Editorial Policies

Peer review and editorial decisions

Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request.

All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.

In single-blind review, reviewers know the authors' identities and authors are not told the reviewers' identities. Authors who request double-blind review prepare an anonymized manuscript as described in the Instructions for Authors; when double-blind review is requested, editors ensure that author-identifying information is not shared with reviewers.

Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal. The handling editor makes the decision, informed by the reviewers' reports. Decisions are to accept, to request minor or major revision, or to reject. Reviewers' comments are shared with the authors, and reviewers' identities remain confidential. Guidance for reviewers and editors is given in the Reviewer Guidelines and Editors Guidelines.

Editorial independence

Editorial decisions rest with the journal's editors and are independent of the article processing charge, of any fee-relief inquiry and of commercial considerations. Manuscripts submitted by members of the editorial board or their close collaborators are handled by an editor without a conflict of interest, and the submitting editor takes no part in their review or decision.

Publication ethics

JWL follows the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Concerns about plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, image manipulation, duplicate or redundant publication, citation manipulation and undisclosed conflicts of interest are investigated following COPE guidance, and may lead to rejection, correction or retraction.

Research involving animals and field work

Studies that capture, handle, mark, sample, house or otherwise manipulate animals require prior approval from the relevant institutional animal care and use committee or animal ethics committee, stated in the manuscript with the approval reference number where one exists. Such work complies with applicable national and institutional animal-welfare regulations, applies the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) where relevant and is reported in line with the ARRIVE guidelines.

Observational field studies that involve no handling of animals state whether ethics review was required and, where an exemption applies, which body granted it. Manuscripts report the research, collection, export and access permits on which the work relied, where applicable, and comply with national and international regulations on protected species and the transport of specimens, such as CITES, where applicable.

Authors may generalize or withhold precise locations of threatened or poaching-prone species. The data-availability statement explains any such restriction.

Research involving human participants

Research involving human participants, such as interview or survey studies of communities living alongside wildlife, requires approval from an appropriate research ethics committee or institutional review board, where applicable. The manuscript names the committee, gives the approval reference number, and states that informed consent was obtained, or a waiver documented by the ethics committee, where applicable.

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.

Authorship and contributions

Authorship follows the ICMJE criteria: each author has made a substantial contribution to the work, has drafted or critically revised it, has approved the final version and agrees to be accountable for it. Contributions are described with the CRediT taxonomy, and people who contributed without meeting the criteria, including providers of writing or editorial assistance, field assistants and landowners who granted access, are acknowledged. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal on behalf of all authors. Changes to the author list after submission require the written agreement of every author and are handled following COPE guidance.

Conflicts of interest and funding

Authors disclose all financial and non-financial interests that could be seen to influence the work, and describe every source of funding together with the role of the funder in the study and the decision to publish. Disclosures are published with the article. Editors and reviewers declare any conflict of interest with a manuscript and are recused from handling it.

Research integrity and originality

Submitted manuscripts are screened with Crossref Similarity Check, powered by iThenticate. Editors assess each similarity report in context, including overlap with the authors' own earlier work, before deciding how to proceed.

Manuscripts submitted to JWL report original work that has not been published elsewhere and is not under consideration by another journal. Posting a preprint is compatible with submission; authors cite the preprint in the cover letter, and the published article is linked to it where possible.

Data availability and reporting

Every empirical research manuscript must include a data-availability statement.

The statement explains where the data supporting the results can be found, such as a repository with a persistent identifier, or the conditions under which they can be accessed when permits, landowner agreements or the protection of vulnerable species restrict sharing. Deposit in a recognized repository is encouraged, and analysis code is shared where possible. See Data Archiving and Permissions.

Research is reported following the guideline that matches its design, for example ARRIVE, PRISMA or STROBE, and the completed checklist is submitted with the manuscript where applicable.

Use of artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) and large-language-model tools are not listed as authors. Authors disclose any use of AI tools in preparing the manuscript, analyzing data or producing figures, naming the tool and describing its use in the Methods or Acknowledgments, and remain responsible for the accuracy, originality and integrity of the work.

Editors and reviewers keep manuscripts confidential. Reviewers must obtain journal permission before using AI to assist with a review. Any permitted use must be disclosed, and confidential manuscript content must not be uploaded where confidentiality cannot be assured.

Corrections and retractions

When an error or concern about a published article is identified, the journal publishes a correction, an expression of concern or a retraction, following the COPE retraction guidelines. Each notice is linked to the original article, and a retracted article remains available with the retraction clearly marked. Authors who find an error in their published work contact the editorial office.

Appeals and complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision by writing to the editorial office with a reasoned case that responds to the editors' and reviewers' comments. Each appeal is assessed by an editor who was not involved in the original decision, who may seek additional review.

Complaints about the journal's processes, editors or publications are acknowledged, investigated confidentially and answered in writing. Appeals and complaints are sent to [email protected].

Open access, license and copyright

JWL is an open-access journal. All articles are free to read, download, copy and distribute from the day of publication, without subscription or registration.

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0), which permits anyone to share and adapt the work for any lawful purpose, provided the authors and the original publication are credited. Authors retain copyright in their work. See Copyright and License.

Fees

The article processing charge is USD 1,440 for all article types. It is payable only after acceptance; withdrawal after submission is subject to the journal's withdrawal policy.

Editorial decisions are independent of the charge and of any fee-relief inquiry. Charges are listed on the Article Processing Charges page.

Digital preservation

JWL articles will be deposited in Portico, a not-for-profit digital-preservation archive run by ITHAKA, so that the published record remains available for the long term. Each article also carries a DOI that resolves to its current location. Read our preservation policy.