Author Instructions
All manuscripts should be submitted via ScholarOne Manuscripts.
- Publishing Policies
- Peer review
- Authorship
- Licence to publish
- Open access
- Journal editorial policy
- Animal ethics
- Submission and preparation of manuscripts
- Checklist for preparation of manuscripts
- General presentation
- Use of inclusive language
- Title
- Abstract
- Summary text and image for Table of Contents
- Keywords
- Footnotes
- Data Availability Statement
- Conflicts of Interest
- Declaration of Funding
- Acknowledgements
- References
- Citation of references (examples)
- Units
- Mathematical formulae
- Enzyme nomenclature
- Chemical nomenclature
- Statistical evaluation of results
- Tables
- Figures
- Page proofs and corrections
Publishing Policies
Wildlife Research insists on high standards of ethical behaviour throughout the publication process. Our journal editors work within the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Further information on our policies can be found at http://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/PublishingPolicies.
Peer review
Wildlife Research is a peer-reviewed journal that uses a single-blind peer-review. The Editors are responsible to maintain high-quality peer-review of papers submitted to the journal and work together with Associate Editors to ensure a thorough and fair peer-review and the highest scientific publishing standards. All submissions undergo preliminary assessment by an Editor, who may reject a paper before peer review when it is outside the journal’s scope or is of insufficient quality. Associate Editors select reviewers and after at least two review reports are received, they make the decision whether to accept/reject or send a manuscript for revision. The final decision is made by an Editor.
Under our single-blind policy, reviewers’ names are not disclosed to the authors. To increase transparency, reviewers may choose to sign their reports. We ask reviewers and authors not to directly contact each other while the manuscript is under consideration, rather keep all communication through ScholarOne with the Editor’s involvement.
Authorship
The conditions around authorship for Wildlife Research should follow the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), for more information see http://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/PublishingPolicies.
Licence to publish
For details regarding copyright, please see Copyright/Licence to Publish.
Open access
Authors may choose to publish their paper Open Access on payment of a publication fee. See Open Access for more details.
Journal editorial policy
Wildlife Research provides an international forum for the publication of original and significant research and debate on the ecology and management of vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife in natural and modified habitats. The journal has a broad focus ranging from the conservation of threatened species through to the management of over-abundant and invasive species. Papers reporting well-structured field studies, manipulative experiments, and analytical and modelling studies are encouraged. All papers should aim to improve the practice of wildife management and contribute conceptual advances to our knowledge and understanding of wildlife ecology.
As well as original research papers, the journal publishes: reviews that offer new insights or timely syntheses of current topics in wildlife management; perspective articles highlighting contentious or emerging issues and their implications for wildlife management, conservation, research or policy development.
Review papers are approved for refereeing by the Editors. Review papers should indicate fruitful areas of further research and be original and innovative; they should not exceed 20 printed pages in length (50 pages A4 double-spaced type including figures and tables). If new experimental data are included in the review, sufficient detail about methods should be provided so that other investigators can repeat the work.
Perspective articles are short opinion papers (up to 3000 words and no more than 4 figures or tables), which raise ideas and develop novel hypotheses that are scientifically defendable but may be more speculative or controversial than would normally be seen in regular reviews. Perspectives are assessed on the originality of the ideas presented, the development of logical arguments and the contribution they make in advancing new directions or approaches to the field of wildlife research.
The Editors will consider Comments on papers published in the journal within the past 12 months. If the Comment is negative or critical, the authors of the published paper will be offered the right to reply in a Response. Both the Comment and Response will be peer reviewed, and if accepted, will be published in the same issue. In order to be considered for publication, Comment and Response articles must be concise and impersonal, must contribute to knowledge and must advance the discussion beyond opinion. Their ultimate aim should be to encourage informed debate on topics raised in papers published in Wildlife Research. Comments should have a short abstract (<75 words) and should not exceed 3000 words. The number of figures, tables and references should be limited so that the Comment comprises no more than three typeset pages in total. Responses should have no abstract and should not exceed 1000 words. They should comprise no more than one typeset page in total (including figures, tables and references). If the corresponding or contributing authors of the previously published paper decline their right to reply or fail to do so in a reasonable timeframe, the Comment will be published without a Response. Authors who wish to submit Comments on papers published more than 12 months previously should first seek advice from the Editorial Office.
