Applied Vegetation Science

Author Guidelines

Scope

Applied Vegetation Science includes any community-level topic relevant to human interaction with vegetation, including global change, nature conservation, nature management, restoration of plant communities and of the habitats of threatened plant species, and the planning of semi-natural and urban landscapes. Vegetation survey, modelling and remote-sensing applications are welcome. Papers on vegetation science which do not fit to this scope (do not have an applied aspect and are not vegetation survey) can be directed to our associate journal, the Journal of Vegetation Science. Both journals publish papers on the ecology of a single species only if it plays a key role in structuring plant communities.

Acceptance criteria

To be acceptable, a paper must be of interest to an international readership, even if its immediate scope is local. A paper can be new/interesting by doing one or more of several things:

• Developing new concepts in understanding vegetation
• Testing concepts applicable to all plant communities
• Adding a particularly well-executed empirical example that is part of a growing literature on a general conceptual issue
• Representing a particularly interesting combination of models, observational data and experiments
• Demonstrating a new and generally useful method
• Presenting a particularly exemplary or thorough analysis, even if the concepts and methods are not novel, and even if it be regional in scope, so long as it:
      - represents the state of the art (methods and statistics) and
      - presents a critical and definitive test for an interesting hypothesis
• Demonstrating how vital vegetation science is to social questions of the day (e.g., species invasions, climatic change, ecosystem management or nutrient deposition)
• Describing the vegetation of an area, whether large or small, when that description will be of interest to readers worldwide because that habitat/vegetation will be of such interest, or when it attains the exemplary qualities described above. For further guidance on papers comprising vegetation classification, click here.

The questions in the paper can be addressed by many means, including description, experiments, simulations, meta-analysis, inference, extrapolation, etc. There is no limit to the nature of the approach, as long as the work is sound. As a rule of thumb, the journal would accept a paper if at least 66% of vegetation scientists would regard it as having some interest, or at least 10% would regard it as being very interesting.

All submitted manuscripts must comply with our publishing ethics as detailed here.

Types of papers

Ordinary paper
This category includes vegetation survey, experiment, simulation, theory, description of a new method or review (including mini-review), or any combination of those. The typical length of ordinary papers is about 8–10 printed pages. There is no minimum or maximum length of ordinary papers, but the length should be proportional to their content of interest. Shorter papers may be published sooner.

Synthesis
Reviews of a topic that produce new ideas/conclusions (and are not merely summaries of the literature) can be published as Syntheses.

Forum
Forum papers are essays with original ideas / speculation / well-sustained arguments, with no new data. They usually contribute to free debate of current and often controversial ideas in vegetation science. There may be criticism of papers published in Applied Vegetation Science, or (if interesting to our readers) of papers published elsewhere. An Abstract is required, but otherwise the sectional format is flexible. The length of the Forum papers is normally 0.5–4 printed pages. Forum papers, especially short ones, have high priority in publication.

Report
This includes items that are not scientific papers, e.g. news items, the existence of databases and technical information. Reports are typically two pages; additional material should be put in electronic appendices. A report can describe a new or much expanded computer program if this is of interest to vegetation scientists. We can also accept paid advertisements for commercial computer programs. We also carry reviews of computer programs, and authors of new programs are very welcome to submit them for review to the Software Review Editor. [Papers that, whilst mentioning a particular program, are basically descriptions of a new method, can be submitted as ordinary papers.]

Journal’s policy on criticism and errata

For details of the policy on papers that have a major element criticising a particular paper or body of work, and on responses, also for the policy on errata, click here.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts must be written in English (either British or American throughout). They should be concise, because concise papers often make more impact on the reader.

Manuscript structure

Title: This should be strongly directed towards attracting the interest of potential readers.

Author names and addresses: Follow exactly the format in the most recent issue of the journal. Give e-mail addresses for all authors.

Abstract: Up to 350 words for Ordinary papers (fewer for a Forum or Report paper). Include no references. The abstract for ordinary papers should have named sections, normally: Question(s), Location, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. This structure can be varied when necessary, e.g. for reviews use whatever structure is appropriate; for theoretical papers Location is not needed; use Aim(s) instead of Question(s) for papers introducing a new method and vegetation survey papers; for Forum and Report papers a compressed structure will be appropriate; if such papers are very short (one printed page or less), they do not need to have an abstract.

Keywords: There should be 5–12 keywords, separated by semicolons, which should not duplicate the title.

Nomenclature: If species are sampled, analysed or combined from different data sources, refer to a source for unified nomenclature of plant species or vegetation units, unless there be few names and their authors are given in the text.

Abbreviations: List any that are frequently used in the text.

Running head: Shortened title.

