Instructions for Authors

Table of Contents

• Choosing the AOS Journal for Your Research: Aims & Scope
• Contact
• Article Types
• Special Features
• Double-Anonymized Peer Review
• Preparing Your Manuscript
• Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence
• Language Editing Services
• Data Archiving Policies
• Design and Study Standards
• Nomenclature
• Ethical Policies
• Uploading Your Manuscript
• Checking Manuscript Status
• Your Accepted Manuscript
• Charges
• Promoting Your Published Article
• Style Sheet
• Sample Article

Choosing the AOS Journal for Your Research: Aims & Scope

Ornithology and Ornithological Applications are double-anonymized, peer-reviewed journals published by the American Ornithological Society (AOS). If you have questions about the suitability of an article topic for Ornithology or Ornithological Applications, please email the journal’s Editor-in-Chief (see below). Both journals publish original material that has not been published elsewhere.

Ornithology

Christina P. Riehl, Editor-in-Chief [email protected]

Ornithology publishes original research from all parts of the globe that tests fundamental, scientific hypotheses through ornithological studies and advances our understanding of living or extinct bird species. Descriptive studies and methodological papers are considered if they present important discoveries that open novel avenues of fundamental, ornithological research.

Substantive areas

• Anatomy and physiology
• Behavior and behavioral ecology
• Biogeography
• Climate and global change
• Ecology
• Evolutionary biology
• Feather biology
• Genetics
• Life history
• Migration and movement
• Parasites and diseases
• Reproductive biology
• Systematics

Ornithological Applications

Judit Szabo, Editor-in-Chief [email protected]

Ornithological Applications publishes original research, syntheses, and assessments from all parts of the globe focusing on the application of scientific theory, ornithological knowledge, and methods to the conservation and management of birds and to policy. Submissions to Ornithological Applications should have clearly explained short-term (1–5 year) implications for the conservation or management of birds. Ornithological Applications also seeks social science studies and interdisciplinary papers: those that integrate biological, social, and/or economic data to document the value of ecosystem services provided by birds, the consequences of particular conservation actions, or the impact of energy projects on birds.

Substantive areas

• Population biology, including threats to birds
• Conservation and management issues
• Conservation genetics
• Ecosystem services and disservices of birds
• Restoration of bird taxa and their ecological functions in degraded landscapes
• Effects of habitat alteration and fragmentation
• Responses to climate change
• Anthropogenic effects on genetics, behavior, or physiology
• Avian diseases and disease transmission by birds
• Birds in urban and agricultural landscapes
• Sociological and economic studies related to birds
• Theoretical and methodological advances in practice

Contact

For support and more information please contact the journals’ editorial office at [email protected].

Article Types

AOS journals publish 8 article types plus Corrections. Contact the journal at [email protected] regarding a Correction. 

• ¹ Maximum number of double-spaced, manuscript pages inclusive of all content (title page, body, Literature Cited) except figures, tables, and a maximum of 10 pages of supplemental material.
• ² 300 word limit for Abstracts
• ³ We recommend that authors submit graphical abstracts with their first revision.

Research Articles

Research Articles are full length papers and the standard article type.

Reviews

Reviews are invited, synthetic papers that summarize an existing body of research with the promise of having broad influence on ornithology. Literature reviews, catalogs of past studies, or simple compilations of facts are not suitable. Prospective authors must send a pre-submission inquiry to the journal ([email protected]) describing the review’s objectives and scope; manuscripts exceeding the page limit given above will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Following an invitation to submit, put the word “Review” at the top of the first document page.

Perspectives

Perspectives are short papers that address timely topics or recent advances in ornithology but do not primarily discuss the author's own work. Authors are encouraged to provide context for their findings and to highlight potential interdisciplinary applications. When submitting, put the word “Perspective” at the top of the first document page.

Commentaries

Commentaries address factual or interpretation issues in articles previously published in AOS journals. Commentaries are assigned to an Associate Editor, and reviews are solicited from two subject matter experts. Authors of the original article are given the opportunity to respond to a Commentary. The journals will expedite the review process for Commentaries and responses. The journals do not publish responses by Commentary authors. When submitting, put the word “Commentary” at the top of the first document page.

Insights

Insights are invited, short papers framed around a high-quality photo, video, audio, computer animation, or illustration of a bird, behavior, species interaction, habitat feature, or other facet of biology representing a natural history discovery that is likely to inspire new ornithological research. Simple descriptions of new natural history findings, e.g., the first nest of a species or a range extension, are not suitable. The primary graphic or audio must have a caption that gives locality and date information and a concise, non-scientific description of the observation being discussed in the paper; the media and caption also serve as the graphical abstract. Submissions must (1) describe how and where the observation was made; (2) explain the importance of the discovery to avian natural history; (3) place the observation in a broader, biological context; and (4) pose novel, broadly applicable hypotheses and predictions that can be tested in future research. Authors are encouraged to include a table and/or figure to support the proposed hypotheses. Prospective authors must send a pre-submission inquiry to the journal ([email protected]) describing the article’s objectives; provide the central media file(s) via attachment or file-sharing link. Following an invitation to submit, include the word “Insight” at the top of the first document page.

