Author Guidelines
- Aims and Scope
- Charges
- Preparation of manuscript
- First Look
- Proofs
- Advance access
- Manuscript transfer
- Special Issue proposals
- Contacts
Aims and Scope
The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society is a fully open access peer-reviewed journal that publishes open-access original papers on all aspects of the evolutionary biology of diverse organisms and ecological systems. The Journal publishes 1 issue per year online.
All papers published in The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society are made freely available online under an open access licence, with applicable charges. Please refer to the open access section below.
Once a paper is accepted, The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society will publish the pre-proofed, pre-copyedited accepted manuscript online within 1 week. This will be replaced by a copyedited, proofed version of the paper in an issue.
The Journal considers all papers that address evolutionary questions using the latest technologies and analytical advances. This includes genomics and other high-throughput omics technologies, coupled with appropriate modelling and analysis, as well as the latest advances in morphometric and morphological studies.
The Journal particularly welcome papers that address genomic diversity and how this insight relates to intriguing ecological and evolutionary phenomena, in any organismal group, and at any scale - from intraindividual and population diversity through to broad macroevolutionary patterns.
The Journal will publish new taxa only as part of larger integrative studies.
Submission
All manuscripts are submitted and reviewed via ScholarOne. http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ejls New authors should create an account prior to submitting a manuscript for consideration. If authors have a registered ORCID ID, this should be entered into the relevant field during the submission process. If you do not have an ID, you can register one for free at ORCID.
All manuscripts submitted for publication must be original, previously unpublished, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. If previously published figures, tables or parts of text are to be included, the authors are responsible for obtaining the necessary permission from the copyright holder prior to submission. This permission should be included at the time of submission.
Format Free Submissions
At initial submission, authors may submit their manuscript without journal-specific formatting. However, authors are still required to:
1. Answer all questions in the online submission form
2. State all conflicts of interest (if there are no conflicts to declare, the authors should state “Conflict of Interest: none declared”)
3. Include page numbers in the manuscript file
4. Upload supplementary files separately in the submission system
If requested to submit a revised version of the manuscript, authors should refer to the information outlined in the ‘Preparation of manuscript’ section of the author guidelines.
By submitting an article for publication, you confirm that you are the corresponding/submitting author and that we may retain your email address for the purpose of communicating with you about the article. Please notify the Editor immediately if your details change. If your article is accepted for publication, OUP will contact you using the email address you have used in the submission process.
Questions about submitting to the journal should be sent to the Editor at [email protected].
Editorial policies
For full details of Oxford University Press’s editorial policies, please see the page at https://dbpia.nl.go.kr/journals/pages/authors/preparing_your_manuscript/ethics
Peer review process
This journal operates double-anonymised peer review, meaning that the authors identity is hidden from reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities are hidden from authors. The Editor has oversight of the reviewers and the authors names. For full details about the peer review process, see Fair editing and peer review.
All submissions to the journal are initially reviewed by the Editor. At this stage manuscripts may be rejected without peer review if it is felt that they are not of high enough priority or not relevant to the journal. This fast rejection process means that authors are given a quick decision and do not need to wait for the review process.
Manuscripts that are not instantly rejected are sent out for peer review, to two independent reviewers. Based on the feedback from these reviewers and the Editors’ judgment a decision is given on the manuscript.
If a paper is not acceptable in its present form, we will pass on suggestions for revisions to the author.
For information on the journal’s review process or a manuscript’s progress, please contact the Editorial Office at [email protected].
Authorship
Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the design and execution of the work described. Any contributors whose participation does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged but not listed as an author. For a detailed definition of authorship, please see the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) definitions of authors and contributors.
The Journal uses the contributor roles taxonomy (CRediT), which allows authors to describe the contributor roles in a standardized, transparent, and accurate way. Authors should choose from the contributor roles outlined on the CRediT website and supply this information upon submission. You may choose multiple contributor roles per author. Any other individuals who do not meet authorship criteria and made less substantive contributions should be listed in your manuscript as non-author contributors with their contributions clearly described. Following manuscript submission, any changes to contributor roles require the approval of the editor.
