.e.: see fig. 2 in Author (Year) ...
References
- Author names: surname first; all given names abbreviated, no full stops, commas or spaces, i.e.:
- Lyal CHC
- van Tol J
- de Albuquerque PRA
- Different authors separated by comma
- Year in brackets; no comma or full stop after it
- No italics (except for Latin terms)
Published papers:
Polaszek A, Alonso-Zarazaga M, Bouchet P, Brothers DJ, Evenhuis NL, Krell FT, Lyal CHC, Minelli A, Pyle RL, Robinson N, Thompson FC, van Tol J (2005) ZooBank: The open-access register for zoological taxonomy: Technical Discussion Paper. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 62: 210–220.
Accepted papers:
Same as above, but ''in press'' appears instead of the year in parentheses.
Electronic journal articles:
Mallet J, Willmott K (2002) Taxonomy: Renaissance or Tower of Babel? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18(2): 57–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(02)00061-7
Paper within conference proceedings:
Orr AG (2006) Odonata in Bornean tropical rain forest formations: Diversity, endemicity and applications for conservation management. In: Cordero Rivera A (Ed.) Forest and Dragonflies. Fourth WDA International Symposium of Odonatology, Pontevedra (Spain), July 2005. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia-Moscow, 51–78.
Book chapters:
Mayr E (2000) The biological species concept. In: Wheeler QD, Meier R (Eds) Species concepts and phylogenetic theory: A debate. Columbia University Press, New York, 17–29.
Books:
Goix N, Klimaszewski J (2007) Catalogue of Aleocharine Rove Beetles of Canada and Alaska. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia-Moscow, 166 pp.
Book with institutional author:
ICZN [International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature] (1999) International code of zoological nomenclature. Fourth Edition. The International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, London.
PhD thesis:
Dalebout ML (2002) Species identity, genetic diversity and molecular systematic relationships among the Ziphiidae (beaked whales). PhD Thesis, University of Auckland, Auckland, ## pp.
Link/URL:
BBC News (2012) Island leopard deemed new species http://news.bbc.co.uk/ [Accessed on dd.mm.yyyy]
Data Publishing Guidelines
We strongly encourage and support various strategies and methods for data publication. The preferable way is to store data in internationally recognised data repositories and link back to the data set(s) in the respective article. Data can also be published as supplementary files to the articles, however this should be an exception rather than a rule (see How to publish data). The key to discover, use and cite your data is to include the data references in the reference lists of the articles and always include the DOIs of the data sets, when available, in the citation record. You may read more about this in How to cite data section of the article below. A good example of concise data citation guidelines using DOIs is also available on the GBIF website and on other data repositories.
Darwin Core-structured species occurrence records and observations (primary biodiversity data) should be published with GBIF using either the Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT) (for which Pensoft maintains an instance, in case such is not available to the authors). Alternatively, DwC data could also be published in trusted and community-recognised repositories (for example, Atlas of Living Australia, Symbiota, Arctos or others), however deposition at GBIF should always have a priority over the alternatives. In case a dataset is deposited in more than one repository, the data paper should link to the dataset which is actually described, again with GBIF having a priority over the others.
Authors who want to publish species occurrence data as supplementary files only or through generic repositories (e.g. Zenodo, Dryad), instead of submitting these to GBIF, should justify their decision to do so in a letter to the editors.
For biodiversity and biodiversity-related data the reader may consult the Strategies and guidelines for scholarly publishing of biodiversity data (Penev et al. 2017, Research Ideas and Outcomes 3: e12431. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.3.e12431). For reader's convenience, we list here the hyperlinked table of contents of these extensive guidelines:
- Data Publishing in a Nutshell
- Data Publishing Policies
- Data Deposition in Open Repositories
- Guidelines for Authors
- Data Published within Supplementary Information Files
- Import of Darwin Core Specimen Records into Manuscripts
- Data Published in Data Papers
- Data Papers Describing Primary Biodiversity Data
- Data Papers Describing Ecological and Environmental Data
- Data Papers Describing Genomic Data
- Software Description Papers
- Guidelines for Reviewers and Editors
The core of the data publishing project of Pensoft is the concept of "Data Paper" developed in a cooperation with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Data Papers are peer-reviewed scholarly publications that describe the published datasets and provide an opportunity to data authors to receive the academic credit for their efforts. Currently, Pensoft offers the opportunity to publish Data Papers describing occurrence data and checklists, Barcode-of-Life genome data and biodiversity-related software tools, such as interactive keys and others.