Examples of Insights

Monographs

Monographs are invited papers documenting complex studies that cannot be presented effectively in a standard-length Research Article. Large datasets or long-term studies alone do not warrant consideration of a manuscript as a Monograph. Prospective authors must send a pre-submission inquiry to the journal ([email protected]) describing the article’s objectives and justifying the length based on the research question. Following an invitation to submit, include the word “Monograph” at the top of the first document page.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews are objective and fair evaluations of a recently published book about an ornithological topic. Prospective authors must send a pre-submission inquiry to [email protected] that identifies the book and explains why it is suitable for review in an AOS journal. The Book Review Editor will determine the appropriate AOS journal for each manuscript, based on the book’s focus. When submitting an invited review manuscript, put the word “Book Review” at the top of the first document page. See guidelines under Book Reviews in the Style Sheet. Book Reviews are subject to review by the Editor-in-Chief.

In Memoriam

In Memoriam articles are scientific obituaries. See guidelines under In Memoriam in the Style Sheet. Prospective authors must send a pre-submission inquiry to [email protected]. When submitting an invited manuscript, put the word “In Memoriam” at the top of the first document page. Memorials are subject to review by the Editor-in-Chief.

Special Features

Special Features are invited collections of 4 –10 thematically linked papers. A Special Feature can include Research Articles, Reviews, Insights, and Perspectives and represent all or part of a journal issue. Articles of a Special Feature may be published in one or both journals, depending on each article’s focus. Articles will be published online when they are accepted and collated as a virtual collection on the journal websites.

Each Special Feature is convened by one or more Guest Editors, who function as Associate Editors and are responsible for proposing a topic (see last paragraph), inviting submissions, selecting peer reviewers, obtaining referee reports, synthesizing the reviews, and making recommendations to the appropriate journal’s Editor-in-Chief or Senior Editors about acceptance and/or revisions. Guest Editors will use the journals’ online article management system, Editorial Manager, to manage the reviews and provide comments to the authors. The Editor-in-Chief or Senior Editor is responsible for making final decisions on manuscripts and for overseeing the editorial process. Like other journal submissions, manuscripts for Special Features should be reviewed by at least two referees (in addition to the Guest Editor) who do not have conflicts of interest with the authors. Manuscripts may require extensive revision and may ultimately be rejected by the editorial board.

Editing a Special Feature allows Guest Editors to highlight new and emerging areas of research interest, facilitate discussion and debate among researchers studying related questions, bridge disciplines by bringing together contributions from different areas, and present new hypotheses or syntheses that can influence the direction of the field. Guest Editors also gain valuable experience with the review, editing, and publication process. As guest-editing can be a time-consuming project, a Special Feature can be convened by teams of two to three guest editors. Early-career researchers (graduate students, postdocs, and early professionals) may act as Guest Editors, typically as part of a team with one or more experienced researchers. At least one member of the team is expected to have substantial prior experience with manuscript reviewing and/or editing. Please determine each person’s responsibilities before submitting a proposal and ensure that all Guest Editors have committed to participating throughout the editorial process.

To propose a Special Feature, prospective Guest Editors should send a 1-2 page proposal to [email protected] that includes: 1) a brief overview of the topic; 2) a rationale for the novelty or timeliness of the research topic; 3) any relevant editorial experience of the Guest Editor(s); and 4) a list of proposed contributions. Each proposed contribution should include the working title of the article, a draft abstract, author names, type of article, and timeline for submission. The journals particularly seek contributions based on AOS meeting symposia and encourage conveners to write Perspective articles to accompany their Special Features.

Double-Anonymized Peer Review

AOS journals have a double-anonymized peer review process, i.e., authors do not know the identity of reviewers; reviewers do not know the identity of authors. Reviewers may sign reviews if they choose. For the purposes of anonymized review, authors must remove identifying information (e.g., author names, institutional information) from the main manuscript. However, this information is included on a separate title page that is not available to reviewers.

Anonymized manuscript

Please remove any identifying information, such as authors' names or affiliations, from your manuscript before submission. To ensure the manuscript is correctly prepared for double-anonymized peer review, follow these guidelines:

• Use the third person to refer to work the authors have previously published. For example, write “Black and Hart (2015) have demonstrated” rather than “/the authors have previously demonstrated (Black & Hart, 2015)”.
• Make sure that figures and tables do not contain any reference to author affiliations.
• Exclude acknowledgments and any references to funding sources. Use the title page, which is not sent to reviewers, to detail these and to declare any potential conflicts of interest to the editor.
• Choose file names with care and ensure that the file’s “properties” are also anonymized. If you are using Microsoft Word, consider using the Document Inspector Tool prior to submission.

Preparing Your Manuscript

Initial submission

Initial submissions are not required to strictly adhere to our formatting guidelines, below, or to provide a graphical abstract. However, submissions should stay close to our length restrictions for the article type, be double-spaced (including supplemental material), and use page numbers and continuous line numbers. Most article types should have these sections: abstract, keywords, lay summary, introduction, methods, results, discussion, literature cited, supplemental material. Intersperse tables and figures, with figure legends on the figures, within the results section to aid evaluation of your paper.

To prepare your manuscript for double-anonymized peer-review, use the title page, which is not shared with reviewers, to provide author information, acknowledgements, and funding sources, and to describe any conflicts of interest. See below for further details.

All supplemental material needs to be reviewed. When uploading the file(s) please select “anonymized manuscript” as item type. This will allow the supplemental material to be included in the distilled PDF that reviewers access. See below for further details.