The Journal does not allow ghost authorship, where an unnamed author prepares the article with no credit, or guest/gift authorship, where an author who made little or no contribution is listed as an author. The Journal follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance on investigating and resolving authorship cases. For more information, please see the OUP Publication Ethics page. It is expected that all parties involved in the publication of content in the Journal (the publisher, editors, authors, and reviewers) follow these guidelines on best practice and publication ethics. The Journal is committed to investigating cases of alleged editor, author, and reviewer misconduct arising from its activities.
Natural language processing tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) do not qualify as authors, and the Journal will screen for them in author lists. The use of AI (for example, to help generate content or images, write code, process data, or for translation) should be disclosed both in cover letters to editors and in the Methods or Acknowledgements section of manuscripts. Please see the COPE position statement on Authorship and AI for more details.
After manuscript submission, no authorship changes (including the authorship list, author order, and who is designated as the corresponding author) should be made unless there is a substantive reason to do so. The editor and all co-authors must agree on the change(s), and neither the Journal nor the publisher mediates authorship disputes. If individuals cannot agree on the authorship of a submitted manuscript, contact the editorial office at [email protected]. The dispute must be resolved among the individuals and their institution(s) before the manuscript can be accepted for publication. If an authorship dispute or change arises after a paper is accepted, contact OUP’s Author Support team. COPE provides guidance for authors on resolving authorship disputes.
After submission, changing who is designated as the corresponding author will be permitted only where there is a substantive reason to do so. For the avoidance of doubt, changing the corresponding author in order to access Read and Publish funding is not permissible. For more information on Read and Publish funding, see the Open access charges section.
Pre-submission language editing
If you are not confident in the quality of your English, you may wish to use a language-editing service to ensure that editors and reviewers understand your paper. Oxford University Press partners with Enago, a leading provider of author services. Prospective authors are entitled to a discount of 30% for editing services at Enago, via the Specialist English Editing Services for Oxford University Press Authors page.
Enago is an independent service provider, who will handle all aspects of this service, including payment. As an author you are under no obligation to take up this offer. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will still undergo peer review by the journal.
Ethics
Authors should observe high standards with respect to publication ethics as set out by the Commission on Publication Ethics (COPE). Falsification or fabrication of data, plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the authors’ own work without proper citation, and misappropriation of the work are all unacceptable practices. Any cases of ethical misconduct are treated very seriously and will be dealt with in accordance with the COPE guidelines.
Plagiarism
Manuscripts submitted to The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society 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 can be found here.
Animal research
The ARRIVE guidelines must be followed when preparing manuscripts for The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society. Experiments with animals should be performed in accordance with the legal requirements of the relevant local or national authority and the name of the authorizing body should be stated in the paper. Procedures should be such that experimental animals do not suffer unnecessarily. The text of the paper should include experimental details of the procedure and of anaesthetics used. Work that involves animal behaviour should follow ASAB's Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research and teaching.
The journal reserves the right to reject papers where the ethical aspects are, in the Editor's opinion, open to doubt.
Third-party copyright
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;
- print and 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.
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 information on obtaining permissions is available at https://dbpia.nl.go.kr/DocumentLibrary/Pages/access_purchase_rights_and_permissions/new-permissions-guidelines-update.pdf.
Third-party content in Open Access papers
If your paper contains material for which you do not have Open Access re-use permissions, please state this clearly by supplying the following credit line alongside the material:
Title of content. Author, Original publication, year of original publication, by permission of [rights holder]. This image/content is not covered by the terms of the Creative Commons licence of this publication. For permission to reuse, please contact the rights holder.
Further guidelines on clearing permissions.
Conflict of interest
Oxford University Press requires declaration of any conflict of interest upon submission. If the manuscript is published, conflict of interest information will be communicated in a statement in the published paper.
You can find a detailed definition of conflicts of interests at https://dbpia.nl.go.kr/journals/pages/authors/preparing_your_manuscript/ethics#conflict.
Charges
Publishing Agreement
After your manuscript is accepted, you will be asked to sign a licence to publish through the SciPris portal. If the licence has not been received by the time we receive proof corrections, publication of your manuscript will be delayed.
The Journal is fully open access, meaning all papers in the Journal are published under an open access licence.