Examples of data papers
ZooKeys:
Antarctic, Sub-Antarctic and cold temperate echinoid database
A dataset from bottom trawl survey around Taiwan
Project Description: DNA Barcodes of Bird Species in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, USA
Literature based species occurrence data of birds of northeast India
MOSCHweb — a matrix-based interactive key to the genera of the Palaearctic Tachinidae (Insecta, Diptera)
Amundsen Sea Mollusca from the BIOPEARL II expedition
Iberian Odonata distribution: data of the BOS Arthropod Collection (University of Oviedo, Spain
FORMIDABEL: The Belgian Ants Database
Circumpolar dataset of sequenced specimens of Promachocrinus kerguelensis (Echinodermata, Crinoidea)
PhytoKeys:
Florabank1: a grid-based database on vascular plant distribution in the northern part of Belgium (Flanders and the Brussels Capital region)
Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN): a community contributed taxonomic checklist of all vascular plants of Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Greenland
Herbarium of Vascular Plants Collection of the University of Extremadura (Spain)
Nature Conservation:
Antarctic macrobenthic communities: A compilation of circumpolar information
Press releases on data papers
New incentive for biodiversity data publishing
Data publishing policies and guidelines for biodiversity data by Pensoft
First database-derived 'data paper' published in journal
A new type of data papers designed to publish online interactive keys
Data paper describes Antarctic biodiversity data gathered by 90 expeditions since 1956
Unique information on Belgian ants compiled and published through FORMIDABEL data paper
Database simplifies finding Canadian plant names and distribution
A synthesis of the 36451 specimens from the UNEX Herbarium in a new data paper
Data Quality Checklist and Recommendations
INTRODUCTION
An empowering aspect of digital data is that they can be merged, reformatted and reused for new, imaginative uses that are more than the sum of their parts. However, this is only possible if data are well curated. To help authors avoid some common mistakes we have created this document to highlight those aspects of data that should be checked before publication.
By "mistakes" we do not mean errors of fact, although these should also be avoided! It is possible to have entirely correct digital data that are low-quality because they are badly structured or formatted, and, therefore, hard or impossible to move from one digital application to another. The next reader of your digital data is likely to be a computer program, not a human. It is essential that your data are structured and formatted so that they are easily processed by that program, and by other programs in the pipeline between you and the next human user of your data.
The following list of recommendations will help you maximise the re-usability of your digital data. Each represents a test carried out by Pensoft when auditing a digital dataset at the request of an author. Following the list, we provide explanations and examples of each recommendation.
Authors are encouraged to perform these checks themselves prior to data publication. For text data, a good text editor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_text_editors) can be used to find and correct most problems. Spreadsheets usually have some functions for text checking functions, e.g. the "TRIM" function that removes unneeded whitespace from a data item. The most powerful text-checking tools are on the command line, and the website "A Data Cleaner's Cookbook" (https://www.datafix.com.au/cookbook/) is recommended for authors who can use a BASH shell.
When auditing datasets for authors, Pensoft does not check taxonomic or bibliographic details for correctness, but we will do basic geochecks upon request, e.g. test to see if the stated locality is actually at or near the stated latitude/longitude. We also recommend checking that fields do not show "domain schizophrenia", i.e. fields misused to containing data of more than one type.
Proofreading data takes at least as much time and skill as proofreading text. Just as with text, mistakes easily creep into data files unless the files are carefully checked. To avoid the embarrassment of publishing data with such mistakes, we strongly recommend that you take the time to run these basic tests on your data.
CHECKLIST
Characters
- The dataset is UTF-8 encoded
- The only characters used that are not numbers, letters or standard punctuation, are tabs and whitespaces
- Each character has only one encoding in the dataset
- No line breaks within data items
- No field-separating character within data items (tab-separated data preferred)
- No "?" or replacement characters in place of valid characters
- No Windows carriage returns
- No leading, trailing, duplicated or unnecessary whitespaces in individual data items
Records
- No broken records, i.e. records with too few or too many fields
- No blank records
- No duplicate records (as defined by context)
Fields
- No empty fields
- No evident truncation of data items
- No unmatched braces within data items
- No data items with values that are evidently invalid or inappropriate for the given field
- Repeated data items are consistently formatted
- Standard data items such as dates and latitude/longitude are consistently formatted
- No evident disagreement between fields
- No unexpectedly missing data
RECOMMENDATIONS
Characters
- The dataset is UTF-8 encoded
Computer programs do not "read" characters like "A" and "4". Instead, they read strings of 0's and 1's and interpret these strings as characters according to an encoding scheme. The most universal encoding scheme is called UTF-8 and is based on the character set called Unicode. Text data should always be shared with UTF-8 encoding, as errors can be generated when non-UTF-8 encodings (such as Windows-1252) are read by a program expecting UTF-8, and vice-versa. (See also below, on replacement characters).
- The only characters used that are not numbers, letters or standard punctuation are tabs and whitespaces
Unusual characters sometimes appear in datasets, especially when databases have been merged. These "control" or "gremlin" characters are sometimes invisible when data are viewed within a particular application (such as a spreadsheet or a database browser) but can usually be revealed when the data are displayed in a text editor. Examples include vertical tab, soft hyphen, non-breaking space and various ASCII control characters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_character).