You can upload the manuscript as a single PDF (using the "combined manuscript file" designation in Editorial Manager). If you choose the single PDF option, please keep the file size under 20 MB.

Guidelines for use of scientific and English common names 

Both common and scientific names should be used in the title, abstract, and keywords sections. In the body of the manuscript, the first mention of the scientific name should be followed by the common name in parentheses, and then the scientific name used thereafter.  

For example, wildlife managers translocate Centrocercus urophasianus (Greater Sage-Grouse) to augment small populations, but translocated C. urophasianus often fail to reproduce post-release, hampering conservation objectives. 

These guidelines should facilitate researchers finding information about species in AOS journals, particularly when past, present, and upcoming English common names will differ. It will also facilitate communication among researchers across geographic regions given that scientific names are consistent while common names are not.  

These are guidelines only; there is flexibility. For example, when a manuscript deals with many species, using only scientific names in the body may be cumbersome. Terms like “ducks” can be used in manuscripts. In addition, authors may choose not to use English common names that they consider offensive until such time as new names are in place. In those cases, use of scientific names only is acceptable. 

Title page

Title page is separate from the manuscript throughout the peer review process and will not be sent to the reviewers. It should include:

• The manuscript title. The title must clearly state the paper’s main finding.
• All authors' names and affiliations
• A complete address for the corresponding author, including email address
• Acknowledgments (see below)
• Data availability (see below)

Page limits

Page limits given in the Article Types Table, above, are the maximum number of double-spaced, manuscript pages inclusive of all content (title page, body, Literature Cited) except figures, tables, and 10 pages of Supplementary Material.

Double space

Double-space all text, including figure captions and Literature Cited, using 12-pt. Times New Roman or other common typeface. Margins should be 1-inch all around on pages of 8.5” by 11” size. Do not justify the right margin (choose left-justified, not full-justified). Line numbering should be continuous throughout the manuscript. Do not restart line numbers for each page. Insert page numbering but do not include other headers or footers.

Paragraph structure

Ensure that all paragraphs start with topic sentences, even in Methods and when paragraphs have subheadings. Pay close attention to the narrative flow of the paper — specifically the logical hand-off of themes from one paragraph to the next. Use subheadings judiciously and avoid one- or two-sentence paragraphs.

Manuscript Sections

Include the following sections in the order presented (Book Review, Commentary, and In Memoriam article types do not have Abstracts, Keywords, and Lay Summaries).

1. Abstract

The Abstract is perhaps the most important paragraph in a paper. Avoid writing it as a mere summary of the research. Place key results in the abstract’s first two sentences – don't bury the lede. Do not include lists of common methods, discursive explanations of what you set out to accomplish, or citations. Use the abstract and title to highlight the paper’s keywords. Maximum word count is 300.

2. Foreign Language Abstract

Authors are encouraged to submit a technically competent, foreign language abstract. Otherwise, the journal will provide a translation in Spanish or French; you will be asked to choose the language at submission. Select Other if you are submitting an abstract in a language other than those two. If you write your own foreign-language abstract, please use only the scientific names for birds, not common names. For example, the abstract text “Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) build nests in trees” would be translated into Spanish as “Cyanocitta cristata hacen sus nidos en árboles.”

3. Keywords

Think of 1 to 8 keywords to describe your article and rank them in order of primacy; the top 1-2 keywords should appear in the Title and the top 3-5 within the Abstract. Put “Keywords:” in italics after the Abstract and then provide your keywords in alphabetical order.

4. Lay summary

A lay summary, required for all submissions, is a bulleted list of key points that summarizes your work. It will be published as part of the article online and in the article PDF. Maximum word count is 150. Guidelines:

• Explain your research with the general public in mind.
• Text should provide answers to essential questions: Why (Big Question), Background (if needed), How, Results, and Significance.
• Write in the active voice.
• Use short, clear sentences.
• Minimize use of jargon, scientific and technical terms, and acronyms.
• Get feedback on your draft from colleagues, supervisors, and ideally, at least one non-specialist.

5. Introduction

This section provides your research aims and significance and places it within the framework of the existing literature. The last Introduction paragraph typically provides the study’s hypotheses and testable predictions. Use citations judiciously; most points can be supported by three or fewer citations. Long lists of citations are seldom required and detract from the readability of the manuscript.

6. Methods

Provide enough information to enable readers to replicate and critically evaluate the research. Describe statistical tests and procedures. Cite statistical software and analysis programs. Explain how summary statistics are reported in Results, e.g., means ± 1 SE.

7. Results

Include only results pertinent to the hypotheses being tested or questions raised in the Introduction section and treated in the Discussion. Use the same number of decimal places for means and estimates of uncertainty (e.g., 38.9 ± 1.2, not 38.9 ± 1.23); usually only one or two decimal places are necessary. Round percentages to whole numbers. The text should not duplicate material presented in tables or figures. Clearly present relevant sample sizes, degrees of freedom, values of statistical tests, and P-values. Test statistics should be rounded to one (t-test, C2, F, etc.) or two (r, r², etc.) decimal places. See Statistical Details in the Style Sheet for more information.

8. Discussion

Begin with a statement that summarizes the study’s main findings. Develop the significance and importance of the results and set them into a framework of previous research. Additional statistical tests and results are inappropriate here except in unusual cases. If you have a Conclusion section, list it as a subheading within the Discussion.