The corresponding author will need to arrange payment of an open access charge to publish in the Journal. This charge allows all published papers to be immediately and freely available to all readers immediately upon online publication, as part of a long-term archive, without subscription barriers to access. Editorial decisions occur prior to this step and are not influenced by payment or ability to pay. Papers can be published under the following:
- Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY)
- UK Open Government Licence
- United States Government Open Licence
If you select a CC BY licence, you will grant OUP a non-exclusive licence. For all licenses you, the author, retain copyright for the content and have the reuse rights described therein.
Up until March 2025 authors could choose to sign a CC-BY-NC license but this option is no longer offered. No changes will be made to historically signed licenses.
Open Government Licence
The Open Government Licence is an open licencing model for content produced by employees of UK Crown bodies allowing users to copy, publish, distribute adapt and transmit the Information for commercial and non-commercial purposes. For additional information see here.
Please see the OUP guidance on licences, copyright, and re-use rights for more information regarding these publishing agreement options.
More information about Creative Commons licences.
Open Access Charges
Please see the details of open access licences and charges. As the Journal is fully open access, you must pay the open access charge or request to use an institutional agreement to pay the open access charge through the SciPris portal.
The current open access charges are:
- CC BY: £1,764
- The APC for Editorial or letter article types is £0.
The Linnean Society of London members are eligible for a 20% discount on the APC. Authors will be asked to prove eligibility for the member discount.
Routes to funding
Read and Publish
OUP has a growing number of open access agreements with institutions and consortia, which provide funding for open access publishing (also known as Read and Publish agreements). This means corresponding authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. Find out if your institution has an open access agreement.
To be eligible for one of OUP’s Read and Publish agreements, the corresponding author must provide their qualifying institution as their primary affiliation when they submit their manuscript. After submission, changing the corresponding author to access Read and Publish funding is not permissible.
To access a Read and Publish discount, the corresponding author’s institution must be verified within the ScholarOne system.
Developing countries waivers
Corresponding authors based in countries and regions that are part of the developing countries initiative, receive a full waiver of their open access charges. For further details, please see our APC Waiver Policy.
Discretionary Waivers
If you are not eligible for the Developing Countries Initiative but are unable to pay the APC for your article, the Linnean Society and OUP also grant a number of discretionary waivers on a case-by-case basis. If you would like to be considered for a discretionary partial or full waiver, please visit our APC Waiver Policy page and complete the application. The application will need to be sent at the same time as your article submission and the waiver application will be handled independently of the article decision process.
Preparation of manuscript
Authors should refer to the guidelines below when preparing their manuscript or it may be returned to them for correction. Editors initially evaluate the general suitability of submitted manuscripts, and submissions may be rejected without benefit of external review. All published manuscripts will have been reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief, a handling editor and normally two outside reviewers. Authors may suggest the names of potential reviewers and also indicate those who may have a potential conflict of interest. The journal adheres to a policy of double-anonymised reviewing, in which the identity of the authors is, as much as possible, kept from reviewers, whilst reviewers' names are kept confidential. Authors are therefore encouraged to avoid explicit disclosure of their identity in the text of their manuscript, as for example, by use of a header. In some cases the Editor may decide that direct discussion between author and reviewer would be helpful, but names are never disclosed without explicit permission from both parties.
The online system will require you to submit at least two files: one (the "Anonymous Text") will contain a version of your manuscript that is suitable for review, and the other will contain the full cover page and acknowledgments. Once your submission is complete, the files will be available for the editorial office to examine. If everything is in order, the Editor-in-Chief will assign the manuscript to an Editor for handling. The Editor will request reviews and make the decision on your manuscript. Please feel free to note any possible conflicts of interest with any of the Editors or with possible reviewers in the spaces provided during the submission process. Appeals on decisions should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.
Anonymous Text
You will be asked to submit an anonymous main document and separate title page. The main document should not include author details or acknowledgements in the text or in the headers. The title page should include names, addresses, emails and any acknowledgements.