- Each character has only one encoding in the dataset
We have seen individual datasets in which the degree symbol (°) is represented in three different ways, and in which a single quotation mark (') is also represented as a prime symbol, a right single quotation mark and a grave accent. Always use one form of each character, and preferably the simplest form, e.g. plain quotes rather than curly quotes.
- No line breaks within data items
Spreadsheet and database programs often allow users to have more than one line of text within a data item, separated by linebreaks or carriage returns. When these records are processed, many computer programs understand the embedded linebreak as the end of a record, so that the record is processed as several incomplete records:
item A itemB1 itemC
itemB2
becomes:
itemA itemB1
itemB2 itemC
- No field-separating character within data items (tab-separated data preferred)
Data are most often compiled in table form, with a particular character used to separate one field ("column") from the next. Depending on the computer program used, the field-separating character might be a comma (CSV files), a tab (TSV files), a semicolon, a pipe (|) etc.
Well-structured data keeps the field-separating character out of data items, to avoid confusion in processing. Because commas are commonly present within data items, and because not all programs understand how to process CSVs, we recommend using tabs as field-separating characters (and avoiding tabs within data items!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab-separated_values.
- No "?" or replacement characters in place of valid characters
When text data are moved between different character encodings, certain characters can be lost because the receiving program does not understand what the sending program is referring to. In most cases, the lost character is then represented by a question mark, as in "Duméril" becoming "Dum?ril", or by a replacement character, usually a dark polygon with a white question mark inside.
It is important to check for these replacements before publishing data, especially if you converted your data to UTF-8 encoding from another encoding.
- No Windows carriage returns
On UNIX, Linux and Mac computers, a linebreak is built with just one character, the UNIX linefeed '\n' ('LF'). On Windows computers, a linebreak is created using two characters, one after the other: '\r\n' ('CRLF'), where '\r' is called a 'carriage return' ('CR'). Carriage returns are not necessary in digital data and can cause problems in data processing on non-Windows computers. Check the documentation of the program in which you are compiling data to learn how to remove Windows carriage returns.
- No leading, trailing, duplicated or unnecessary whitespaces in individual data items
Like "control" and "gremlin" characters, whitespaces are invisible and we pay little attention to them when reading a line of text. Computer programs, however, see whitespaces as characters with the same importance as "A" and "4". For this reason, the following four lines are different and should be edited to make them the same:
Aus bus (Smith, 1900)
Aus bus (Smith, 1900)
Aus bus (Smith, 1900)
Aus bus (Smith, 1900 )
Records
- No broken records, i.e. records with too few or too many fields
If a data table contains records with, for example, 25 fields, then every record in the table should have exactly 25 data items, even if those items are empty. Records with too few fields are often the result of a linebreak or field separator within a data item (see above). Records with too many fields also sometimes appear when part of a record has been moved in a spreadsheet past the end of the table.
- No blank records
Blank records contribute nothing to a data table because they contain no information, and a tidy data table has no blank lines. Note, however, that a computer program looking for blank lines may not find what looks to a human like a blank line, because the "blank" line actually contains invisible tabs or whitespaces.
- No duplicate records (as defined by context)
It can be difficult to find duplicate records in some datasets, but our experience is that they are not uncommon. One cause of duplicates is database software assigning a unique ID number to the same line of data more than once. Context will determine whether one record is a duplicate of another, and data compilers are best qualified to look for them.
Fields
- No empty fields
Fields containing no data items do not add anything to the information content of a dataset and should be omitted.
- No evident truncation of data items
The end of a data item is sometimes cut off, for example when a data item with 55 characters is entered into a database field with a 50-character maximum limit. Truncated data items should be repaired when found, e.g.
Smith & Jones in Smith, Jones and Bro
repaired to:
Smith & Jones in Smith, Jones and Brown, 1974
- No unmatched braces within data items
These are surprisingly common in datasets and are either data entry errors or truncations, e.g.
Smith, A. (1900 A new species of Aus. Zool. Anz. 23: 660-667.
5 km W of Traralgon (Vic
- No data items with values that are evidently invalid or inappropriate for the given field
For example, a field labelled "Year" and containing years should not contain the data item "3 males".
- Repeated data items are consistently formatted
The same data item should not vary in format within a single dataset, e.g.
Smith, A. (1900) A new species of Aus. Zool. Anz. 23: 660-667.
Smith, A. 1900. A new species of Aus. Zoologischer Anzeiger 23: 660-667.
Smith, A. (1900) A new species of Aus. Zool. Anz. 23, 660-667, pl. ix.
