The Submission Process is broken into the following steps. Detailed instructions for each step can be found on the submission pages.
- Step 1: Specify the manuscript
type, complete the checklist, submit a covering letter, and if necessary, assign your manuscript to a Special Feature.
- Step 2: Specify the author information.
- Author's names and affiliations will appear in the published paper the way you enter them. Please take the time to ensure your coauthors' names and affiliations are correct.
- Affiliations may include department, institution, city, and/or country. None are required.
- Enter mail or street addresses in the contact information box. Addresses are not required.
- Step 3: Enter the Title, Abstract, Key words/phrases, and Acknowledgments.
- Step 4:
Upload the body of the manuscript - Text only - From "Introduction" through to the end of the "Literature Cited".
- Title, abstract, keywords, and acknowledgments are already entered. Please do not duplicate.
- Figures, tables, appendices, equations, and all other attachments will be uploaded in Step 5.
- Step 5: Specify the list of attachments and upload those attachments (tables, figures, equations, appendices)
- Step 6: Final verification of the manuscript
Note: The author interface for each of these steps includes details on how to enter the information required.
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Formatting a Manuscript
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1. Organizing your submission
To submit, please separate your manuscript and save to the following file types:
- body - from Introduction to end of Literature Cited - (rich-text format)
- tables (each table is an individual file, in rich-text format)
- figures (each figure is an individual image file: GIF, PNG, or JPG)
- equations (each equation is an individual image file: GIF, PNG, or JPG -- GIF is best for equations)
- appendices (pdf for text, tables, and figures; other file types are accepted for online resources, models, spreadsheets, etc.)
If you are unable to save in one of these formats please contact the editorial office.
2. Title, Abstract, Key words/phrases, and Acknowledgments
(Step 3 of the submission processs)
Enter your title, abstract, key words/phrases, and acknowledgments directly into the submission interface, either by typing or cutting-and-pasting. Do not duplicate them in the body of your manuscript.
- Title
- The title should be entered in sentence case (that is, only the first letter and proper nouns should be in capitals.
Example: "Basic science, applied science, and the radical middle ground"
- Avoid abbreviations
- Abstracts
- Abstracts should be less than 300 words.
- They should not contain citations.
- Avoid abbreviations - if used they must be first spelled out.
- Key words/phrases should be listed alphabetically and separated by a semicolon.
3. Body of the manuscript (from Introduction through to end of Literature Cited)
Note: Figures or tables in the body of the manuscript will generate errors during the submission procedure.
Headings and subheadings must appear on a line by themselves
Main headings:
- Standard headings should be used preferentially (if apprpriate)
- INTRODUCTION, METHODS, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, LITERATURE CITED
- Other headings are permissible
- Use LITERATURE CITED (not Bibliography, References, nor anything else)
- centered on a line by themselves
Secondary headings
- left-justified on a line by themselves
- bolded
- lowercase except for initial letter of the first word
- e.g., General characteristics of movement
Tertiary headings
- left-justified on a line by themselves
- italicized
- lowercase except for initial letter of the first word
- e.g., Field study and simulation model
Equations and Greek characters
Equations
The process of inserting equations occurs in both Steps 4 and 5.
- First, you must indicate where in the manuscript you want the equations (Step 4)
- Next, you must upload the image of the equation (Step 5).
To designate the location of each equation:
Insert tags <eqn#> into the text of your manuscript
where the equation should appear,
where # = 1,2,3,...,n
indicates the sequential number of the equation.
During Step 5, you will be prompted to upload images of your equation(s).
Upload each equation as a separate graphic file named eqn#.gif, where # corresponds
to the tags inserted into the body of the manuscript.
Any one equation may be specified
any number of times by inserting the appropriate tag in the manuscript
in multiple locations.
Greek characters
To include Greek characters in your manuscript please either use the
"Insert -- Symbol" feature in Microsoft Word,
or
write out the
full name of the Greek character and enclose the word in parentheses (e.g.,
<alpha>, <beta>) within the text of your manuscript
(click here for a complete list
of Greek characters and the associated full name).
Text Boxes
To set content apart in a Text Box, place <txt#> at the beginning and </txt#> at the end of the content (where # = 1, 2, 3... is the appropriate box number). Put into the body of the manuscript in the approximate desired location.
Details of Style
Within text referencing
- include author plus year of publishing, (Smith 2000)
- separate two references with a comma, (Smith 2000, Green 2002)
- list oldest reference first, (Smith 2000, Green 2002, Brown 2012)
- if two authors give both names, if three authors use 'et al.', (Smith and Brown 2000, Smith et al. 2012)
- the same author in two different years- name the author only once (Smith 2000, 2012, Brown 2013)
- the same author in the same year, designate with letters (Smith 2000a)
- direct quotes should include date followed by page number (Smith 2000:197)
- second hand references (Smith 2000, as cited in Brown 2005)
Note: Smith 2000 should not appear in Lit. Cited section.