By submitting their paper to the journal, all authors confirm that the content has not been published and is not being considered for publication elsewhere. Abstracts and posters from conferences, where the full data set is not presented and the interpretation of results is not developed, would not normally be regarded as publications. The Editors recognise that grey literature often forms the basis of peer-reviewed publications; if a submitted manuscript includes material that has been disseminated in report form, the authors should explain this in their cover letter. Editors will consider such manuscripts on a case-by-case basis.
The journal requires that all authors of a multi-authored paper agree to its submission. The journal will use its best endeavours to ensure that work published is that of the named authors except where acknowledged and, through its reviewing procedures, that any published results and conclusions are consistent with the primary data. It takes no responsibility for fraud or inaccuracy on the part of the contributors. All papers are refereed.
There are no page charges, except for the reproduction of colour figures. A free PDF file will be supplied to the author on publication of the article. Paper reprints may also be ordered before publication and an order form is sent to the corresponding author with the final page proofs.
Animal ethics
Papers reporting work with animals must include a reference to the code of practice adopted for the reported experimentation or manipulation and provide details of permits for the study. Editors should ensure that peer reviewers consider ethical and welfare issues raised by the research they are reviewing, and to request additional information from authors where needed. In situations where there is doubt as to the adherence to appropriate procedures or approval by the relevant ethics committee, editors are required to reject these papers.
CSIRO Publishing also follows guidelines provided by the CSIRO Animal Ethics committee.
Submission and preparation of manuscripts
To submit your paper, please use our online journal management system ScholarOne Manuscripts, which can be reached directly through this link or from the link on the journal´s homepage. If a first-time user, register via the ´Register here´ link, or use your existing username and password to log in. Then click on the ´Author Centre´ link and proceed.
A covering letter must accompany the submission and should include the name, address, fax and telephone numbers, and email address of the corresponding author. The letter should also contain a statement justifying why the work should be considered for publication in the journal, and that the manuscript has not been published or simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere. Suggestions of possible referees are required during submission. Suggested referees should be independent experts in the field. Authors should be aware that approaching suggested reviewers is at the discretion of the Editor. Intentionally falsifying reviewer details will result in rejection of a manuscript.
If you encounter any difficulties, or you have any queries, please contact:
Wildlife Research
CSIRO Publishing
Locked Bag 10
Clayton South, Vic. 3169
Australia
Telephone +[61 3] 9545 8400
Email publishing.wr@csiro.au
Authors are advised to read recent issues of the journal to note details of the scope of papers, headings, tables, illustrations, style, and general form. Observance of these and the following details will shorten the time between submission and publication. Poorly prepared and unnecessarily lengthy manuscripts have less chance of being accepted.
Checklist for preparation of manuscripts
- Type the manuscript double- or 1.5-line-spaced throughout, including references, figure captions, and tables, which should be placed at the end of the document. Clearly numbered figures should also be imported at the end of the document at submission stage. Line numbers must be added (continuous throughout the document), and all pages must be numbered.
- Include the Table of Contents short summary at the start of the Word document.
- Type the title and all headings aligned left, with only the first letter of the first word and of any proper name capitalised.
- Main headings (Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Conflicts of Interest, References) are set in bold roman (not italic) type. Minor headings are set in light italic type.
- Do not indent paragraphs or use a carriage-return (Enter) at the end of lines within a paragraph.
- Do not use initial capitals for vernacular names of species except where the name is based on a proper name (e.g. regent honeyeater, but Port Lincoln parrot; sugar glider, but Leadbeater´s possum).
- Use ´s´ not ´z´ in words such as ´recognise´, ´analyse´ and ´organisation´.
- Use the conventions ´from … to´, ´between … and´, ´range x-y´.
- Use single quotation marks.
- Check that all references mentioned in the text are in the References, and vice versa.
- List references in the text in chronological order, separated by semi-colons. List references in the References list in alphabetical order. In the text, do not use a comma between the author´s name and the date.