9. Acknowledgments

Include 6 sections: (1) Thanks to your sponsors, everyone in the field or lab who helped with the research, and reviewers, (2) Funding statement listing your funding sources, (3) Ethics statement, (4) Conflict of interest statement, (5) Author contributions, and (6) Data availability. Details for (3) - (6) are below.

• Ethics statement. Summarize any governmental and institutional ethics guidelines that you followed.
• Conflict of interest statement. Declare any conflicts of interest or lack thereof.
• Author contributions. Put author names next to the categories listed below. Not all categories need to be used. These categories are not meant to prescribe authorship, but to describe the contributions of the stated authors. Broad areas of author contributions can include:
  • Conceived the idea, design, experiment (supervised research, formulated question or hypothesis)
  • Performed the experiments (collected data, conducted the research)
  • Wrote the paper (or substantially edited the paper)
  • Developed or designed methods
  • Analyzed the data
  • Contributed substantial materials, resources, or funding. (Smaller resource contributions and people who are not authors of the paper can be listed in the general Acknowledgments section text.)
• Data Depository. Following this example: "Analyses reported in this article can be reproduced using the data provided by Author (2022)." Dataset(s) are given in Literature Cited in this format:
  • Author. (2022). Data from: Title of original article. Ornithology / Ornithological Applications. Data DOI or URL.

10. Literature Cited

Authors are encouraged to cite a reasonable number of references that clearly support the points made without going overboard. For example, it is not necessary to cite five references for simple statements like "Shorebirds eat invertebrates"; one or two will do. Generally, expect most manuscripts to have 50 or fewer references while recognizing that exceptions are sometimes necessary and that review papers will tend to have more references than standard research papers.

Only cite references in the text that are listed in the Literature Cited section, and vice versa. Lists of citations within the text of the manuscript should be in chronological order. Do not alphabetize or rearrange the list other than chronologically. Within the text, cite references this way: Darwin and Huxley (1993), or (Darwin and Huxley 1993), (Zar 1973, Giles 1994a, 1994b), or (Ricklefs et al. 1999). Literature citations in parentheses must be separated from Table and Figure citations with a semicolon, e.g.: (Jones and Johnson 1978; Table 1 and Figure 1). In the Literature Cited section, list references alphabetically and then chronologically. See Literature Cited details in the Style Sheet for more information. Note that manuscripts in preparation or posted on preprint servers such as bioRxiv have not been peer-reviewed and are not citable in AOS journal articles.

11. Tables

Present information in tables simply and concisely, and orient vertically whenever possible. Tables should be intelligible without reference to the manuscript text. Do not restate results given in the text. Cite tables within the text in numerical order. Use Arabic numbers, e.g., Table 1. Table titles and headings must be in sentence case (only the first word of the title starts with a capital letter). Use the table editor in your word processor; do not use tabs to create columns or solid vertical or horizontal lines. Upload extensive raw tabular data as Supplemental Material, not as tables or appendices. If bird names are listed in several tables within the manuscript, scientific names should be given only in the first table or the table with the comprehensive species list. The only exception to the phylogenetic order of species is if another logical order of species is used, for example one based on study results. See Table formatting in the Style Sheet for more information.

12. Figures

Figures should be simple and easily comprehended without reference to the manuscript text and not repeat information already presented in text or tables. Label all axes in a sans serif font (e.g., Arial, Calibri, Helvetica), and use sentence case labels (only the first word is capitalized unless it is a proper noun). Each figure needs a clear, concise, explanatory caption < 100 words. Figure captions should be given immediately below figures in submitted manuscripts. Cite each figure in the text in numerical order. Spell out the word Figure in citations and figure captions (Figure 1, Figures 2 and 3, Figure 1A, 1B). Figure citations from another work should use the word “figure” with lowercase “f” such as (figure 2 in Smith 1980). Use capital letters for figure parts in the figure caption: (A), (B), etc. Bold the letters but not the parentheses.

• Figure resolution should be 600 DPI for halftone images (photographs) including color figures, 600 DPI for composite images, and 1200 DPI for B&W line art (graphs & plots). Save files in .TIF, JPEG, .EPS, .PNG, or .PDF file formats.
• Put figure numbers on each figure file (they will be cropped out) and include the caption below the figure.
• For a one-column figure, the width is 3.5"; for a two-column figure, the width is 7".
• For sound spectrograms (sonograms), use the actual tracing if it is sharp, clear, and relatively short. If intensity differences are not important, submit a high-contrast digital image that meets the above specifications.
• Group related illustrations as panels into a single figure file (Figure 1 would include 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D) so that they can be placed together on the same page/screen. Mark each section of the figure A, B, C. You may submit each part of a figure as a separate file as long as it is clear how to combine the parts into one figure for publication. 

Please also consider accessibility when designing your figure, so that your images can be easily understood by color-blind and visually-impaired readers. For guidance on using color figures in your article, see: Pollet, I. L., and A. L. Bond. (2021). Evaluation and recommendations for greater accessibility of color figures in ornithology. Ibis 163:292–295.

Please also see Guidelines for preparing different image-types, including recommendations for color palettes, color contrast, image layout, and text accessibility.