Manuscript format and structure/style
Basic formatting guide
Authors should aim to communicate ideas and information clearly and concisely, in language suitable for the moderate specialist. Papers in languages other than English are not accepted unless invited. When a paper has joint authorship, one author must accept responsibility for all correspondence; the full postal address, and e-mail address of the author who is to check proofs (the corresponding author) should be provided. Although the Society does not specify the length of manuscripts, it is suggested that authors preparing long texts (12,000 words or more, including references, etc.) should consult the Editor before considering submission.
Please submit your manuscript in an editable format such as .doc, .docx or .rtf, prepared on A4, paginated, double spaced throughout (i.e. including references and quotations), with ample margins. If you submit your manuscript in a non-editable format such as PDF, this will slow the progress of your paper as we will have to contact you to request an editable copy.
Papers should conform to the following general layout:
A general style guide can be found here and a sample paper can be found here.
Article types
- Original Article (max. 7,500 words, excl. references)
- Short Report (max. 4,500 words, excl. references)
- Perspectives (max. 3,000-3500 words, excl. references, with no more than 2 tables/figures)
- Letter to the Editor
- Editorial
Title page
This should be included as a separate file, designated ‘Title Page’. It should include title, authors, institutions and a short running title. The title should be concise but informative, and where appropriate should include mention of family or higher taxon in the form 'The evolution of the Brown Rat, Rattus norvegicus (Rodentia: Muridae)'. Main titles should be in bold font. A subtitle may be included, but papers in numbered series are not accepted. Names of new taxa should not be given in titles.
Abstract
This must be on a separate page, covering the context of the paper in a concise and clearly written manner. The abstract is of great importance as it may be reproduced elsewhere and is all that many may see of your work. It should be written in English, about 100-200 words long and should summarize the paper in a form that is intelligible in conjunction with the title. It should not include references though if a reference is necessary then the whole reference should be written. . If the paper is describing new taxa, this should be written in bold, followed by the author’s name and gen. nov., sp. nov. or another abbreviation of the appropriate taxonomic level to highlight this. The abstract should be followed by up to ten keywords additional to those in the title (alphabetically arranged, lower case and separated by semi-colons) identifying the subject matter for retrieval systems. Taxonomic authorities should not be included in the Abstract. Inclusion of an additional abstract in another language must be referenced at the end of the abstract and linked to the Supplementary data. For example: Este resumen traducido al español está disponible en la sección, Supporting Information.
Graphical abstracts
The journal requires a graphical abstract for all Original Articles and Short Reports which needs to be submitted at first revision stage. Submission of a graphical abstract is optional for Perspectives.
The Journal also accepts graphical abstracts. A graphical abstract is a single figure prepared by the authors that summarizes the key point(s) of an article and serves as a visual introduction to encourage interest in the content. When preparing your graphical abstract, keep in mind that they are ideally suited for promoting your article on social media, so text should be large enough to be read in that context and the image should be oriented in landscape format.
Please also consider the accessibility of your graphical abstract to all readers. See OUP’s Guidelines for making figures accessible. Graphical abstracts are peer reviewed and published as part of the article online and in the PDF. It also appears in the table of contents and some other journal pages including in search results.
If submitting a graphical abstract with your paper, it should be submitted as a separate file, selecting the appropriate file type designation in the online submission system. The file should be named “graphical_abstract”. Please see OUP's guidance on appropriate file format and resolution for graphics.
Subject matter
(i) The paper should be divided into sections under short headings: Abstract, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusion. Except in systematic hierarchies, the hierarchy of headings should not exceed three. Results should be presented in present tense. Do not merge results and discussion to provide a clear distinction between results of the study at hand and discussion of results of other studies. Please present your work in clear and concise language, keeping the broad readership in mind.
(ii) The Botanical and Zoological Codes must be strictly followed. Names of genera and species should be printed in italic or underlined to indicate italic; do not underline suprageneric taxon names. Cite the author of species on first mention only. When new taxonomic names are published, these are marked in bold, followed by the author’s name and sp. nov., gen. nov. or another abbreviation of the appropriate taxonomic level described on first mention.
(iii) Use SI units, and the appropriate symbols (mm, not millimetre; µm, not micron., s, not sec; Myr for million years, Mya for million years ago; etc.).Use an n-dash ( —), not a hyphen (-), for ranges and use the times sign × (not the letter x) for multiplication, dimensions, crosses and hybrids. Use the negative index (m-1, l-1, h-1) except in cases such as 'per plant'). Avoid elaborate tables of original or derived data, long lists of species, etc.; if such data are essential, then they should be presented as online-only supporting information.
