Author Guidelines

Sections

1. SUBMISSION

Authors should note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.
Once the submission materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, manuscripts should be submitted online at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mec

N.B. Molecular Ecology employs a plagiarism detection system. By submitting your manuscript you accept that it may be screened for plagiarism against previously published works.


2. AIMS AND SCOPE

Molecular Ecology publishes papers that utilize molecular genetic techniques to address consequential questions in ecology, evolution, behaviour and conservation.

Studies may employ neutral markers for inference about ecological and evolutionary processes or examine ecologically important genes and their products.

Papers that are primarily descriptive and relevant only to the taxon being studied without addressing a question of broader interest to the fields of ecology, evolution, or conservation are not appropriate for Molecular Ecology and should instead be submitted to a more specialized journal or to Ecology & Evolution / MicrobiologyOpen.

If your work addresses technical methods, computer programs and genomic resource development, please submit these to our companion journal, Molecular Ecology Resources.

**
各位作者， 请在投稿信中陈述您的科研成果与Molecular Ecology 的办刊宗旨和报道领域的契合之处。
Molecular Ecology 刊载的科研论文致力于运用分子基因技术解决生态，进化，行为和生态保护的相关问题。
研究包括采用中性标记监测生态和进化过程的干扰，以及对生态重要基因和相应产 物的检验。
若投稿论文仅描述并适用于当前正在研究的类群，而不涉及解决更广泛的生态学问 题，此类文章不在Molecular Ecology 的报道领域内，建议向更专业的期刊投稿，或Ecology & Evolution / MicrobiologyOpen.
如果您的研究成果专注于技术方法，电脑程序和基因组资源开发，请向我们的姐妹 刊Molecular Ecology Resources 投稿。
**

Research areas of interest to Molecular Ecology include:

Authors, please include a statement in your Cover Letter describing how your work fits the Aims and Scope of Molecular Ecology.


3. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

Original Articles (Primary Research Papers)
Our principal function is to publish primary research papers. Such papers are reports of research projects that are complete to the extent that they yield valuable insights into topics within the Aims and Scope of Molecular Ecology.

'From the Cover' Papers

Primary Research Papers of exceptional interest to a wide audience within the Aims and Scope of Molecular Ecology.

Syntheses

Opinions
These papers present points of view, that are relevant and potentially controversial, as a means of encouraging debate. Such manuscripts may present speculative and provocative viewpoints, although they must be conditioned by the normal standards of scientific objectivity, and they will be subject to peer review. Opinion Articles should be shorter than 6000 words, excluding references.

Comments
Comments on published papers, principally those published in, Molecular Ecology, will be considered by the editors and published after consultation or peer review.  Such manuscripts should be as brief as possible. A rebuttal by the original author(s) may also be solicited and published alongside the Comment.

Meeting Reviews
These papers describe the theme, notable presentations and conclusions of a scientific meeting of interest to the molecular ecology community. Meeting Reviews are only published after peer review, and should not present new data. They should be shorter than 6000 words, excluding references.

Corrigendum
This article type is for making corrections on papers you have published in Molecular Ecology.

•    Specifics:

o   Upload your corrections as you would submit a manuscript.

o   Select “Corrigendum” from article type list.

o   Leave “Suggested Reviewers” field blank.

4. PREPARING THE SUBMISSION

Cover Letters
Your cover letter should contain a clear statement of how your manuscript fits the scope of the journal.
As submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium, it is not necessary to reiterate this information.

Response to Reviewers
If your paper is a revision or resubmission, please prepare a detailed response to the previous set of editor and reviewer comments.

Formatting

Manuscripts failing to include any of these elements will be returned without review.
File Types
For initial submission, manuscripts can be:

Note: If accepted you must supply the manuscript in an editable format (Word, LaTeX), separate files for each figure and tables in an editable format (Word or Excel).

Tables and Figures

Preparation of Figures

Failure to follow these guidelines may result in your paper having blurred, illegible or otherwise low-quality figures.
The corresponding author is responsible for obtaining written permission to reproduce material in print and other media from the publisher of the original source, and for supplying Wiley with that permission

Charges for Colour

To learn about options for help with figure preparation, please seeWiley Editing Services.
 