- Standard data items such as dates and latitude/longitude are consistently formatted
Data compilers have a number of choices when formatting standard data items, but whichever format is chosen, it should be used consistently. A single date field should not, for example, have dates represented as 2005-05-17, May 19, 2005 and 23.v.2005.
- No evident disagreement between fields
If there are fields which contain linked information then these fields should be checked to ensure that they do not conflict with each other. For example, the year or an observation cannot be after the year it was published. Examples:
Year Citation
1968 Smith, A. (1966) Polychaete anatomy. Academic Press, New York; 396 pp.
Genus Subgenus
Aus Bus (Aus)
- No unexpectedly missing data
This is a rare issue in datasets that have been audited, but occasionally occurs. An example is the Darwin Core "verbatimLocality" field for a record containing a full latitude and longitude, but with the "decimalLatitude" and "decimalLongitude" fields blank.
- Spelling of Darwin Core terms
Darwin Core terms are usually considered case sensitive, therefore you should use their correct spelling (http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/).
We thank Dr. Robert Mesibov for preparing the Data Quality Checklist draft and Dr. Quentin Groom for reviewing it.
Dryad Repository Submissions
This journal is integrated with the Dryad Digital Repository to make data publication simple and easy for authors. There is a $150 Data Publishing Charge for Dryad submissions, payable via the Dryad website. For more information, please see their FAQ.
How to Access a Manuscript
Manuscripts can be accessed after login
- Login is possible after registration at the journal's website. Our Editorial Office will register all first-time editors and reviewers. New users will receive an automated notification with a request to confirm registration and account information, and options for setting a password, email alerts and other features.
Note: All users can use their registration details to login in all three (Book, E-Book and the respective Journal) platforms of www.pensoft.net.
Note: Please remember that you may have registered with two or more different email addresses, that is why you may have more than one valid account at www.pensoft.net. We advise using only one email address, hence one password associated with it, for all your operations at www.pensoft.net. We highly recommend that, in case the user has two or more different accounts, to merge these through user's profile.
Note: Users can at any time change the initially set password and correct personal details using their user's profile menu (by clicking on the user's name in the upper right corner of the screen appearing after login). If you have forgotten your password, please use the function Forgot your password? or write to request it from journals@pensoft.net.
There are two ways to access a manuscript
After login, please go to the respective journal’s web page and click on My Tasks button in the upper right corner of the screen. This way, you will be able to see all manuscripts you are responsible for as Author or Reviewer or Subject Editor.
Note: The manuscripts are grouped by categories, e.g., In Review (no.), In layout (no.), Published (no.), and Archived (no.) etc. The number in brackets after each category shows the number of manuscripts assigned to you.
Click on the active manuscript link provided in the email notification you have received from the online editorial system. The link will lead you directly to the manuscript.
General Responsibilities of Editors
Subject, or Associate, editors in Pensoft’s journals carry the main responsibility for the scientific quality of the papers. They take the final decision on a manuscript’s acceptance or rejection and their names are listed as Academic Editor in the header of each published article.
The editorial process is facilitated through an online editorial system and a set of email notifications. The online editorial system informs the Subject Editor about any change in the status of a manuscript from submission to publication.
The online editorial system is designed to save time and effort for Subject Editors in checking the status of the manuscripts. There is no need for editors to visit the journal’s website to keep track on the manuscript they are responsible for. The online system will inform the Subject Editor when an invited reviewer has accepted or declined to review. The email notifications contain stepwise instructions what action is needed at each stage, as well as a link to the respective manuscript (accessible by clicking on the link in the email notification or after login – see How to Access a Manuscript).
Subject Editors are not expected to provide a thorough linguistic editing or copyediting of a manuscript, but rather focus on its scientific quality and overall style, which should correspond to good practices in clear and concise academic writing. It is the author’s responsibility to submit the manuscript in linguistically and grammatically correct English. The Subject Editor should not hesitate to recommend either Reject, or Reject, but resubmission encouraged PRIOR to the peer-review process, in cases when a manuscript is scientifically poor and/or does not conform to journal’s style, and/or is written in poor English (see Note under point 1 below how to reject a manuscript prior to peer review).
Editors-in-Chief, Managing Editors or their deputies are allowed to publish a limited proportion of papers per year co-authored by them, after considering some extra precautions to avoid an impression of impropriety, endogeny, conflicts of interest and ensure that the editorial decision-making process is transparent and fair.
It often happens that even carefully written manuscripts may contain small errors in orthography or stylistics. We shall be thankful if editors spot such errors during the reading process and correct them.
Stepwise Description of the Editorial Process
- Once a manuscript is submitted, the Managing Editor (or the Editor-in-Chief) briefly checks if the manuscript conforms with the journal's Focus, Scope, Policies and style requirements and decides whether it is potentially suitable for publication and can be processed for review, or rejected immediately, or returned to the author for improvement and re-submission.