(iv) Avoid footnotes and keep cross references by page to an absolute minimum. If you have examined voucher specimens in museums and herbaria, you must list their catalogue numbers. Voucher specimens provide a permanent record for the biological material studied, and need to be clearly stated by collector, number, and the collection within which they are permanently housed.
References
We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote for reference management and formatting.
EndNote reference styles can be searched for on this page.
- In the text, give references in the following forms: 'Stork (1988) said', 'Stork (1988: 331)' where it is desired to refer to a specific page, and '(Rapport, 1983)' where giving reference simply as authority for a statement. For papers by three or more authors, use et al. throughout.
- The list of references must include all publications cited in the text and only these. Prior to submission, make certain that all references in the text agree with those in the references section, and that spelling is consistent throughout. In the list of references, titles of periodicals must be given in full, not abbreviated. For books, give the title, place of publication, name of publisher (if after 1930), and indication of edition if not the first. In papers with half-tones, plate or figure citations are required only if they fall outside the pagination of the reference cited. Please note that for references with multiple authors, only the first three authors should be mentioned, followed by et al. References should conform as exactly as possible to one of these four styles, according to the type of publication cited.
- Kamiński MJ, Kanda K, Lumen R, et al., Molecular phylogeny of Pedinini (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) and its implications for higher-level classification, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 2019; 185: 77–97.
- Gould SJ. Wonderful life: the Burgess Shale and the nature of history. New York: W.W. Norton, 1989.
- Dow MM, Cheverud JM, Rhoads J, et al., Statistical comparison of biological and cultural/history variation. In: Friedlaender J, Howells WW, Rhoads J, (ed). Solomon Islands project: health, human biology, and cultural change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987b; 265-281.
- Article published online but not yet in print: Gay HJ. 1990. The ant association and structural rhizome modifications of the far eastern fern genus Lecanopteris (Polypodiaceae). D. Phil. Thesis, Oxford University. 1990 (DOI).
- Other citations such as papers 'in press' may appear on the list but not papers 'submitted', 'in review' or 'in preparation'. These may be cited in the text as 'unpublished work'. A personal communication may be cited in the text but not in the reference list. Please give the initials and surnames for all authors of personal communications and unpublished data.
- In the case of taxonomic reviews, authors are requested to include full references for taxonomic authorities.
- Give foreign language references in ordinary English alphabetic form (but copy accents in French, German, Spanish, etc.), if necessary transliterating in accordance with a recognized scheme (e.g. pinyin). For the Cyrillic alphabet use British Standard BS 2979 (1958). If only a published translation has been consulted, cite the translation, not the original. Add translations not supplied by the author of the reference in square brackets.
Tables
Keep these as simple as possible, with few horizontal and, preferably, no vertical rules. When assembling complex tables and data matrices, bear the dimensions of the printed page (225 x 168 mm) in mind; reducing typesize to accommodate a multiplicity of columns will affect legibility.
Illustrations
These normally include (1) half-tones reproduced from photographs, (2) black and white figures reproduced from drawings and (3) diagrams. Use one consecutive set of Arabic numbers for all illustrations (do not separate 'Plates' and 'Text-figures' - treat all as 'Figures'). Figures should be numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text. Use upper case letters for subdivisions (e.g. Figure 1A-D) of figures; all other lettering should be lower case.
Half-tones reproduced from photographs: increasingly, authors' original images are usually captured digitally rather than by conventional film photography. For digital capture, please use the appropriate settings on your equipment for the highest possible image quality (minimum 300 dpi). Figure plates may be prepared by scanning photographic originals and then labelling them using graphics programs. These are acceptable provided that:
- Resolution of all submitted figures should be at a minimum of 300 dpi at the final required image size. The labelling and any line drawings in a composite figure should be added in vector format. If any labelling or line drawings are embedded in the file then the resolution must be a minimum of 800 dpi. Please note that vector format labelling will give the best results for the online version of your paper.