Spacing and Fonts
Single-space all material.
Separate paragraphs with a blank line.
Use a 12-point font (preferably Times Roman).
Underlining/Italicization
Italicize scientific names and the symbols for all variables and
constants except Greek letters in the text.
Symbols in illustrations should be italic to match the text.
Italics should NOT be used for emphasis.
Do not underline text.
Capitalization
For common names of birds, follow the Birds of the World/IUCN Red List taxonomy, with initial capital letters: Black-throated
Green Warbler. For all nonavian taxa, use lower case for common names.
Footnotes
Avoid footnotes in the body of the manuscript; most footnote material can be incorporated
in the text for the benefit of readers and editors.
Footnotes below tables are acceptable;
instead of numbers, please use (in order): †, ‡, §, |, ¶, #, ††, ‡‡, §§,
||, ¶¶, ##.
Units
Use the International System of Units (Systeme Internationale: SI) for measurements. Consult
Standard Practice for Use of the International System of Units
(ASTM Standard E-380-93) for guidance on unit conversions, style, and
usage. When preparing text and figures, note
in particular that,
- SI requires the use of the terms mass or force
rather than weight;
- use the
solidus (/); for two or more units in a denominator, use negative exponents;
and
- use a capital L as the symbol for liter.
Statistics
Use leading zeroes with all numbers <1, including probability values
(e.g., P < 0.001). For every significant F statistic reported, provide
two df values (numerator and denominator). Whenever possible, indicate
the year and version number of the statistical software used.
Web (HTML) links
Authors may include links to other Internet resources in their article
[e.g., the Breeding Bird Survey (http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/bbs.html)]. When inserting a reference to a webpage, please include the http:// portion of the address.
- The Council of Science Editors (CSE) Style Guide, is recommended for details
of style.
- Manuscripts are currently accepted in English only.
- Write with precision, clarity, and economy:
use the active voice and first person whenever appropriate.
- Use American spellings (e.g., behavior, not behaviour) except when quoting or in citations.
Literature cited - NEW - Do not include italics in referencing and literature cited.
- Each citation in the text must be included in the Literature Cited section.
- Every reference in the Literature Cited must be referred to in the text.
- The list should conform in sequencing and punctuation to that found in
recent issues of Avian Conservation and Ecology.
-
All journal titles should be spelled out completely.
- Insert spaces between author's initials.
- Last name appears first for first author, initial(s) first for subsequent authors.
- In the titles of articles, the spelling of all words should agree with that used in the original publication.
- Journal articles in press should include the volume number of the
journal even if the page range or article number is not known.
- Provide the publisher's name and location when you cite symposia or conference
proceedings; distinguish between the conference date and the publication
date if both are given.
- Books and conference proceedings must include publisher information:
name, city, state or province (if pertinent), country.
- Conference proceedings must include the city, state/province, country,
and year in which the conference was held. Conference dates are typically
included, although not required. The editor(s) of the Proceedings should
be included, if possible.
- Technical reports and government publications should be cited much the same way as books. Authors names included if they are provided, otherwise use the department or group name.
e.g., Central Valley Joint Venture. 2006. Central Valley Joint Venture Implementation Plan—Conserving Bird Habitat. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento, California, USA.
and
Crank, D., W. Bowling, G. Jenkins, and J. McDermott. 2016. Kentucky Elk Report.Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Kentucky, USA. https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Documents/20162017Elk Report.pdf.
- Links to online, freely available articles are encouraged. Please use the following format:
for URL: https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lme4
or
for DOI: https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
- Do not include links to password-protected web sites or personal web sites.
Exceptions to this rule include links to Birds of North America species accounts and links to author's web sites that post a software program that is not available by any other means and is integral to the paper.
- Do not include references to unpublished work that is not publicly available unless the work belongs to an author on your paper.
- citations for unpublished work that is publicly available should follow the ACE style, e.g.,
authors or institution. date posted if available. title. site name. publisher (if different from site name). URL or DOI
4. Attachments (tables, figs, etc.)
All tables, figures, appendices, videos, computer simulations, and
databases constitute attachments to the body of the manuscript. As
such, they must be submitted as separate files. During the submission process you will be required to select your attachment type from a drop down list, and then type or paste
its associated caption – these steps are repeated until you have input
the captions for all of your attachments. You will then upload the attachment
files, and our software will generate a web page for each attachment based
on the file names and captions provided. Do not include captions or titles
in the attachment files themselves.
Please see the Equations
section below for information on how to format equations.
Tables (saved as .rtf files)
- The table's caption is entered separately and should not appear in the table.
- Single space
- Row and column entries separated by cell divisions using the table function in word processing software.
(That is, tabs, spaces, or blank lines to separate information will not work.)