Note: There are two ways to reject/return a manuscript prior to review process:
- Through the buttons Reject or Return to the author for correction in the Editorial tab. Please note, however, that the buttons will be made active only after a justification for the rejection or return is provided in the text field.
- Through an email to the Editorial office explaining the reason for rejection or return. The manuscript will be then rejected/returned through the online editorial system and the respective notification email will be sent from the Editorial Office. - At this stage, the Managing Editor (or the Editor-in-Chief) can also check the manuscript for plagiarism via the iThenticate service by clicking on the "ïTehnticate report" button. Journals providing a peer review in languages other than English (for example Russian) may use other plagiarsim checking services (for example Antiplagiat).
- When a manuscript is suitable, the Managing Editor (or the Editor-in-Chief) assigns it to the Subject Editor responsible for the respective topic (e.g., science branch or taxon). The Subject Editor receives a notification email on the assignment.
Note: The link to the respective manuscript is available in the editorial assignment email and all consequent reminder emails. The manuscript is accessible by clicking on the link in the email notifications, or via the user's dashboard after login. Please see How to Access a Manuscript above in case you have any difficulties. - The assigned Subject Editor next reads the manuscript to decide whether it is potentially suitable for publication and can be processed for review, or rejected immediately, or returned to the author for improvement and re-submission. Reasons for rejection can be a low scientific quality, non-conformance to the journal’s style/policies, and/or linguistically or grammatically poor English language.
Note: There are two ways to reject a manuscript prior to review process:
- Through the buttons Reject or Reject, but resubmission encouraged in the Editorial tab. Please note, however, that the buttons become active only after a justification for the rejection is provided in the text field.
- Through an email to the Editorial office explaining the reason for rejection. The manuscript will be then rejected/returned through the online editorial system and the respective notification email will be sent from the Editorial Office. - In case the manuscript is acceptable for peer review, the Subject Editor has to invite reviewers by clicking on the Invite reviewers link. The Subject Editor can select from a list of reviewers, starting with the ones suggested by the authors during the submission process, and followed by the reviewers who are already listed in the database, or add new reviewers.
- Once reviewers are chosen, the Subject Editor has to click the Invite reviewers green button at the end of the page which will generate email templates with review invitations. It is highly recommended that the Subject Editor adds some personal words above the standard email text of the review invitation.
- In case a reviewer is absent from our users' data base, the Subject Editor can add his/her name and email through the Add new reviewer link, which will appear once the search field reveal no results. It is possible that the needed reviewer has already been registered in the Pensoft database either as customer or author/reviewer of another journal. If this is the case, then his/her name, affiliation and other metadata will automatically appear once the e-mail field is populated in the Create user online form.
- The Subject Editor receives a notification email when the Reviewer agrees or declines to review. The Subject Editor takes care to appoint additional reviewers in case some of the invited reviewers decline.
- Once all Reviewers submit their reviews, the Subject Editor receives an email notification, inviting him/her to consider Reviewers' opinions, read through the manuscript and take a decision through the Proceed button.
Note: Editorial comments can be added in the online editorial form; comments and corrections are expected to be added also in the manuscript file (either on the PDF version or in the text file), that should be uploaded during finalization of the editorial decision process. - At this stage, the editor should take a decision either to (1) accept the manuscript, (2) reject it, (3) recommend Major or Minor Revisions or reject it, or open a second review round. In case the manuscript is not rejected, but recommended for Minor Revision, Major Revision, or Acceptance, the author is expected to submit a revised version within a certain period of time (and the Subject Editor will be notified by email about that).
Note 1: Authors must submit revised versions as a text file using Track Changes/Comments tools of Word so that the Subject Editor can see their corrections/additions. Authors must reply to the essential critiques and comments of reviewers separately through the online editorial system.
Note 2: During the second, or next, review round, the Subject Editor may decide to ask reviewers to evaluate the revised version of the manuscript. He/she may also make a decision based on the author’s responses and the revised version of the manuscript without asking additional Reviewers' support. - After acceptance, the manuscript will go to proofreading and layout. The Subject Editor will be notified by email when the final proof is uploaded on the journal’s website. The Subject Editor is expected to look at the proofs and notify the Editorial Office through email in case the proofs need improvement.
- The Subject Editor may always access information on the manuscripts which have been edited by him/her through the menu My Tasks –> Subject Editor on the journal’s web page – In Review (no.), In Edit (no.), Published (no.), and Archived (no.). The number in brackets after each category shows the number of manuscripts that were assigned.
Editors’ and Reviewers’ Workload Stats
While selecting a Reviewer or a Subject Editor to assign to a manuscript, Editors can access the current and past workload for the person they are considering.
By clicking on the user’s name, an Editor sees how many editorial or review tasks the person is currently assigned with, as well as a record of the user’s previous performance across all ARPHA-hosted journals (i.e. number of accepted and declined editorial and review assignments, as well as the titles of the corresponding journals).