- Electronic files are saved uncompressed as TIFF, JPEG, editable PDF, or EPS files.
Grouping and mounting: when grouping photographs, aim to make the dimensions of the group (including guttering of 2 mm between each picture) as close as possible to the page dimensions of 168 × 225 mm, thereby optimizing use of the available space.
Lettering and numbering: If supplied as photographic prints, letters and numbers should be applied in the form of dry-transfer ('Letraset') letters, numbers, arrows and scale bars, but not measurements (values), to transparent overlays in the required positions, rather than to the photographs themselves; this helps to avoid making pressure marks on the delicate surface of the prints, and facilitates relabelling, should this be required. Alternatively, pencilled instructions can be indicated on duplicates or photocopies marked 'FOR LABELLING ONLY'. Self-adhesive labels should be avoided, but if they are used, they should not be attached directly to either photographs or overlays, but to photocopies, to indicate where they are to be positioned. Labelling will be inserted electronically by the typesetter in due course.
Black and white figures reproduced from drawings: these should be scanned at a minimum resolution of 800 dpi and supplied in TIFF, JPEG, or editable PDF format. Lines must be clean and heavy enough to stand reduction; drawings should be no more than twice-page size. The maximum dimensions of published figures are 168 × 225 mm. Scale bars are the most satisfactory way of indicating magnification. Take account of proposed reduction when lettering drawings.
Diagrams: in most instances the authors’ electronic versions of diagrams are used and may be re-labelled to conform to journal style. These should be supplied in a vector graphics format, i.e., EPS or PDF files. Please note that diagrams or graphs will not reproduce well online unless they are in vector format, due to low maximum screen resolution.
Colour: We encourage the use of colour and there is no charge for colour images in this journal. Where possible, please ensure that your figures are colour-blind friendly. The use of red and green in the same figure is particularly problematic for some readers. Advice on the preparation of colour-friendly figures is provided. The following tools are also useful for preparing suitable figures: ColorBrewer and Color Oracle.
Type legends for Figures in numerical order on a separate sheet. Where a 'key' is required for abbreviations used in more than one Figure, this should be included as a section of the main text.
Authors wishing to use illustrations already published must obtain written permission from the copyright holder before submitting the manuscript. Authors may, in the first instance, submit medium quality files of figures rather than the originals.
Upon revision papers should again be submitted in an editable file format (i.e., not PDF) and figures must be submitted as separate, high-resolution, uncompressed files.
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.
3D Images
Authors may submit 3D models for online publication as part of the article.
3D models should be submitted for peer review as separate files, selecting the appropriate file-type designation in the journal’s online submission system. OUP uses Sketchfab to host 3D models. Files must be submitted in one of the formats accepted by Sketchfab, listed here, or a link to the model on the author’s Sketchfab account may be submitted.
The model should be cited and numbered in the manuscript in sequence like a regular figure (Model 1, Model 2, Model 3, etc.), with a caption included in the manuscript. Each Model must be presented separately in the manuscript with a separate label and caption. The file should be clearly named (e.g. Model_2.glb). Authors may alternatively upload 3D models to a personal Sketchfab account for submission. In such cases a private shareable link must be generated and included in the manuscript, or the model must be set as ‘public’ with the URL included in the manuscript. The author must also submit written permission for their model to be transferred from their personal account to the publisher’s Sketchfab account. No changes to the model should be made during peer review, except as part of submitting a revised version of the manuscript.
If custom lighting environment files are available, these should be included alongside the files for the model. Sketchfab supports .HDR and .EXR formats with a maximum file size of 50MB and a maximum resolution of 2048px × 1024 px (larger images will be downsized).
Availability of data and materials
The Journal requires all authors, where ethically possible, to publicly release all data and software code underlying any published paper as a condition of publication. Authors are required to include a data availability statement in their paper. When data and software underlying the research article are available in an online source, authors should include a full citation in their reference list. For details of the minimum information to be included in data and software citations see the OUP guidance on citing research data and software.
Whenever possible, data should be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files or deposited in a public repository. Authors are required to upload their data for review or provide a link to the data deposit in a public repository at ‘First Look’ stage. Visit OUP’s Research data page for information on general repositories for all data types, and resources for selecting repositories by subject area.