- Give journal and book titles in full in the References list.
- Do not use tabs to create hanging indents within the References.
- Spell out numbers less than 10 unless with a unit. Type a space between a numeral and its unit.
- Prepare figures with symbols and letters appropriate for the reduction intended. Use Helvetica or another sans-serif font in figures.
- Check that stippling and/or symbols in figures are legible at the size likely to be used in the published paper.
- Type tables using the table menu in Word with the title as a separate paragraph. Put explanatory matter referring to the table as a whole in a headnote, which should be in a separate paragraph from the title, and directly under the heading.
- Indicate approximate positions of figures and tables on the manuscript.
- Check that figures and tables are numbered in the order in which they are discussed in the text.
- Provide a running head for the paper of not more than 50 characters (including spaces).
General presentation
The work should be presented in concise and clear English. The Introduction must describe the aims of the work and/or the hypothesis being tested, but it should not exceed what is necessary to indicate the reason for the work and its essential background. Sufficient experimental detail should be given to allow assessment of the results and enable the work to be repeated. The Discussion should focus attention on the significance of the results and must discuss their implications for wildlife management.
Additional material of a detailed nature that may be useful to other workers but which is not essential to the printed paper may be lodged as Supplementary Material with the Journal, provided that it is submitted with the manuscript for inspection by the referees. Such material will be made available from the journal´s website and a note to this effect should be included in the paper.
Use of inclusive language
These guidelines should be used to assist in identifying appropriate language, but are by no means exhaustive or definitive. Inclusive language comprises carefully chosen words and phrases that are respectful and promote the acceptance and value of all people. It is language which is free from words, phrases or tones that demean, insult, exclude, stereotype, or trivialise people on the basis of their membership of a certain group or because of a particular attribute. As such, inclusive language should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader, and contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on any grounds including but not limited to: age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition. We encourage the use of plural nouns (e.g., 'they' as default wherever possible instead of 'he/she'), and recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes, unless there is scientific or clinical relevance. For further guidance on inclusive language see Inclusive language | Style Manual. If there are questions about language use and/or publishing with regards to First Nations people, please contact the Journal.
Title
This should be concise, interesting and appropriately informative and should contain sufficient keywords to facilitate retrieval by online search engines. Place names should be avoided unless the geographic location is critical to the point of the paper. An abridged title suitable for use as a running head at the top of the printed page and not exceeding 50 letter spaces should also be supplied.
Abstract
Abstracts should be no more than 350 words. Abstracts of research articles and methods papers should be formatted to include the following labelled sections: Context; Aims; Methods; Key results; Conclusions; Implications. The Abstract should state concisely why the study was done, what hypothesis was tested, and how the study was undertaken; should give the principal findings and conclusions; and should highlight the implications for wildlife management or future research. Abstracts of Reviews and Viewpoint articles do not need to be formatted with sections but should still provide a concise overview of the full manuscript..
Summary text and image for Table of Contents
Authors are requested to upload a summary text file and an image file for the online Table of Contents. The short summary should also be included in the Word file (main document).
The short summary should capture the essence of the work and put it clearly in a management context. The summary will appear in the Table of Contents on the journal’s website to help wildlife managers, policy makers, consultants and others not directly involved in research to understand its significance, outcomes and applications. The short summary should be three sentences (~60 words) in total, free from jargon, and written at the level of an article in a good newspaper. The first sentence should engage the reader and highlight the importance of the research. The second sentence should describe the aim of the work and the main discovery. The final sentence should describe how the results fit into the bigger picture. Please also include the photographer's name or source of the image.
An example is shown below.
Retaliatory killing of carnivores in response to livestock depredation is a major threat to carnivore species worldwide. This study aimed to assess how changes in herding practices affected depredation rates from snow leopards and wolves in the South Gobi, Mongolia, and showed that most losses occurred when herds were left unattended in pastures. We make recommendations for how to minimize human–wildlife conflicts by adjusting livestock husbandry practices. Photograph by Joe Bloggs
The image file should be a colour photograph or other image that highlights an important aspect of the work. This image will be used in the online Table of Contents, email alerts and RSS feeds to promote the paper and assist in providing a context for the reader. Please also include the photographer’s name or source of the Image in the summary text file. If a photo credit is required please provide details to your Production Editor. The image should be submitted as a 96 dpi JPEG file and must be no wider than 9 cm and no higher than 4 cm.