- No horizontal or vertical lines (borders) to separate cells
- No images within tables
- No color
- Use regular font in column and row headings (no bold or italics)
- Do not merge rows, merging across columns is okay
- No bulleted or numbered lists
- Asterisks are reserved to denote levels of significance, not for footnotes
- Superscripted numbers may be used to identify citations within a table
- The footnote symbols should be in the order: †, ‡, §, |, ¶ , #, and then doubled symbols. (See CSE Style Manual).
- Do not include information in tables that is not discussed in the text of the manuscript.
Example Tables:
Figures
- Figures are added during Step 5 of the submission process.
- Figures must be clear and sharp.
- Use imaging software (Excel does not export graphs well).
- Figures must be in .GIF, .PNG, or .JPG formats.
- For photos or images with gradients of color use JPG.
- For images with flat colour use GIF or PNG8.
- up to 300 ppi and no wider than 2000 pixels (unless given explicit permission by the managing editor).
- the image will be printed 7.5 cm wide (complex figures may be printed at 16cm) - text should be legible, clear, and sharp at that size. Print your figure at 7.5 cm; is it legible, clear, and sharp?
- We may ask you to supply high resolution, print-quality versions of your figures.
- Font must be large, legible, and sans serif; Arial font is best.
- Use a white background
- No title or caption information in the figure. That information is entered elsewhere.
- Initial upper case letters are preferred except where SI requires lower case letters for unit abbreviations (e.g., dbh, ln).
- No border around your figures
- Color figures are encouraged. Please verify they will print well in black-and-white (and that colour selection would be distinguishable to people who are red-green colour-blind).
- Use shaded, or hatched bars in preference to color or black ones.
- Use italic lettering for single-letter variables, constants, and scientific names in illustrations to make them consistent with the text.
- Use bar graphs in preference to pie charts
Example Figures:
Appendices
Appendices are not copy edited nor formatted prior to publication so authors must ensure that their appendix is formatted correctly.
The top margin of the appendix must be 4 cm.
Include a heading and caption in your pdf, where the heading "Appendix #." is left aligned, bold, and the caption (not bold) is Sentence Case.
Enter all title and caption information when asked during
the submission process, and upload each appendix as a separate file.
Other appendices
All nontext appendices, such as databases, video, or sound files
may be uploaded using an appropriate filetype for the file contents. Appendices
should be labeled logically to indicate content (i.e. "Program#.filetype",
"Sound#.filetype"). Captions should describe the attachment fully (by
content, file format, usage, software required to run them, etc.) and
are uploaded separately during the submission process.
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Instructions for Submitting a Special Feature |
ACE invites proposals for Special Features within the scope of the journal. Special Features often focus on topics that represent emerging research trends, cross-disciplinary efforts, or significant new developments in an area. Workshops and conference sessions can be good sources for Special Feature proposals. Special Features typically comprise 6-12 papers and should aim to attract between 10-15 submissions.
A Special Feature proposal should contain the following
- Title and names of the guest editor(s)
- Extended abstract describing the focus of the Special Feature, why the topic is important and timely, relevance of the proposed topic to ACE (Maximum 400 words)
- Potential contributors, as well as a strategy for soliciting appropriate submissions
- Qualification(s) of guest editors
- Plan for how article publication costs will be met
- Tentative timeline (from call for papers to final acceptance). If a proposal is accepted, the timeline will be subject to negotiation and agreement with the Editors-in-Chief. Note that the submission window will be restricted to a maximum of 4 weeks.
Guest Editor Team guidelines
- The team should not exceed three guest editors
- A submitted proposal will be evaluated by the ACE editorial board and revision may be required.
- Guest editors are welcome to write an editorial about the topic. Any articles submitted by guest editors will undergo a review by the EICs.
If the Special Feature is approved, the candidate manuscripts should be submitted through the ACE manuscript submission system, indicating the Special Feature to which they are submitting. Manuscripts will follow ACE’s normal peer-review practices.
Authors or guest editors are required to cover all publication costs associated with each article in the Special Feature (https://www.ace-eco.org/about/policies.php#other_5).
For enquiries or to submit a proposal for a Special Feature, please contact managing_editor@ace-eco.org.
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Submission Preparation Checklist (All items required)
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This submission has not been published elsewhere, nor is it at present being considered for publication by another journal.
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The text adheres to the formatting requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines (see About the Journal).
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I understand there is a $800 USD charge to cover the costs of publishing and that there will be additional charges if the manuscript exceeds the stated maximum lengthword limits.
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The text of the paper itself and that of the tables is in Rich Text Format (RTF) without embedded figures, equations, or tables.
Figures and Equations are .gif, .jpg, or .png format.
Appendices are in PDF format (if text), videos, databases, or other format are also acceptable (for non-text appendices).
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If present, equations, figures, tables, and/or appendices, are correctly referenced in the text of the manuscript and you have individual files ready for upload.
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