Main text: Indicate new paragraphs by indentation. Avoid footnotes. Variation from the usual Introduction - Methods - Results - Discussion structure is acceptable when appropriate.

Acknowledgements: Keep them brief. References to research projects/funds and institutional publication numbers can go here.

Citations in the text: Use forms such as: Smith & Jones (2005) or (Smith & Jones 2005); for more than two authors: White et al. (2005); for combinations: (Smith et al. 2005 a, b; Jones 2006, 2010). Citations should be chronological by year, except where there is a list of years for the same author(s), e.g. (Zebedee 1950, 1970; Abraham 1960; Smith et al. 1965, 1974; Zebedee et al. 1969)

References section: Use the formats below. Always name all the authors for each publication and give the full name of the journals.

Lane, D.R., Coffin, D.P. & Lauenroth, W.K. 2000. Changes in grassland canopy structure across a precipitation gradient. Journal of Vegetation Science 11: 359–368. Greig-Smith, P. 1983. Quantitative plant ecology. 3rd ed. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. Whittaker, R.H. 1969. Evolution of diversity in plant communities. In: Woodwell, G.M. & Smith, H.N. (eds.) Stability and diversity in ecological systems, pp. 178–196. Brookhaven National Laboratory, Brookhaven, NY, US. Levin, S.A. 2001. Immune systems and ecosystems. Conservation Ecology 5(1): article 17. URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss1/art17 [Ecological Society of America]. Noble, D.L. 1978. Seedfall and establishment of Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. United States Department of Agriculture [report no. 575], Washington, DC, US. Ronco, F. jr 1979. Establishment of seedlings in clearcut openings in Colorado [Rocky Mountain Experimental Station report no. 273]. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, US. Wallin, G. 1973. Lövskogsvegetation i Sjuhäradsbygden. Ph.D. thesis, Uppsala University, Uppsala, SE.

References to computer programs: Computer programs used should be mentioned in the Methods section, e.g. "performed by DoStats (version 6.2, StatProgs Inc., Springfield, NY, US)" or “peformed by Partition (version 3.0, www.users.muohio.edu/cristto/partition.htm)”. Only descriptions of computer programs in refereed journals or in books with an ISBN can be cited in the References section. References to computer programs should never substitute references to proper description of methods performed using these programs. The methods used should be fully described in the text, in an appendix and/or by readily-available references. A reference to a computer program and to “program defaults” are not substitutes.

Unpublished material: The References section can contain only material that is published (including early online publications with a DOI) or is a thesis. Indicate all other material as "unpubl." or "pers. comm." (the latter with date and description of the type of knowledge, e.g. "local farmer"); "submitted" may be used only if the cited item is in some journal's editorial process, and the reference will have to be removed if the item has not been firmly accepted by that journal by the time proofs are corrected for citing paper.

Manuscript format

Number all pages and all the lines. Do not use a two-column format. Use scientific names of taxa, and avoid vernacular names. Units of measurement must follow the International System of Units, e.g. mg.m^-2.yr^-1. The time unit for contemporary phenomena can be 's', 'min', 'hr', 'week', 'mo' or 'yr'. For palaeo-time use 'ka' or 'Ma'; make always clear whether you use ¹⁴C years or calendar years BP (before present). Dates should be in the format: 2 Sep 2010, i.e. with the month as three letters. Months on their own should be in full: September. Country abbreviations are by 2-letter code (but note UK, not GB).

Numbers with units of measurement must be in digits, e.g. 3.5 g. Numbers in the text of up to ten items (i.e. integers) should be in words, e.g. "ten quadrats", "five sampling times"; above ten in digits, e.g. "11 sampling times". Use '.' for a decimal point. Thousands in large numbers (ten thousand and higher) should be indicated by a space, e.g. 10 000 for ten thousand, but 2000. Symbols for variables and parameters should be in italics (e.g. P).

Tables

Numerical results should be presented as either tables or figures, but not both. Tables should be included in the text file, either embedded in the text or at the end. Table legends should be on the same page as the table to which they refer. The legend should contain sufficient information for the table to be understood without reference to the text of the paper. The first sentence of the legend should comprise a short title for the table. Units should appear in parentheses in the column headings, not in the body of the table. If some part of the table needs to be highlighted (e.g. groups of important species), use background shading (not framing or boldface).

Figures

Figures in the submitted manuscript should be supplied at the size at which they are intended to be printed: either one-column or full-page width. They may optionally be embedded in the text. Figure legends should be included within the text file on the same page as the figure to which they refer. The legend should contain sufficient information for the figure to be understood without reference to the text of the paper. The first sentence of the legend should comprise a short title for the figure.