Related Manuscripts
Reviewers and Editors often ask to see unpublished manuscripts (i.e. 'in press', 'in review' or 'submitted') that appear to be related to the submitted paper. As obtaining these during the review process adds unnecessary delays, we request that these related manuscripts are uploaded as 'supplemental files for review only' at the submission stage.

Parts of the Manuscript

Separate files should be uploaded for the main text and for each figure.
Original Articles and From the Cover Articles include, in this order:
Main Text File
The text file should be presented in the following order:
Title Page

Accurate Scientific Title With Keywords: Fun, Catchy, Clever Title

Abstract
Please provide an abstract of no more than 250 words containing the major keywords.
Keywords
Please provide four to six keywords.
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Results (separate from Discussion)
Discussion
Acknowledgements

References
Please see this document for examples of implementing APA Reference Style.

Data Accessibility Statement
Authors are required to archive their data in a publicly accessible repository such as Dryad, FigShare, GenBank, etc.  (not a laboratory homepage).

Example:

Manuscripts lacking a Data Accessibility section will not be passed through to an editor. Please note that reviewers will be asked to comment on the completeness of this section.

Author Contributions
Authors should include a brief Author Contributions statement at the end of the paper in which they describe their specific contributions to the published work. Contributions could include, but are not limited to:

Tables and Figures (with captions)

Tables
Tables should be self-contained and complement, not duplicate, information contained in the text. Specifics:

Figure Legends
Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.

Figures
Although authors are encouraged to send the highest-quality figures possible, for peer-review purposes, a wide variety of formats, sizes, and resolutions are accepted. Click here for the basic figure requirements for figures submitted with manuscripts for initial peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements.

Figures submitted in colour

Supporting/Supplemental Information
Supporting information is information that is not essential to the article, but provides greater depth and background. It is hosted online and appears without editing or typesetting. It may include tables, figures, videos, datasets, etc. Click here for Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.

Supporting Information will not be edited or altered from its original format during the production process, and therefore proofs of your Supporting Information will not be available. Supporting Information will appear online when your article is published.

Cover Image
If you wish to submit an image to be considered for the cover of the journal, please upload it at submission using file category “Cover Image.”

Wiley Author Resources
Manuscript Preparation Tips:Wiley has a range of resources for authors preparing manuscripts for submission available here. In particular, authors may benefit from referring to Wiley’s best practice tips on Writing for Search Engine Optimization.
Editing, Translation, and Formatting Support:Wiley Editing Services greatly improve the chances of a manuscript being accepted. Offering expert help in English language editing, translation, manuscript formatting, and figure preparation, Wiley Editing Services ensures that the manuscript is ready for submission.

5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Editorial Review and Acceptance
The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research, its fit to the scope of the journal and significance to journal readership.
Wiley's policy on confidentiality of the review process is available here.

Referrals to the Open Access Journals
For rapid publication of quality research that we are unable to accept, select authors of declined manuscripts will be offered the option of having the paper, along with any related reviews, automatically transferred for consideration by Ecology & Evolution or MicrobiologyOpen. Ecology & Evolution and MicrobiologyOpen are Wiley Open Access journals and article publication fees apply.

Data Storage and Documentation

Molecular Ecology requires, as a condition for publication, that the data supporting the results in the paper will be archived in an appropriate public repository. Whenever possible the scripts and other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper should also be publicly archived. Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the editor, especially for sensitive information such as human subject data or the location of endangered species. Authors will be required to provide a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, for all accepted papers.

We require that authors include a ‘Data Accessibility’ section after the References (see 'Preparing the Submission' Section for details). This section must be present at initial submission, and data archiving must be completed before final acceptance. Alongside this, we ask that authors also cite their data according to the Force 11 Data Citation Principles. More detail on how to do this can be found here: https://authorservices.wiley.com/author-resources/Journal-Authors/open-access/data-sharing-citation/data-citation-policy.html.

Data are important products of the scientific enterprise, and they should be preserved and usable for decades in the future. As such, Molecular Ecology requires authors to archive the data supporting their results and conclusions along with sufficient details so that a third party can interpret them correctly. Papers with exemplary data and code archiving are more valuable for future research, and, all else being equal, will be given higher priority for publication.

Good Practice:

Data must be publicly available at time of publication. Embargos may be granted in exceptional instances at the discretion of the Managing Editor. Exemptions to this policy may also be granted, especially for sensitive information such as human subject data or the location of endangered species.