Keywords
A minimum of 8 keywords or phrases are required to improve online discoverability of your work. These terms can be repeated from the title if necessary. List the keywords under the abstract, with terms separated by commas.
Footnotes
Footnotes are discouraged. They should be used only when essential and should be placed within horizontal rules immediately under the lines to which they refer.
Data Availability Statement
CSIRO Publishing encourages authors to share the research data underlying their papers to support transparency and reproducibility of research. A Data Availability Statement must be included at the end of the manuscript indicating whether the data used to generate the results in the paper are available and, if so, where to access them. For more information on CSIRO Publishing’s data sharing policy and for examples of what to include in the data availability statement please see https://www.publish.csiro.au/journals/publishingpolicies#6.
Authors can get credit for their work by citing their research data in the reference list of their article. Citations should include at a minimum: all authors, year of publication, title of dataset, record ID, publisher. DOI or URL if available. Examples of how to cite research data:
Wang, L., Edwards, D., Bailey, A., Carr, L., Boreham, C., Grosjean, E., Anderson, J., Jarrett, A., MacFarlane, S., Southby, C., Carson, C., Khider, K., Palu, T., and Henson, P. (2021). Well log data analysis and interpretation on the pre-Carboniferous succession in Waukarlycarly 1, Canning Basin, Western Australia. Record 2021/003 [Dataset]. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. Available at http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/144547
Fiddes, S., Pepler, A., Saunders, K., and Hope, P. (2020). Southern Australia’s climate regions (Version 1.0.0) [Dataset]. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4265471
Digital Earth Australia (2021). Wetlands Insight Tool Queensland Wetlands Polygons. Version 1.0.0 [Dataset]. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. Available at http://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/144795
Conflicts of Interest
A ´Conflicts of Interest´ section should be included at the end of the manuscript. It should identify any financial or non-financial (political, personal, professional) interests/relationships that may be interpreted to have influenced the manuscript. If there is no conflict of interest, please include the statement "The authors declare no conflicts of interest".
Declaration of Funding
Under a subheading 'Declaration of Funding' at the end of the text authors are required to declare all sources of funding for the research and/or preparation of the article, and the inclusion of grant numbers is recommended. Authors should declare sponsor names along with explanations of the role of those sources if any in the preparation of the data or manuscript or the decision to submit for publication; or a statement declaring that the supporting source had no such involvement. If no funding has been provided for the research, please include the following sentence: "This research did not receive any specific funding".
Acknowledgements
The contribution of colleagues who do not meet all criteria for authorship should be acknowledged. Anyone included in the Acknowledgements section should have granted permission to be listed. Sources of financial support should be acknowledged in a separate ‘Declaration of Funding’ rather than here.
References
References are cited chronologically in the text by author and date and are not numbered. All references in the text must be listed at the end of the paper, arranged alphabetically; all entries in this list must correspond to references in the text. In the text the names of two coauthors are linked by ´and´; for three or more the first author´s name is followed by ´et al.´. No editorial responsibility can be taken for the accuracy of the references; authors are requested to check these with special care.
Titles must be included for all references. Papers that have not been accepted for publication may not be included in the list of references and must be cited either as ´unpublished data´ or as ´pers. comm.´; the use of such citations is discouraged. Titles of periodicals must not be abbreviated.