The definitions of symbols and lines should be given as a visual key on the figure itself, not as a word key (e.g. 'solid bars', 'open circle', 'dashed line') in the legend. Sub-graphs within one figure should be headed with a lowercase letter and a brief heading. Magnification bars should be given on electron and light micrographs.

Artwork guidelines are available at http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp. The journal welcomes colour figures and plates when information would be lost if reproduced in black and white. Please note there is a charge for colour in print: if you have colour figures please fill in the form available here and post a hard copy to: Sheelagh Rogers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK. If you cannot cover the printing costs of colour figures, we can, without charge, reproduce them in colour in the online version of the paper but in black and white in the printed version. Financial support may be available to authors from developing countries who have figures for which colour is essential. For web-only colour or for possible financial support contact the Editorial Office.

When a paper is finally accepted, electronic artwork is required. See 'Submissions' below.

Graphical abstracts on tables of contents

Our online table of contents includes a summary of what is exciting about your paper in not more than 60 words. It is accompanied by a small, approximately square, image (a photograph, a graph or part of a graph) relevant to your paper. It can be from the paper itself, or related to it. If you choose a figure, please ensure it will make sense thumbnail-size, i.e. either with an interesting overall pattern or else a simple graph with huge axis lettering. You will be asked to provide these by the Editorial Office if your paper is accepted for publication.

Electronic appendices

Large figures and tables, raw data, calculation examples, computer program source, extra photographs and similar materials can be published as electronic appendices in online 'Supporting Information‘. This material will not appear in the printed paper, but will be freely available in the Wiley Online Library.

Written text should be in PDF, and where the reader might wish to extract text (e.g. computer program codes) also in plain text (TXT). Tables/data should be in both plain text (TXT or CSV) and PDF format. Authors are encouraged (but not required) to make their primary data available in appendix tables. Figures and photographs should be in PDF format. Groups of related items (e.g. a set of figures, or of photographs) can be included in a single appendix. Detailed captions should appear in all appendices.

A list of all appendices with shortened captions should be provided at the end of the paper (after the References section), e.g. "Appendix 2. Photographs of the main types of deciduous forest in the study area".

So long as text, tables, data, figures and photographs are given in the above formats, other files in any format may be given, e.g. videos, executable programs, functional spreadsheets. Each such file should have a corresponding PDF Appendix describing the file, its format and contents. E.g.:
      Appendix S3. Description of the video in Appendix S4, pollination.
      Appendix S4. Video of bee Apis mellifera pollinating daisy Bellis perennis (WMV format             described in Appendix S3.
There should be a reference in the main text of the form, e.g.: (Appendix S4, described in Appendix S3).

Electronic appendices should be submitted for review with the first version of the manuscript, but uploaded as a separate file and designated as 'Appendix for Online Publication Only'. They should not be included as additional pages within the main document.

Cover images

Electronic artwork/original photographs of high quality suitable for the cover are welcomed. They should be submitted to the Editorial Office via ScholarOne Manuscripts along with the manuscript and be accompanied by a relevant caption. It is preferred, but not essential, that images should be related to submitted papers. Photographs submitted as cover images can be identical with those submitted for online Supporting Information. For each photograph, the author should make clear whether it is submitted for online Supporting Information, journal cover, or both. Contributors are required to assign copyright of photographs to the International Association for Vegetation Science by UK law.

Technical checklist before manuscript submission

Before submitting your paper, please, check whether your manuscript meets the following requirements:

Topic:  Deals with plant communities or multispecies plant assemblages (not with single species); is of interest to international community of vegetation scientists. Title:  Is concise and attractive, catches the reader's attention with topical issues or an interesting hypothesis. Abstract:  Does not exceed to 350 words (fewer for a Forum or Report paper); does not contain references; is divided into named sections. Author list:  Follows the current format of the journal, e.g.: John B. Bush, George Smith & E. Fred Coxon Bush, J. B. (Corresponding author, jb_bush@lmu.ac.uk) & Coxon, E. F. (g_smith@lmu.ac.uk; www.herbicide.co.uk/efcoxon): Ecology Department, Little Marsh University, 11 Main St., Little Marsh, Berkshire, UK. Smith, G. (doughnut@herbicide.co.uk) & Coxon, E. F.: Botany Department, Herbicide Manufacturers, P. O. Box 2002, Southend-on-Sea, UK Keywords:  Do not duplicate words from the title; follow the journal format, e.g. Abies forest; Balkans; Community structure; Deer; Invasive species; Neutral model; Species richness; Zonation. Nomenclature source and abbreviations:  Are given if relevant. Logical structure:  The Introduction states what topics will be addressed, and those topics are addressed by the Methods, Results and Discussion. Introduction:  Explains why the topic is important or interesting; briefly provides the broader context of the current study; ends with questions, hypotheses or a clear statement of the paper’s aims. Results:  The claims in the Results section text match what is in the figures and tables. Table and Figure captions:  Understandable without reading the text. Tables:  Concise, with row and column labels as self-explanatory as possible; contain no vertical lines. Figures:  Not too many of them, and compact; supplied in the size they will be printed, with all details readable at this size; contain no unnecessary lines (e.g. across a graph, or frames around the graph; to the top and right of a graph); lines and symbols explained in direct language, e.g. * = Litter removed (not: * = LRT or * = Treatment LR or * = Treatment 3); symbol key in the figure itself, not a word key ('dashed line', 'open circles') in the caption. Electronic appendices:  All appendices (except mathematical ones), large figures & tables, extra photographs and raw data, go here.