Voucher specimens provide a permanent record for the biological material studied, and need to be clearly stated by collector, number, and the collection within which they are permanently housed.
Data availability statement
The inclusion of a data availability statement is a requirement for papers published in the Journal. Data availability statements provide a standardized format for readers to understand the availability of original and third-party data underlying the research results described in the paper. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier.
More information and example data availability statements.
Data citation
The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society 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: authors, title, publisher (repository name), identifier.
Example Data Citation
- [dataset]* Dudeniec R. Data from: Hybridization fluctuates with rainfall in Darwin’s tree finches, v4, Dryad, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ttdz08ktq.
*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.
Cover page and acknowledgments
In a separate file, please submit a full cover page with the title and the authors' names and affiliations followed by a page with the full acknowledgments. On the Web site, please designate this file as "Cover and Acknowledgments" and answer "no" when asked if it is for review.
Cover page
The cover page should include the title (concise but informative); the full names of all authors (first and last) as they wish them to appear in the published article; the authors' institutional affiliations; the name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the author responsible for receiving proofs and correspondence; and the current address of any author(s) whose institutional affiliation has changed since the work reported was performed.
Supporting information
Submit all material to be considered as Supporting Information online at the same time as the main manuscript. Ensure that the supporting information is referred to in the main manuscript at an appropriate point in the text. Make sure you include a section at the end of the manuscript (before references – see order of back matter above) entitled ‘SUPPORTING INFORMATION’ and listing the titles of the supplementary files. Supplementary figures and tables should be numbered ‘Figure S1’, ‘Table S1’, etc. Supporting information will be available online only and will not be copyedited and so it is essential that it is clearly, accurately, and succinctly presented, and that the style conforms with the rest of the paper. Also ensure that the presentation will work on any Internet browser. It is not recommended for the files to be more than 2 MB each, although exceptions can be made at the editorial office’s discretion.
Acknowledgements and funding
Acknowledgments and funding information should be included at the end of your manuscript. Please fully cite any relevant funding information, including specific grant numbers.
LaTeX
If you have prepared your manuscript using LaTeX, please create a PDF version to upload at first submission. This should be the complete manuscript (including text, figures and tables). Zipped LaTeX source files will be requested at acceptance.
For creating manuscripts in LaTeX, the Journal recommends the use of the OUP LaTeX template. The template is available online at Overleaf and also as a downloadable package. Please use the Traditional Large design.
Overleaf is a free, collaborative online LaTeX editor that allows you to write your manuscript in a TeX or rich text environment, to generate PDF outputs as you write, and to share your manuscript with co-authors and collaborators.
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.
Self-archiving policy
You may self-archive versions of your work on your own webpages, on institutional webpages, and in other repositories. If you want more information about the reuse rights you retain if you publish with us, please visit our Author Self Archiving Policy page.
First Look
Once a manuscript is accepted, authors will be sent an email asking them to upload their files for production. Authors should upload all of their manuscript and figure source files, data (or supply a link to the data deposit in a public repository), and their waiver acceptance if applicable.
For authors using LaTeX, this means the .tex, .eps, .bib etc. files. For authors using Word, this means the .doc or .docx and figure files. All the source files should be combined into a single .zip or .tar.gz archive and uploaded as ‘Source files (.zip or .tar.gz)’. The source files will be used for typesetting purposes and must be clean, i.e. all marked changes, bold font and highlighting for the referee should be removed. The source files must correspond exactly to the complete manuscript, otherwise delays in publication will occur.
Please include an explanatory readme file in your archive. If you have used BibTeX to generate your bibliography in LaTeX, also include the .bib file in the archive along with the .bbl and .tex files; this will aid the typesetting process
Proofs
Authors will receive a link to the PDF proof of their manuscript on our online system by email, and it is essential that a current email address is supplied with all manuscripts. Proofing instructions will accompany the PDF file, but the proof should be checked immediately upon receipt and uploaded in accordance with covering instructions. Only essential corrections should be made at the proof stage.
Advance access
For The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society, manuscripts arrive at OUP and go through the production process until the final versions are ready to publish. These are then published on an Advance Access page, and will remain on the page up until the issue that they are assigned to is published.