Citation of references (examples)
EndNote and Reference Manager provide output styles for Wildlife Research. References should be in the following formats:
- Journal paper
Kavanagh RP, Lambert MJ (1990) Food selection by the greater glider, Petauroides volans: is foliar nitrogen a determinant of habitat quality? Australian Wildlife Research 17, 285-299. - Chapter in a book
Lee AK, Woolley PA, Braithwaite RW (1982) Life history strategies of dasyurid marsupials. In ‘Carnivorous Marsupials’. (Ed. M Archer) pp. 1-11. (Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales: Sydney, NSW, Australia) - Whole book
Strahan R (Ed.) (1995) ‘The Mammals of Australia.’ (Reed Books: Sydney, NSW, Australia) - Report or bulletin
Parer I, Sobey WR, Conolly D (1987) Reproduction of the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) under varying degrees of confinement. CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Rangelands Research Technical Paper No. 36. (CSIRO: Melbourne, Vic., Australia) - Conference Proceedings
Hone J, Pedersen H (1980) Changes in a feral pig population after poisoning. In ’Proceedings of the 9th Vertebrate Pest Conference’. (Ed. JP Clark) pp. 176-182. (University of California: Davis, CA, USA) - Web-based material
Goudet J (2001) FSTAT, a program to estimate and test gene diversities and fixation indices (version 2.9.3). Available at http://www2.unil.ch/popgen/softwares/fstat.htm [Accessed 15 November 2007]
Units
Authors are requested to use the International System of Units (Système International d´Unités) for exact measurements of physical quantities and where appropriate elsewhere. The double solidus must not be used in complex groupings of units; the negative index form ( e.g. g kg-1 h-1) is preferred.
Mathematical formulae
Formulae should be carefully typed with symbols in correct alignment and adequately spaced. If special symbols must be hand-written, they should be inserted with care and identified by pencilled notes in the margin. Judicious use should be made of the solidus to avoid 2-line mathematical expressions wherever possible and especially in the running text. Each long formula should be displayed on a separate line with at least 2 lines of space above and below. Set up complex mathematics using an equation editor.
Enzyme nomenclature
The names of enzymes should conform to the Recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee of the IUB on the Nomenclature and Classification of Enzymes as published in ´Enzyme Nomenclature 1984´ (Academic Press, New York, 1984). If there is good reason to use a name other than the recommended name, at the first mention of the alternative name in the text it should be identified by the recommended name and EC number. The Editor should be advised of the reasons for using the alternative name.
Chemical nomenclature
The nomenclature of compounds such as amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, steroids, vitamins, etc. should follow the recommendations of the IUPAC-IUB Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature. Other biologically active compounds, such as metabolic inhibitors, plant growth regulators, buffers, etc., should be referred to once by their correct chemical name (which is in accordance with IUPAC rules of Chemical Nomenclature) and then by their most widely accepted common name. For pesticides, the latest issue of ´Pesticides - Synonyms and Chemical Names´ (Australian Government Publishing Service) should be followed. Where there is no common name, trade names or letter abbreviations of the chemical may be used.
Statistical evaluation of results
The tests should be described briefly and, if necessary, supported by references. Numbers of individuals, mean values and measures of variability should be stated. It should be made clear whether the standard deviation or the standard error of the mean has been given.
The design and conduct of experiments must be sufficiently explained that readers can judge for themselves the validity of the results. Authors should describe how measurements were made and indicate how treatments were assigned to units or blocks, and the number of replicates. When common experimental designs such as randomised block or split-plot designs are used a reference is not necessary, but it is appropriate to cite a reference for little-used methods or designs, in which case the use of these methods should be justified. The experimental design dictates the proper method of statistical analysis and the basis of assessing the precision of treatment means. The precision achieved should be reported by a standard error of the treatment mean or a coefficient of variation. Wherever possible, the assumptions implicit in the analysis should be checked. Treatment comparisons such as the least significant difference (l.s.d.) may be made when the variance ratio (F value) is significant, but authors must be aware of the limitations to the use of multiple comparisons. Ultimately, the statistical analyses should highlight the biological principles embodied in the results.
Tables
Editable tables should be prepared in Word using the 'Table' tool (not tabs), without any hard returns within cells, or can be set up in Excel. Number each table and refer to it in the text (Table 1, Table 2, etc.) in order of appearance. There is no need to add instructions on the placement of tables as long as each table is referred to in the text. Do not provide tables as images.