Preprints
Molecular Ecology will consider submissions that have previously been made available online, either on a preprint server like arXiv, bioRxiv, or PeerJ PrePrints, or on the authors’ own website. However, any such submissions must not have been published in a scientific journal, book or other venue that could be considered formal publication. Authors must inform the editorial office at submission if their paper has been made available as a preprint.

Independent Peer Review Services
Molecular Ecology will consider referrals from independent review services. However such manuscripts may be subject to additional external review by Molecular Ecology. If appropriate, we will invite authors to submit a revision of their manuscript to Molecular Ecology. Note that we cannot guarantee a positive decision for referred manuscripts.

Human Studies and Subjects
For manuscripts reporting medical studies that involve human participants, a statement identifying the ethics committee that approved the study and confirmation that the study conforms to recognized standards is required, for example: Declaration of Helsinki; US Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects; or European Medicines Agency Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice.
Images and information from individual participants will only be published where the authors have obtained the individual's free prior informed consent. Authors do not need to provide a copy of the consent form to the publisher; however, in signing the author license to publish, authors are required to confirm that consent has been obtained. Wiley has a standard patient consent form available for use.

Animal Studies
A statement indicating that the protocol and procedures employed were ethically reviewed and approved, as well as the name of the body giving approval, must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript. Authors are encouraged to adhere to animal research reporting standards, for example the ARRIVE reporting guidelines for reporting study design and statistical analysis; experimental procedures; experimental animals and housing and husbandry. Authors should also state whether experiments were performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals:

Compliance with International Conventions and Regulations on Biological Diversity and Endangered Species
We strongly recommend that papers submitted to Molecular Ecology comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CBD and CITES). Within the CBD, we ask that authors follow the Access to Benefit Sharing (ABS) guidelines, and give credit and equal access to benefits to countries, academic institutions and scientists that participated in the collection and analysis of data. Under the CITES convention, we request that authors observe the need for permits for the import and export of specimens that fall under CITES guidelines.

Compliance with Laws on Animal Experimentation and Sampling from Natural Populations
We expect that papers submitted to Molecular Ecology comply with the ARRIVE guidelines for the use of animals in research (http://www.nc3rs.org.uk/ARRIVE), as well as any other legal requirements of the countries where the work was conducted. Sampling procedures for natural populations must be properly described and should be designed to minimize their impact on the taxa involved and their habitat. They must also comply with any international and national legal requirements.

Research Reporting Guidelines
Accurate and complete reporting enables readers to fully appraise research, replicate it, and use it. Authors are encouraged to adhere to the following research reporting standards.

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

Number of Loci, Populations and Individuals
Sampling strategies and marker choices should be designed to best address the question motivating the study.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, authors of single species phylogeographic studies must base their inferences on multiple loci: our editors and reviewers often question the reliability of inferences based on a single locus and such manuscripts will typically not be sent out for review.
We have been reluctant to formulate guidelines regarding the minimum number of independent loci, populations and individuals needed for publication in Molecular Ecology, largely because such guidelines would depend on the question being addressed, the kind of molecular markers and sequencing technologies employed, the geographic range of the focal taxa and the quality and quantity of DNA. Likewise, the guidelines would have to be modified on a yearly basis as standards of the field continue to rise. Please contact the Managing Editor if you would like specific guidance on this policy.

Data Analysis Best Practice
Molecular Ecology expects that statistical and molecular tools used in submitted papers should meet a high standard of rigor. All analytical approaches have inherent limitations, and authors should therefore attempt to identify the limitations of their chosen approach and corroborate their interpretations when possible.

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

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

Structural Data
For papers describing structural data, atomic coordinates and the associated experimental data should be deposited in the appropriate databank (see below). Please note that the data in databanks must be released, at the latest, upon publication of the article. We trust in the cooperation of our authors to ensure that atomic coordinates and experimental data are released on time.

Use of RAPD/ISSR Markers
The appropriateness of RAPD or ISSR markers for population genetic inference is increasingly questioned by our reviewers and editors because of concerns about reproducibility, dominance, and homology. Given these worries, and the ready availability of other kinds of markers that do not suffer from all of these problems, studies based primarily on RAPD/ISSR rarely pass the scrutiny of peer review in Molecular Ecology.