Immutable advance access
In order to comply with the requirements of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) with regard to nomenclatural works, ALL articles, regardless of whether they include nomenclatural information, that are published in The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society will be immutable from 1st January 2017; this means that no changes will be allowed to any article without the publication of an erratum clearly stating the changes that have been made. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the authors to carefully check their proofs for accuracy, and to notify the publisher of any changes that are necessary prior to Advance Access publication.
Nomenclatural works
You will be asked during the submission process whether your article contains a nomenclatural act. If it does, in order to comply with the International Code on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) regulations, you will need to register your article in ZooBank and provide a Life Science Identifier (LSID) at proof stage, which the editorial team will insert into the article. The ICZN does not consider supplementary files, available on journal websites, as part of the article itself. We strongly encourage authors to avoid publishing new names and nomenclatural acts in supplementary files. However, if it is essential to publish them in the supplementary files, these should be registered separately in ZooBank.
Please note, articles requiring ZooBank registration information as per the ICNZ publication requirements are immutable after publication. No changes will be able to be made after publication of the corrected proof. Any corrections that are necessary can only be made in a correction notice. If your article is accepted, it is important you take extra care when checking your paper, ZooBank registration information, and any other relevant sections of your article.
Following publication, you will need to update your ZooBank entry with the Volume, and Issue information.
Manuscript transfer
The Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society receives transfers from other journals on related topics published by Oxford University Press. All transfers are sent according to the choice of the authors. Unless a reviewer declines to have their feedback shared, reviewer reports and the original decision letter are included in the transfer, but the reviewer identities are not shared.
Special Issue proposals
Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society welcomes proposals for special issues on priority themes in the field. A special collection is a group of original research articles and possibly review articles, edited by guest editor(s) under a common theme.
Please note that, although we will ultimately require a full proposal for review, you are welcome to reach out to the Editor in Chief at [email protected] if you would like any initial feedback before submitting a full proposal. If you choose to do so, please share 1-2 paragraphs outlining your proposal.
Please contact [email protected] to submit a full proposal:
Special issue proposals can be submitted at any time
Proposals for new special issues must fall within the remit of the journal. They should be a maximum of 6,000 words in total (inc. footnotes) and include:
- A full set of contact details and biography for the guest editor(s). If the Special Issue is accepted guest editor’s affiliations will be required to be stated in the final issue.
- A proposed title for the special issue.
- A rationale for the special issue and the relevance to the journal of its original contribution.
- A list of confirmed contributors, with institutional affiliations.
- Draft titles for each paper (usually five to ten papers per special issue; these can be articles, short articles, and perspectives).
- Any conflicts of interest for the guest editor(s) or authors.
- A timeline for the special issue, with milestones for completion of each stage.
- An indication of whether the special issue proposal has been, or will be, submitted to another journal and the timelines involved for their decision.
Proposals for special issues will be evaluated based on: their fit with the journal’s remit; their original contribution to the field; the diversity of perspectives and authors reflected in the proposed special collection; and the feasibility of the special collection being completed within the specified timeframe.
We encourage submissions developed by or including scholarship from under-represented groups. Viewpoints currently under-represented in the journal are particularly encouraged to participate.
All articles submitted for a selected special issue remain subject to the standard peer review process operated by the journal. We expect guest editors to ensure that articles are of suitably high quality before submission to the journal and reserve the right to reject, before or after peer review, any that are not. If the special issue is accepted by another journal, please notify the Editorial Office by emailing [email protected] as soon as possible that your proposal is no longer under consideration.
Contacts
There are separate points of contact for enquires relating to papers which are undergoing editorial review by the journal and those in production by the journal’s publisher, Oxford University Press.
Submitted papers
For papers which have been submitted but have not yet been accepted, please contact the Editorial Office at [email protected].
The Linnean Society of London
Burlington House, Piccadilly,
London,
W1J 0BF
United Kingdom
Accepted papers
For queries on licences and charges please contact: [email protected]
For papers which have been accepted and are in production, contact the publishers:
E-mail: [email protected]
EVOLIN Journal Production
Oxford Journals
Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford OX2 6DP
United Kingdom