Table titles should be concise and clear and should fully explain the table. Use sentence case throughout the table. Supporting information relating to the whole table should be placed in the headnote. Any symbols, abbreviations or acronyms used in the table should also be defined in the headnote. Additional information relating to specific cells should be placed as table footnotes using superscript capital letters as identifiers. Symbols for units of measurement should be placed in parentheses beneath the column heading.
Tables should appear at the end of the main document, not within the text. Keep tables as simple as possible, without excessive subdivision of column headings.
Figures
Authors are asked to submit their illustrations in electronic format. Electronic files of the final versions of both the text and illustrations should be sent when the paper has been accepted for publication. Files should be named using the paper number and appropriate identifying information (e.g. WR07001_finaltext; WR07001_Fig1). The text and figure captions should be sent as a single Word file, and the tables as separate Word files. All illustrations should conform to the general instructions for layout as follows.
Figures should be supplied as separate files but the captions should be included in the main document (at the end). Refer to each figure in the text (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.), and number each figure according to the order in which it appears in the text. There is no need to add instructions on placement of figures as long as each figure is referred to in the text. If your figure has multiple parts label with (a), (b), (c), etc. and place the labels in the top left of each image where possible. Figure parts can be supplied as separate images if needed. Please make sure all images are supplied are at highest possible resolution.
Format
Where possible, line diagrams (graphs, charts, etc.) should be provided as editable files and prepared using either a graphics or chart/graph program such as MacDraw, Illustrator, CorelDraw, Excel, Sigmaplot, Harvard Graphics or Cricket Graph and files should be saved in one of the following formats: encapsulated PostScript (EPS), Illustrator or Excel (provided the Excel files have been saved with the chart encapsulated in it). The submission of scanned images or illustrations prepared in a paint program, e.g. Photoshop (and PICT and JPEG files) is discouraged, because of the difficulty in making editorial corrections to these files. If illustrations must be created in a paint program, save the file as a TIFF or EPS (these files should be 600 dpi for line drawings and 300 dpi for halftone figures). Photographs can be supplied in the highest resolution possible.
Fonts
Please prepare figures using a standard sans serif font. Arial preferred. Font sizes for main axis labels, part labels should not be more than 8pt. Legends and data points should be 7pt font size where possible. Font should never be smaller than 5pt to ensure readability.
Style
- Use sentence case for text within figures
- Use Australian English spelling (ise, not ize, etc.) throughout
- Use 'and' not '&'
- For ranges in numbers (5–10) or minus signs (–20) please use an en rule rather than a hyphen as this is clearer for the reader.
Graphs
Should be prepared with one main x and y axis line. Grid lines are not required. Line weight of x- and y-axes should be ~1.0 (not below 0.7). State on the axes of a graph what is being measured and give the appropriate units in parentheses. Ensure any symbols/colours used are explained in a legend on the figure, or in the caption. Ensure numbers on axes have the same number of decimal places.
Maps
Ensure north is identified and a scale is provided. Ensure any symbols used are fully explained in a legend within the figure, or the caption. If maps are taken from Google Earth (or similar) please ensure attribution information is retained either on the figure, or provided in the caption.
Photographs
Ensure that permission has been gained by the copyright holder of the photograph and include a photographer credit in your caption. If your photograph contains people, please ensure that they have provided permission for their image to be published.
Captions
Captions should be concise and clear and should fully explain the figure. Explain any symbols or abbreviations used in the caption of the figure, or in a legend. If your figure has multiple parts, ensure each part is explained in the caption. If your figure is a photograph, ensure the photographer is credited in the caption.
If your figure files are too large for upload to ScholarOne please ensure you let CSIRO Publishing know as soon as your paper is accepted and an alternative transfer will be arranged. Note: Figures used in the final paper will be based on what is provided – if the quality is low in the original, it will remain low in the final publication.
Authors are responsible for obtaining prior permission from the copyright holder for the use of figures/images from other publications. Authors may be charged a fee by the copyright holder for such reuse.
Page proofs and corrections
Copyedited manuscripts and subsequently page proofs are sent to the corresponding author for checking prior to publication. At these stages only essential alterations and correction of publisher errors may be undertaken. Excessive author alterations at page proof stage will be charged back to the author at $5 per item.