The feature is meant to facilitate and expedite the editorial process by discouraging assignment of tasks to overburdened or inactive users.
Find how to Manage Subject editor assignments and Invite Reviewers in the ARPHA Manual.
Review Quality Rating
Subject Editors should evaluate each review submitted to a manuscript they are handling by using a 5-star rating system. The average score is visible for Subject editors who consider the user as a Reviewer. The feature is meant to expedite the editorial process by aiding Subject Editors in the selection of the most suitable reviewers.
Find how to Rate a peer review in the ARPHA Manual.
How to Access a Manuscript
Manuscripts can be accessed after login
- Login is possible after registration at the journal's website. Our Editorial Office will register all first-time editors and reviewers. New users will receive an automated notification with a request to confirm registration and account information, and options for setting a password, email alerts and other features.
Note: All users can use their registration details to login in all three (Book, E-Book and the respective Journal) platforms of www.pensoft.net.
Note: Please remember that you may have registered with two or more different email addresses, that is why you may have more than one valid account at www.pensoft.net. We advise using only one email address, hence one password associated with it, for all your operations at www.pensoft.net. We highly recommend that, in case the user has two or more different accounts, to merge these through user's profile.
Note: Users can at any time change the initially set password and correct personal details using their user's profile menu (by clicking on the user's name in the upper right corner of the screen appearing after login). If you have forgotten your password, please use the function Forgot your password? or write to request it from journals@pensoft.net.
There are two ways to access a manuscript
After login, please go to the respective journal’s web page and click on My Tasks button in the upper right corner of the screen. This way, you will be able to see all manuscripts you are responsible for as Author or Reviewer or Subject Editor.
Note: The manuscripts are grouped by categories, e.g., In Review (no.), In layout (no.), Published (no.), and Archived (no.) etc. The number in brackets after each category shows the number of manuscripts assigned to you.
Click on the active manuscript link provided in the email notification you have received from the online editorial system. The link will lead you directly to the manuscript.
General Responsibilities of Reviewers
This journal uses a double-blind peer review process. Reviewers should NOT disclose their identity. The peer review and editorial process is facilitated through an online editorial system and a set of email notifications. The online editorial system sends the Reviewer a review request, initiated by the Subject Editor or the Editorial Office. The online system will also send reminders and will confirm a successful review submission. The email notifications contain stepwise instructions about the actions needed at each stage along with the link to the respective manuscript (see section How to Access a Manuscript).
Reviewers are not expected to provide a thorough linguistic editing or copyediting of a manuscript, but rather focus on its scientific quality and overall style, which should correspond to the good practices in clear and concise academic writing. If Reviewers recognize that a manuscript requires linguistic edits, we shall be grateful for them to inform both the Author and the Subject Editor about this in the report. It is the Author’s responsibility to submit the manuscript in linguistically and grammatically correct English. It often happens that even carefully written manuscripts may contain small errors in orthography or stylistics. We shall be thankful if Reviewers spot such errors during the reading process and correct them. Reviewers are also asked to declare any conflicts of interest.
Each manuscript will generally be reviewed by two or three experts with the aim of reaching a first decision as soon as possible.
Reviewers are asked to start their report with a very brief summary of the reviewed paper. This will help the editor and the authors see whether the reviewer correctly understood the paper or whether a report might be based on misunderstanding.
Reviewers are then asked to judge the manuscript on the following criteria:
- Novelty score (How novel is the idea / the software capabilities?) or Response score for Response papers (does the response present novel and complementary arguments or opposing views to the original paper?)
- Feasibility/likelihood/applicability score for Perspective and Response papers (does the idea/hypothesis arise from or is supported by rigorous arguments? Is the idea or hypothesis testable? Is the new concept, term or definition useful?) or Methodology score for Research papers, Rapid communications and Horizon scanning papers (is the methodology used/analysis conducted scientifically sound?) or Utility score for Software description (Is the software responding to a well identified need? Is it likely to be used by the scientific community?)
- Scholarship score (the authors demonstrate good knowledge and appropriate use of the current literature)
- Literacy score (English, grammar, clarity and logical flow reaches publication standard)
In addition to the written review, Reviewers are asked to respond to a short questionnaire that serves as a Reviewer’s checklist and ensures a standardised, comprehensive review.
When possible, the final decision is made on the basis of the peer reviews. In cases of strong disagreement between the reports or between the Authors and Reviewers, the Subject Editor can assess these according to his/her expertise or seek advice from a member of the journal's Editorial Board.
The ultimate responsibility for editorial decisions lies with the respective Subject Editor and/or with the Editor-in-Chief. All appeals should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief, who may decide to seek advice from the Subject Editors or the Editorial Board.
During a second review round, reviewers may be asked to evaluate the revised version against their recommendations submitted during the first review round.