Reporting Stable Isotope Data
For papers using stable isotopes, we recommend that authors follow the guidelines developed by the IUPAC Commission for Isotope Abundances and Atomic Weights; see http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rcm.5129/full for more details.

Software and Programming Code
Software and documentation may be made accessible from a long-term server (e.g., github), however, at least a snapshot of these resources must be posted on Dryad, CRAN (or similar academic/publishing archiving sites) with a link to a long-term server where software development and future releases can be found such that continued access to these resources is ensured. 

Conflict of Interest
The journal requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potential sources of conflict of interest include, but are not limited to: patent or stock ownership, membership of a company board of directors, membership of an advisory board or committee for a company, and consultancy for or receipt of speaker's fees from a company. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and collectively to disclose with the submission ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships.

Funding
Authors should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature: https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/

Authorship
The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:
1. Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
3. Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
4. Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section (for example, to recognize contributions from people who provided technical help, collation of data, writing assistance, acquisition of funding, or a department chairperson who provided general support). Prior to submitting the article all authors should agree on the order in which their names will be listed in the manuscript.
Additional Authorship Options: Joint first or senior authorship: In the case of joint first authorship, a footnote should be added to the author listing, e.g. ‘X and Y should be considered joint first author’ or ‘X and Y should be considered joint senior author.’

ORCID
As part of the journal’s commitment to supporting authors at every step of the publishing process, the journal requires the submitting author (only) to provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. This takes around 2 minutes to complete. Find more information here.

Publication Ethics
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Note this journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read the Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors here. Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines can be found at authorservices.wiley.com/ethics-guidelines/index.html.

Privacy

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. You can learn more at https://authorservices.wiley.com/statements/data-protection-policy.html.

6. AUTHOR LICENSING

If a paper is accepted for publication, the author identified as the formal corresponding author will receive an email prompting them to log in to Author Services, where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be required to complete a copyright license agreement on behalf of all authors of the paper.

Authors may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or OnlineOpen under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

General information regarding licensing and copyright is available here. To review the Creative Commons License options offered under OnlineOpen, please click here. (Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used; to check this please click here.)
Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions. Please click here for more detailed information about self-archiving definitions and policies.
Open Access fees: Authors who choose to publish using OnlineOpen will be charged a fee. A list of Article Publication Charges for Wiley journals is available here.
Funder Open Access: Please click here for more information on Wiley’s compliance with specific Funder Open Access Policies.

7. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Accepted Article Received in Production
When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. The author will be asked to sign a publication license at this point.
Accepted Articles
The journal offers Wiley’s Accepted Articles service for all manuscripts. This service ensures that accepted ‘in press’ manuscripts are published online shortly after acceptance, prior to copy-editing or typesetting. Accepted Articles are published online a few days after final acceptance, appear in PDF format only, and are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows them to be cited and tracked. After publication of the final version article (the article of record), the DOI remains valid and can still be used to cite and access the article.
Proofs
Once the paper is typeset, the author will receive an email notification with the URL to download a PDF typeset page proof, as well as associated forms and full instructions on how to correct and return the file.
Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made during the editorial process – authors should check proofs carefully. Note that proofs should be returned within 48 hours from receipt of first proof.
Publication Charges
Publication in the journal is free. However, there is a cost for publishing colour figures in print. Colour figures may be published online free of charge. If the author supplies colour figures at Early View publication, they will be invited to complete an online colour charge agreement in RightsLink for Author Services. The author will have the option of paying immediately with a credit or debit card, or they can request an invoice. If the author chooses not to purchase colour printing, the figures will be converted to black and white for the print issue of the journal. Please contact the Production Editor if you have any queries regarding this.
Early View
The journal offers rapid publication via Wiley’s Early View service. Early View (Online Version of Record) articles are published on Wiley Online Library before inclusion in an issue. Once the article is published on Early View, no further changes to the article are possible. The Early View article is fully citable and carries an online publication date and DOI for citations.

8. POST PUBLICATION

Access and Sharing
When the article is published online:

Email offprint@cosprinters.com
To find out how to best promote an article, click here.
Measuring the Impact of an Article
Wiley also helps authors measure the impact of their research through specialist partnerships with Kudos and Altmetric.

9. EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS
Administration: molecol@wiley.com
Managing Editor: manager.molecol@wiley.com

Author Guidelines updated April, 2019