Figure accessibility and alt text

Incorporating alt text (alternative text) when submitting your paper helps to foster inclusivity and accessibility. Good alt text ensures that individuals with visual impairments or those using screen readers can comprehend the content and context of your figures. The aim of alt text is to provide concise and informative descriptions of your figure so that all readers have access to the same level of information and understanding, and that all can engage with and benefit from the visual elements integral to scholarly content. Including alt text demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and enhances the overall impact and reach of your work.  

Alt text is applicable to all images, figures, illustrations, and photographs. 

Alt text is only accessible via e-reader and so it won’t appear as part of the typeset article. 

Detailed guidance on how to draft and submit alt text. 

13. Graphical abstracts (optional)

The journals strongly encourage authors to submit, where applicable, a striking illustration or figure that best summarizes their work. This graphical abstract will convey the key message of the article to editors and the general readership, enhance the article’s impact, and possibly increase citations of your manuscript. It will be published as part of the table of the contents for the issue in which your article appears and will also be issued in issue promotion by the AOS. Guidelines:

• Any editable file format is acceptable (AI, eps, editable pdf, jpg, xls, ppt, tif, doc, png), ideally with a minimum resolution of 600 DPI. Illustrations or figures with a resolution lower than 300 DPI cannot be used. Avoid images downloaded from the internet because these are often compressed and of insufficient quality.
• Include a concise caption that describes the image and its relevance to the study.

14. Supplemental Material

Study details (methodological details, ancillary results and discussion, tables that span multiple pages, maps, and figures) not essential to the primary message of the paper but helpful for readers should be placed in Supplemental Materials. All supplemental material is subject to review and must not exceed 10 pages. Name and cite all supplementary material this way: Supplementary Material Table S1 or Supplementary Material Figure S1. Combine supplementary material (e.g., text, figures, and tables) into one file whenever possible and save as a PDF. When your article is published online your Supplemental Material file will be posted as is. The journal will not format or in any way edit the file so it is incumbent upon the author to present their supplemental data as clearly as possible. Data and code must be archived in an online data repository if a paper is accepted, not included in Supplementary Material.

15. Collaboration Ethics Statement

The AOS journals provide authors the opportunity to submit a Collaboration Ethics Statement with their manuscript. This statement is a type of “structured reflexivity statement” which, in the context of scholarly journals, is meant to allow authors to describe how they have considered their role in, assumptions about, and practices to conduct more equitable and inclusive research. We particularly encourage such statements when most of the authors live and work in geographic areas different from where their study was conducted. These statements can be guided by questions such as those below, which have been adapted from Morton et al. (2022) and Ruelas et al. (2023). Yua et al. (2022) is another text that describes strategies to work towards equity in research collaborations.

1. Were local/in-country researchers or community members involved in the study design?

2. How will research products be shared to address local needs?

3. Were researchers within the region included as authors?

4. Did the authors search for relevant publications in regional journals, including those in languages other than English?

5. Has the project influenced the means and ability of the researchers from within the region to implement their research agenda?

Collaboration Ethics Statements should be no more than approximately 300 words and are not considered in evaluations of manuscripts. The Collaboration Ethics Statement should be submitted as a separate document during manuscript submission.

Morton, B., A., Vercueil, R. Masekela, E. Heinz, L. Reimer, S. Saleh, C. Kalinga, M. Seekles, B. Biccard, J. Chakaya, S. Abimbola, A. Obasi, N. Oriyo (2022). Consensus statement on measures to promote equitable authorship in the publication of research from inter- national partnerships. Anaesthesia 77:264–276.

Ruelas Inzunza, E., K.L. Cockle, M.G. Núñez Montellano, C.S. Fontana, C.Cuatianquiz Lima, M.A. Echeverry-Galvis, R.A. Fernández-Gómez, F.A. Montaño-Centellas, E. Bonaccorso, S.A. Lambertucci, C. Cornelius, C. Bosque, L. Bugoni, A. Salinas-Melgoza, K. Renton, J.F. Freile, F. Angulo, L. Mugica Valdés, E. Velarde, S. Cuadros, and C.I. Miño. 2023. How to include and recognize the work of ornithologists based in the Neotropics: Fourteen actions for Ornithological Applications, Ornithology, and other global-scope journals. Ornithological Applications 125:1-11 https://doi.org/10.1093/ornithapp/duac047

Yua, E., J. Raymond-Yakoubian, R. Aluaq Daniel, and C. Behe (2022). A framework for co-production of knowledge in the context of Arctic research. Ecology and Society 27:34.

File formats

For the manuscript: Word (.doc or .docx) or Rich-text format (.rtf). For tables: Word (.doc or .docx), Excel (.xls, .xlsx, or .csv), or Turbo (.tds). For figures and images: .jpeg, .tif, .eps, png., or .pdf. Final figures will need to be in .tif, .eps, or .pdf format. For supplemental data: .doc or .docx, .html, .mpeg, .xls, .zip. For video files: Quicktime, MPEG, and AVI. For Audio files: MP3, AAC, and WMA.

Further style details

See the Style Sheet and Sample Article for additional style items including formats for author byline, species alpha codes, taxonomy, footnotes, tables, and scientific terminology. For items not in the Style Sheet, see The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (5th or later editions) and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

BioRxiv

Manuscript files and metadata posted on bioRxiv can be directly transmitted to Ornithology or Ornithological Applications for peer-review.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as ChatGPT and Large Language Models are valuable tools for scientific research. However, AOS journal policy, consistent with COPE guidelines, is that generative AI systems are non-legal entities that cannot be listed as authors of a paper. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus accountable for any inaccuracy or breach of publication ethics. Please note the artificial intelligence landscape is evolving quickly. The journal reserves the right to change this policy based on new conditions and accepted practices as they develop.