Reviewers should be polite and constructive. Reports that may be insulting or uninformative will be rescinded.
Stepwise Description of the Peer Review Process
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This journal uses a double-blind peer review process. Reviewers should NOT disclose their identities.
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The Reviewer receives a review request generated by the Subject Editor or the Editorial Office and is expected to either agree to provide a review, or decline, through pressing the Will do the review or Unable to do the review link in the online editorial system.
Note: The link to the respective manuscript is available in the review request email and all consequent reminder emails (see How to Access a Manuscript above). -
The review should be submitted through the Proceed button. The review consists of:
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a simple online questionnaire to be answered by ticking the Yes, No, Moderately or N/A;
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comments addressed to the Author and the Subject Editor in the online form;
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associated files (corrected/commented manuscript file, review submitted in a separate text file, etc.), if any.
Note: Reviewers can insert corrections and comments in the manuscript review version (PDF) and/or in the manuscript text file (usually Microsoft Word). When working in the PDF, please use either the Text Edits or the Sticky Notes tools (available through the menu Tools -> Comments & Markup of the Acrobat Reader). When editing in Microsoft Word please use the Track Changes / Comments tools.
Note: Associated files should be submitted at the end of the review process by clicking on the Browse button, then selecting the respective file on your computer, and then pressing the Upload button.
- The review process is completed by selecting a recommendation from five options:
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Reject;
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Reject, but resubmission encouraged;
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Major Revision;
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Minor Revision;
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Accept.
The system will ask for one more confirmation of the selected recommendation before submission. The submitted review cannot be changed after submission.
Note: Reasons for rejection can be a low scientific quality, non-conformance to the journal’s style/policies, and/or grammatically poor English language.
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Once a Reviewer submits a review of a manuscript, he/she receives an acknowledgement email from the journal.
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The submission of the review is also automatically reported to Clarivate - Web of Science Reviewer Recognition Service (formerly Publons). Reviewers are asked to confirm whether they want their reviews to be recorded on Clarivate.
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When all Reviewers have submitted their reviews, the Subject Editor makes a decision to either accept, reject or request further minor/major revision.
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After the Subject Editor's decision, the manuscript is sent back to the author for comments and further revision.
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Reviewers are notified via email when the revised version of a manuscript they have reviewed is submitted by the author. They receive a link to the revised version along with the editorial decision and all reviews of the manuscript. Reviewers are also provided with a feedback form should they have any comments on the revised version.
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When an article is published, all Reviewers who have provided a review for the respective manuscript receive an email acknowledgement. In the email, there is a link to view/download the published article.
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A Reviewer may always access information on the manuscripts that are being / have been reviewed by him/her through the menu My Tasks –> Reviewer on the journal’s web page – In Review (no.), In Edit (no.), Published (no.), and Archived (no.). The number in brackets after each category shows the number of manuscripts that have been assigned to you.
No Article Processing Charges
Additional Services (Optional)
Optional service |
Price |
Notes |
Linguistic services |
€ 15 per 1800 characters |
For texts that require additional editing by a native English speaker |
Tailored PR campaign |
€ 150* |
Press release, dedicated media and social networks promotion |
Tailored PR campaign + Video interview |
€ 450 |
Video interview organized by the Editorial Office |
Paper reprints |
At cost |
On demand |
Auditing of the Darwin Core data associated with manuscript** |
€ 75 for datasets up to 10000 records. For large datasets (10,000 + records) please contact Dr. Bob Mesibov for pricing |
On demand |
Cleaning of the Darwin Core data associated with my manuscript** |
€ 225 for datasets up to 10000 records. For large datasets (10,000 + records) please contact Dr. Bob Mesibov for pricing |
On demand |
*This service can be discounted or waived for articles of outstanding importance for the science and society.
**Pensoft reviewers do not usually have time to check through large data files included with manuscripts. If you would like us to have your data files checked, we offer the services of Pensoft editor Dr Bob Mesibov, who is also a data auditor.
Suitable data files for checking would be large tables of occurrence records or of genetic data. These can be checked for duplicate and broken records, misuse of fields, disagreements between fields, character encoding problems and incorrect or inconsistent formatting. Georeferencing can also be checked, on request. Please note that this service does not apply to taxonomic, nomenclatural or bibliographic details in data files.
Please note that the above prices do not include VAT (Value Added Tax). VAT is applicable only for VAT non-registered customers based within the European Union. To avoid charging VAT, the EU companies or persons should provide their VAT registration numbers validated with the EU taxation database (https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/).
Publisher's statement
A key policy and strategic aim of Pensoft is to provide high-quality and inclusive publishing services at highly competitive and affordable Article Processing Charges (APCs) or for free through its diamond open access journals. See Pensoft’s journal portfolio here.
