Instructions for authors
Preparing a manuscript for this journal
Everything below concerns how to prepare and submit work to the Journal of Evolutionary Science. Whether the subject of a manuscript belongs here is a separate question, settled by the aims and scope; whether the evidence carries the claim is settled in review. This page is about the manuscript itself.
- AbstractMaximum 250 words, including citations
- Keywords5–12, comma separated
- ReferencesNumbered in order of appearance
Before you submit
Four things are worth settling before you start assembling files, because each of them is easier to resolve now than after submission.
- The work is original and unpublished. If an abstract from it has already been published, disclose that in the cover letter, along with any other manuscripts from the same project.
- The conclusions follow from the data. Methods, statistics and analyses are described in enough detail for a qualified reader to judge and repeat them.
- It is not under consideration elsewhere. From submission to publication the manuscript may not be submitted elsewhere without official withdrawal confirmation; the terms are on the charges page.
- You know which charge applies. The article processing charge arises only after acceptance, and the amounts are on the charges page.
Submissions are screened for originality using Crossref Similarity Check, powered by iThenticate. A similarity report is read in context by an editor rather than applied as a fixed threshold.
Review model
Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request.
Manuscript structure and limits
These are the publisher's preparation requirements and they apply to submissions to this journal. Where a limit is given, it includes citations.
| Section | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Title | Maximum 30 words. No abbreviations, and relevant to the content. |
| Running title | Maximum 60 characters including spaces. |
| Contact information | Full name, address, telephone, email, discipline and affiliations for every author. Identify the corresponding author; the first author is listed first. |
| Abstract | Maximum 250 words including citations: objectives, methods, key results and main conclusions. |
| Keywords | 5–12 keywords, separated by commas. |
| Introduction | Maximum 500 words including citations. State the objectives, the background and the hypotheses tested. |
| Materials and methods | Enough detail for a qualified reader to repeat the work. Cite previously published procedures. List the suppliers of materials. |
| Results | Only the results essential to the study, with numerical data analyzed using appropriate statistical tests. |
| Discussion | Maximum 1,500 words including citations: principal findings, validity, comparison with published work, significance and limitations. |
| Conclusion | A precise summary of the results, opening with the principal finding. |
| Acknowledgments | Identify all funding sources, and any assistance not warranting authorship. Promotional statements are not carried. |
| Conflict of interest | Disclose in the cover letter any consultancy, financial interest or intellectual-property association that could represent a conflict. |
| References | Cited by number, not author and date, numbered consecutively in order of appearance. List the first 3 authors, then “et al.” Include DOIs where available. Authors are responsible for reference accuracy. |
| Tables and figures | Placed at the end of the manuscript, each on its own page, with titles and legends. Figures high-resolution and correctly sized; numbers, letters and symbols no smaller than 2 mm after reduction. |
| Supplementary files | The manuscript must be complete and stand alone. Label supplementary files clearly and refer to them in the text. |
Requesting double-blind review
Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. If you want double-blind review, say so at submission and prepare the reviewer file accordingly.
For double-blind review, remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, funding details, institution names, and other identifying information from the reviewer manuscript. Provide identifying information separately in the title-page file or submission form.
Reporting, ethics and evidence
Reporting requirements apply to the methods a study actually uses. Use the guideline that matches your design, and say in the manuscript which one you followed.
| If the study is | Follow |
|---|---|
| A randomized controlled trial | CONSORT |
| Observational | STROBE |
| A systematic review or meta-analysis | PRISMA |
| Animal research | ARRIVE |
- Ethics approvals and permits named, with the approving body and reference where one applies.
- Trial registration — Interventional clinical trials must be registered in an accepted public trial registry at or before the first participant provides consent for enrollment. The registry name, registration number, and registration date must be reported in the manuscript.
- Specimens, fossils and field collections — voucher identifiers, repository, collection permits, catalog numbers and stratigraphic context, and how locality data is handled where it is sensitive.
- Analytical detail — support values, effect sizes and intervals; model selection, priors and parameters; software and version.
Data, code and materials
Every empirical research manuscript must include a data-availability statement.
- Deposit and cite — sequences, alignments, tree files, matrices and phenotype data in a trusted repository, with accession numbers or repository links given in the manuscript.
- Describe the processing — preprocessing and quality-control steps, and the computational environment the analysis ran in.
- Share the code — analysis pipelines shared or documented well enough that the analysis can be repeated.
- State any restriction — where data cannot be shared openly, say so in the statement and give the access conditions.
Authors should disclose AI-assisted analysis or writing tools and describe how the outputs were validated. The full requirements are in the editorial policies.
Manuscript formats
The journal has published original research, reviews and evidence syntheses, methodological work and letters, and the charge-bearing categories are named on the article processing charges page.
If the format you have in mind is not named there, describe it to the editorial office before you submit, using one of the routes below, and they will confirm how it will be handled and what charge applies. Format is settled with the editorial office; scientific fit is settled by the aims and scope.
Submitting
Three routes are open, and each reaches the same editorial office.
- Primary route
- ManuscriptZone
- Alternative route
- The manuscript submission form, which opens with Journal of Evolutionary Science already selected.
- Assisted route
- The editorial office, at [email protected].
Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.
After you submit
- ScreeningAll submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.
- ReviewManuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
- RevisionRespond to each reviewer point in a covering response, and mark the changes in the revised manuscript so they can be found.
- Proofs and publicationCheck the author proof carefully: after publication a change to the record is made as a correction, which is public.