The use of generative AI tools in studies submitted for publication must be disclosed (1) in the cover letter and (2) in the paper as follows: Describe in Methods how and which AI tools assisted with data collection and the production of graphics. Report after Acknowledgements if generative AI was used in writing the manuscript, including language translation tools and compilation of references. Label this section ‘Declaration of generative AI in the writing process’ and follow this format:

The author(s) used [name AI tool(s) / service(s) and provide URL(s)] to [provide details]. The author(s) reviewed and edited the generated material as needed and accept(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.

A disclosure is not required for the use of word processing software for checking grammar and spelling, for literature searches via online search engines (e.g., Google Scholar, Web of Science), or for the use of AI tools to generate computer code for data analysis.

Language Editing Services

Prior to submission, you may wish to use a language editing service to improve understanding of your manuscript during the peer review process. A list of language editing services and resources, including discounted offerings, are available. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will still undergo peer review by the journal.

Data Archiving Policies

As a condition of publication, the AOS journals require that authors deposit all primary data and relevant, non-proprietary computer code in a permanent, secure, public repository that provides a DOI for the archive. All analyses reported in an article must be repeatable using the archived data and code. Except for sequence data archived with NCBI or ENSEMBL, our default archive for data, software, and computer code is Dryad (integrated with Zenodo), which is integrated with the submission system at Oxford University Press. Authors may use other permanent, secure, public repositories, such as Figshare or those hosted by the author’s institution, if the repository provides a DOI. Authors may deposit a copy of their data in Dryad and another copy in a depository of their choice. The AOS encourages authors to archive bird tracking data at the Movebank Data Repository and audio, photo, and video media at the Macaulay Library.

All files submitted to Dryad must abide by the terms of the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver. Under these terms, the author releases the data to the public domain. When uploading data files, please ensure that they meet Dryad's file requirements, can be opened, do not contain sensitive information, and do not have licensing conflicts with CC0. Further information about CC0 is available here.

Any software or supplemental information uploaded on Dryad during the data submission process will be published at Zenodo. The software will not go through Dryad curation processes, but it will be time-released with the publication of the Dryad dataset. Data and software packages will be linked and denoted on the Dryad landing page under “Related works.” Because non-data files or previously published files are not always compatible with the CC0 waiver required by Dryad, submitters will have the opportunity to choose a separate license for files uploaded as “Software” at the final stage of the submission process. All files uploaded as "supplemental information" will be licensed under CC-BY.

Upon article acceptance, authors will be asked to declare the repositories that they will use; authors who choose Dryad will be sent a link for data upload. Data must not be uploaded as an article’s Supplemental Material. Articles will proceed to publication only when data and code have been archived and a DOI provided. The AOS will cover the Dryad archiving cost if the paper's lead or corresponding author is a Society member. To ensure the data publication charge is directed to AOS, on the first page of the Dryad submission form, be sure to select the appropriate journal from the drop-down menu in the "journal name" field. Authors who prefer not to archive their data with Dryad will need to provide a DOI to the Managing Editor. The journal will not be responsible for securing DOIs or other identifiers or for covering archiving costs for repositories other than Dryad.

Data may be made publicly available at the time of publication, or authors may embargo access for 12 months after publication. Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief, especially for sensitive information such as the location of endangered species. Authors must provide a short explanation in the Data Availability section when the standard availability requirement has been modified or waived.

Any questions about the journals’ data archiving policy or help with Dryad should be directed to the Managing Editor ([email protected]).

Data Availability Statement

The inclusion of a Data Availability Statement is a mandatory requirement for articles published in both journals. Data Availability Statements provide a standardized format for readers to understand the availability of data underlying the research results described in the article. The statement may refer to original data generated in the course of the study or to third-party data analyzed in the article. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier. The Data Availability Statement should be included in the Acknowledgments of your article under the heading ‘Data availability’.

More information and examples of Data Availability Statements.

Data Citation

Ornithology supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite:

• [dataset]* Authors, Year, Title, Publisher (repository or archive name), Identifier

The below data citation example can be used as a formatting template for authors:

• Smith, J., and T. Jones (2020) Data from Title of Article. Ornithological Applications 123:1-12. Doi.dryad

* The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.

Design and Study Standards

Please include design transparency in the article. Article should state if preregistration of study exists and where to access it. Ornithology and Ornithological Applications encourage submission of replication studies.