In order to ensure long-term sustainability of the journals and cover the cost of the associated in-house publishing services, our journals require Article Processing Charges (APCs). These charges apply only after a submitted manuscript is accepted for publication, and may be partially or fully covered by institutional funds to reduce financial burdens on authors of research.
Pensoft strongly supports measures that ensure an inclusive and FAIR publishing environment, which in turn prompts quality, sustainability and reasonable pricing in scholarly publishing. You can find more about the publisher’s view on quality, transparency, openness and equity in scholarly publishing in Pensoft’s official statement, prompted by the publication of the European Union’s Conclusions on high-quality, transparent, open and equitable scholarly publishing.
In compliance with the Plan S requirements, Pensoft provides a breakdown of the APC following the guidelines by the Fair Open Access Alliance (FOAA). The report on the journal’s APC is submitted on a yearly basis to the Journal Comparison Service by Coalition S and the detailed breakdown is available to the participating funding institutions on the platform.
Authors who are unable to pay their APCs for several reasons, should consult the Journal’s Discounts and Waivers page, use the diamond open-access journals (free to publish and free to read) hosted on Pensoft’s ARPHA Publishing Platform, or contact the journal’s Editor-in-Chief directly.
Science Communication
Our journal and the PR team at Pensoft invites authors to contribute to the communication and promotion of their published research, thereby increasing the visibility, outreach and impact of their work.
Authors are welcome to notify us whenever their institution is working on a promotional campaign about their work published in our journal. We are always happy to reshare and/or repost (where appropriate).
You can contact our PR team at dissemination@pensoft.net to discuss the communication and promotion of your research.
Tailored PR Campaign
(Paid service*)
We encourage authors, who feel that their work is of particular interest to the wider audience, to email us with a press release draft** (see template and guidelines), outlining the key findings from the study and their public impact. Then, the PR team will work with them to finalise the announcement that will be:
- Issued on the global science news service Eurekalert!
- Sent out to our media contacts from the world’s top-tier news outlets
- Posted on ARPHA’s or Pensoft’s blog
- Shared on social media via suitable ARPHA-managed accounts
Following the distribution of the press announcement, our team will be tracking the publicity across news media, blogs and social networks, in order to report back to the author(s), and reshare any prominent media content.
Request our Tailored PR campaign service by selecting it while completing your submission form and you will be contacted once your manuscript is accepted for publication. Alternatively, contact our PR team (dissemination@pensoft.net), preferably upon the acceptance of your manuscript.
* The Tailored PR campaign is an additional service charged extra. However, we would consider discounts and even full waivers for studies of particular interest for the society.
** Please note that our PR team reserves the right to edit your press release at their discretion. No press announcements will be issued until we receive the author’s final approval to do so. The service is only available for studies published within the past 3 months.
Guest Blog Post
(Free service)
Authors are strongly encouraged to promote their work and its impact on society to the audience beyond their immediate public of fellow scientists by means of storytelling in plain language. Ideally, such guest blog posts will be:
- Written from the author’s own point of view, using conversational tone;
- Written in fluent English;
- Presenting some curious background information, in order to place the discovery in context;
- Including attractive non-copyright imagery.
Request our Guest blog post service by contacting the PR department (dissemination@pensoft.net), regardless of the status of your submission, as there are no time constraints for guest blog post publication. Particularly encouraged are follow-up contributions telling the story of, for example, a research paper that has led to an important policy to be set in place; or an article that has met remarkable attention or reactions in the public sphere.
Following the necessary final touches to the guest blog post by the PR team, the contribution will be:
- Posted on ARPHA’s or Pensoft’s blog
- Shared on social media via multiple and relevant ARPHA-managed accounts
Please note that the PR team reserves the right to refuse publication of a guest blog post on the occasion that it is provided in poor English, uses considerable amount of jargon or does not abide by basic ethical standards. Our PR team reserves the right to request changes to the text related to formatting or language. No blog posts will be issued until we receive the author’s final approval to do so.
Find past guest blog posts on Pensoft’s blog here.
Web Services
OAI-PMH - oai_dc: https://ibe.pensoft.net/oai.php?verb=ListRecords&set=ibe&metadataPrefix=oai_dc
OAI-PMH - mods: https://ibe.pensoft.net/oai.php?verb=ListRecords&set=ibe&metadataPrefix=mods
RSS for metadata: https://ibe.pensoft.net/rss.php
Journal Info
Journal Name | Individual-based Ecology |
---|---|
Journal URL | https://ibe.pensoft.net/ |
ISSN (online) | 3033-0947 |
ISSN (print) | - |
Content Provider | ARPHA |
Publisher | Pensoft Publishers |
Journal Owner | Pensoft Publishers |
Owner URL | https://pensoft.net |
Start Year | |
Review Type | double-blind |
Publication Frequency | continuous |
APC | No publication charges |
License | Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) |