Submissions

Manuscripts should be submitted at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/avsci, as Word document (.doc or .docx) or RTF (.rtf), preferably with all tables and figures embedded in a single file. Upon submission, one of the Chief Editors or Associate Editors will be selected as Co-ordinating Editor for each submitted manuscript, and will make the final decision on acceptance.

If your paper is eventually accepted, there are several technical issues that will need to be checked. You can check these when you receive the Co-ordinating Editor's response and make necessary modifications (the Co-ordinating Editor may give you directions on such issues, or may not, depending on how busy they are at the time). If your paper is accepted, it will be passed via the Editorial Office to the Production Editors. If only minor technical issues remain, they may make the changes themselves, perhaps checking with you first, or asking you by a note on the proofs to check the changes. For more major changes (e.g. if there are many language problems), the Production Editors will be unable to correct your paper for you, and you will be given the choice of doing this work yourself, even at this late stage, or having it done at cost to you. Exceptions to these charges can be made only for ecologists from the developing world. It is quite possible that none of this will apply to your paper, but we warn all authors at the submission stage just in case it turns out that it does. Once your paper has been accepted, it will be forwarded to the publisher for production to commence.

On acceptance, you will be required to upload your manuscript as one text file and additional high resolution graphics files. The preferred formats are .EPS for vector graphics (e.g. line artwork) and .TIFF for half-tone figures. TIFF files should be supplied at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) at the final size at which they are to appear in the journal. Colour files should be in CMYK format. For further information click here.

Full upload instructions and support are available online from the submission site via the 'Get Help Now' button. Please submit your covering letter or comments to the editor when prompted online. Please send any general submission queries to avsci@editorialoffice.co.uk.

Page charges and subscriptions

There are no page charges. However, please consider taking a subscription to Applied Vegetation Science and/or Journal of Vegetation Science: they carry important papers in your field. Subscriptions help us to avoid charges. The personal subscription rates are very reasonable and include membership of International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS). For those in the developing world, assistance may be available through the IAVS: contact the Secretary General (Secretary@iavs.org).

If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them to login into Author Services; where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be able to complete the license agreement on behalf of all authors on the paper.

For authors signing the copyright transfer agreement

If the OnlineOpen option is not selected the corresponding author will be presented with the copyright transfer agreement (CTA) to sign. The terms and conditions of the CTA can be previewed in the samples associated with the Copyright FAQs below:

CTA Terms and Conditions http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/faqs_copyright.asp

For authors choosing OnlineOpen

If the OnlineOpen option is selected the corresponding author will have a choice of the following Creative Commons License Open Access Agreements (OAA):

Creative Commons Attribution License OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial -NoDerivs License OAA

To preview the terms and conditions of these open access agreements please visit the Copyright FAQs hosted on Wiley Author Services http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/faqs_copyright.asp and visit http://www.wileyopenaccess.com/details/content/12f25db4c87/Copyright--License.html.

If you select the OnlineOpen option and your research is funded by The Wellcome Trust and members of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) you will be given the opportunity to publish your article under a CC-BY license supporting you in complying with Wellcome Trust and Research Councils UK requirements. For more information on this policy and the Journal’s compliant self-archiving policy please visit: http://www.wiley.com/go/funderstatement.

Conflict of Interest

All authors are required to disclose potential sources of conflict of interest upon submission. Click here for further information.

OnlineOpen Service

OnlineOpen is available to authors of primary research papers who wish to make their paper available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their paper. With OnlineOpen the author, the author's funding agency or institution pays a fee to ensure that the paper is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley Online Library, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. For the full list of terms and conditions, see http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/onlineopen#OnlineOpen_Terms.

Any authors wishing to send their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the payment form available from our website at: https://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/onlineopen_order.asp

Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform an Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen if you do not wish to. All OnlineOpen papers are treated in the same way as any other paper, going through the journal's standard peer-review process, and being accepted or rejected on their own merit.