Avoid post-hoc power analyses. Non-significant statistical tests will always have low power based on the effect size observed in your results. However, failing to reject a statistical null hypothesis is not the same as demonstrating the lack of a biologically relevant effect. Small sample sizes can lead to a statistical test having a low probability of detecting a real effect (i.e., low statistical power). Readers will want to know if an inference of no statistically significant difference between treatments or groups is biologically relevant, rather than an artifact of low sample sizes and hence low statistical power. Next steps to consider:

• Determine how to measure the size of the treatment effect on the biological phenomenon being studied (the “effect size”). Then consider what effect size would be biologically meaningful. Identifying a biologically relevant effect size is challenging. In all likelihood, no paper has examined your focal set of traits or measurements for the same species. Studies of the same phenomenon in other species may be available as an alternative source of information about biologically relevant effect sizes.
• Estimate the confidence interval around the effect size measured in your study. Does this CI include the biologically relevant effect size(s) established in step 1? An answer of “no” suggests that you have sufficient sample size — meaning sufficient statistical power — to conclude that your response variable of interest did not differ between treatments.
• If prior knowledge about a biologically relevant effect size is unavailable, interpreting standardized effect sizes might be more reasonable. See: Nakagawa, S., and I. C. Cuthill (2007). Effect size, confidence interval and statistical significance: a practical guide for biologists. Biological Reviews 82:591–605.

Nomenclature

All nomenclature papers must be registered with ZooBank prior to publication and include the Zoobank registration information in the manuscript Word file or the final PDF proof. Any proposed new species descriptions and nomenclature in an article will be reviewed by the Working Group on Avian Nomenclature of the International Ornithologists’ Union. Include the following sentence in the Acknowledgments of your article: “The nomenclature in this paper has been reviewed by the Working Group on Avian Nomenclature of the International Ornithologists’ Union.”

Ethical Policies

Authors should observe high standards with respect to publication best practice. Original data sources must be cited. We recommend that authors who re-use published data seek to collaborate with the original data providers when appropriate. Falsification or fabrication of data, plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the authors' own work without proper citation, and misappropriation of work are all unacceptable practices. Any cases of ethical or publication malpractice are treated very seriously and will be managed in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Further information about OUP's ethical policies.

The journal remains neutral with regards to geopolitical issues. All territorial descriptions, maps, and author affiliations are provided by the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the society.

Plagiarism

Manuscripts submitted to Ornithology and Ornithological Applications may be screened with iThenticate anti-plagiarism software in an attempt to detect and prevent plagiarism. Any manuscript may be screened, especially if there is reason to suppose part or all of the text has been previously published. Prior to final acceptance any manuscript that has not already been screened may be put through iThenticate. More information about iThenticate.

Animal research

Research submitted to Ornithology and Ornithological Applications must follow animal welfare standards described in Fair, J., E. Paul, and J. Jones, Eds. 2010. Guidelines to the Use of Wild Birds in Research. Washington, D.C.: Ornithological Council. Manipulative studies also must be performed in accordance with the legal requirements of the relevant local or national authority; the name of the authorizing body must be stated in the paper. Procedures should be such that animals do not suffer unnecessarily. The text of the paper must include details of any manipulative procedures and of anesthetics used. The journal reserves the right to reject papers where the ethical aspects are, in the Editor's opinion, open to doubt.

Disclosure

Any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated—including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition—should be disclosed. For further information see the FAQ.

If there are none, please declare no conflicts of interest and include it in the Acknowledgments section of your paper.

If one or a few authors have a conflict to disclose, further to that statement, there should be an additional statement for those remaining authors who do not have any conflicts of interest.

Funder policies

See OUP's Funder policies page for information about compliance with funder requirements including PubMed/PMC deposits.

Preprint policy

Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiving policy page.

Third-party permissions

In order to reproduce any third party material, including tables, figures, or images, in an article authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder and be compliant with any requirements the copyright holder may have pertaining to this reuse. When seeking to reproduce any kind of third party material authors should request the following:

• non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the specified article and journal;
• electronic rights, preferably for use in any form or medium;
• the right to use the material for the life of the work; and
• world-wide English-language rights.

It is particularly important to clear permission for use in online versions of the journal, and we are not able to accept permissions which carry a time limit because we retain journal articles as part of our online journal archive. Further guidelines on clearing permissions.

Guidelines on permissions for the reuse of OUP material can be found on the article page by clicking “Permissions”.

Uploading Your Manuscript

Submission sites

• Ornithology
• Ornithological Applications

Instructions

1. Go to the journal’s submission site and choose either Ornithology or Ornithological Applications to log in. Search for your name on the login page, and if you do not find it, then register as a new author. You can also login using your ORCID id. Please provide an email address (and ORCID id if available) for all co-authors, as all co-authors must verify the submission. You can save and exit at any time in the process and come back later to where you left off by logging in again as an author and choosing the Incomplete Submission link.
2. Answer the submission questions. Some are required and are indicated by an asterisk (*); some are requested. For the foreign language abstract question, choose a language (Spanish or French) or choose “Other”.
3. Upload your files and approve the merged PDF.
4. The bioRxiv preprint server can directly transmit posted manuscript files and metadata to Ornithology or Ornithological Applications.

Checking Manuscript Status

After you approve your manuscript submission, you are finished with the submission process and no longer have access to modify files or information about your manuscript. The manuscript will enter the submission queue, and you and your coauthors will receive a confirmation email with the assigned manuscript number. The publication office will contact you about any issues with your files.

You can access the status of your manuscript by logging in and selecting “Submissions Being Processed” in the New Submissions box. Under Current Status, you can see the stage of your manuscript: Incomplete; With the Editor; Under Review; Revise; Completed, Accept; or Completed, Reject. Use “Send Email” to correspond with the publication office.

Manuscripts in Revision

For papers that had a previous decision of major revisions or minor revisions, there will be a one-month deadline to submit a revision. The editors realize that some major revisions may take longer, while some minor revisions can sometimes take only one week. You may request an extension from the Managing Editor.

Your Accepted Manuscript

Decision letter

After your manuscript is accepted for publication, review the information in the decision letter.  The managing editor will email a link for uploading your data and code to Dryad, or you can archive your data and code in an alternate repository approved by the Editor-in-Chief. Upload your data and code as soon as possible, and email the Managing Editor ([email protected]) once you receive the Dryad DOI. The journals will not publish your article without a DOI for your archived dataset and code. The Managing Editor will review the quality of your figures for production purposes and contact you for replacement figures if necessary. The Managing Editor may also edit the figures so they conform to journal style. The Managing Editor will also copy edit the text and references so they conform to journal style.

Transfer to Oxford University Press

After receiving the abstract translation and DOI for your data archive, your manuscript will be transferred to Oxford University Press (OUP) for copy editing to conform to scientific, technical, stylistic, and grammatical standards and for typesetting. OUP will email you a link to sign your author license that you will need to sign and return as soon as possible.

Accepted Manuscript Publication

Ornithology and Ornithological Applications will now publish advance articles as uncorrected proofs ahead of the compiled issue, allowing authors to have an indexed and citable article as soon as possible. Accepted manuscripts are published online after authors sign license forms and deposit data and non-proprietary computer code in Dryad or other approved, public repository. Appearance of the Accepted Manuscript online constitutes official publication, and it can be cited immediately by its DOI (digital object identifier). Accepted Manuscripts can be found on the Advance Articles page.

Uncorrected proofs are indicated by the text "Accepted Manuscript" displayed above the article details on our Advance articles page while the manuscript undergoes copyediting, typesetting, and author proofing. When these steps are complete, “Accepted Manuscript” is replaced by “Corrected Proof” on the article until it is placed into a journal issue.

Proofing and final publication

OUP will email with a link to review your article proofs with possible queries to answer. Please be aware that high-resolution figures may be downsampled in the proof to a lower resolution in order to reduce the file size, make the proof more portable, and allow for faster downloads. If you need to see your figures at the correct resolution, email the Managing Editor ([email protected]) for a PDF with the figures at their native resolution. For the fastest publication turnaround times, return any proof corrections to OUP as soon as possible. You will next receive a second proof from the Managing Editor so you can confirm that your corrections have been made and that you approve the final proof. The Managing Editor will approve the proof. OUP will then replace the Accepted Manuscript version online with the PDF and change “Accepted Manuscript” to “Corrected Proof” at the top of the online version.

The final PDF will not have a watermark and will be the Version of Record for your article, designating formal and exclusive publication by OUP. It will be included (without “Corrected Proof” at the top of the online version) in the next, open journal issue. AOS journal issues are online only without sequentially paginated articles. 

Charges

Page charges

AOS members will receive a complete waiver of page charges. Non-members will be invoiced $125 per page; NO waivers will be granted.  Authors are encouraged to join the AOS to access this special membership benefit.

Open Access

Ornithology and Ornithological Applications offer the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution.

Should you wish to publish your article open access, you should select your choice of open access licence in our online system after your article has been accepted for publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence.

Details of the open access licences and open access charges.

OUP has a growing number of Read and Publish agreements with institutions and consortia which provide funding for open access publishing. This means authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. Find out if your institution is participating.

Please note that you may be eligible for a discount to the open access charge based on society membership. Authors may be asked to prove eligibility for the member discount.

Promoting Your Published Article

Sharing

Authors will be sent an online link allowing free access to their article on the OUP website. This link may be shared directly with interested colleagues, but is not intended for mass distribution unless the article is Open Access. If you wish to share links or draw attention to a subscription-based (i.e., non-Open Access) article on social media, please distribute a link containing the article’s DOI.

For subscription-based articles, authors may post the “Accepted Manuscript” version (final accepted draft without copyediting, typesetting, and proof correct) to personal webpages immediately upon publication, and to institutional or public webpages 12 months after publication. In contrast, the Version of Record (final typeset and edited PDF of an article as it appears in the journal) may not be posted online unless the article is published on an Open Access license. OUP provides further details on the self-archiving policy page.

Altmetrics

To see the media attention your published article is receiving, go to the article on the journal website. Click the Altmetrics symbol in the right column to reveal the number of news articles, blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts, and Mendeley and Cite-U-Like readers your article has. More specific information is available if you click through.

AOS Social Media

All papers published in Ornithology and Ornithological Applications will be promoted on the official AOS Twitter account. Selected papers may also be posted to the AOS Facebook page and/or Instagram account.

Wing Beat Blog

All authors are encouraged to submit a blog post for the AOS Wing Beat site. The AOS Communications Specialist ([email protected]) will provide guidelines and work with you to write an engaging post.

Press Release

You will be contacted if AOS or OUP select your paper for a press release. Authors are also free to promote their work, e.g., via a university press release, once their article is published online. Please email the AOS Communications Specialist ([email protected]) if your work is cited in the media AOS can amplify through our channels.

Embargo

If you want to coordinate a press release with the publication of your article, notify the Managing Editor ([email protected]) as soon as possible after acceptance so  can hold your article from automated publication and coordinate an embargo date.

Access.

Your accepted article will be published on Oxford Academic’s AOS journals site and on BioOne.

Style Sheet

Download our Style Sheet.

Sample Article

Download our Sample Article.