Guide for authors
- Your Paper Your Way
- Introduction
- Before you begin
- Preregistration
- Ethics in publishing
- Originality and plagiarism
- Welfare of nonhuman animal and human subjects
- Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
- Submission declaration and verification
- Use of inclusive language
- Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses (SGBA)
- Author contributions
- Changes to authorship
- Copyright
- Role of the funding source
- Open access
- Language and language services
- Referees
- Preparation
- New submissions
- Peer review
- Double-blind review
- Revised submissions
- Language
- Article structure
- Essential title page information
- Abstract
- Highlights
- Keywords
- Abbreviations
- Nomenclature and units
- Math formulae
- Footnotes
- Artwork
- Colour artwork
- Tables
- References
- Web references
- Data visualization
- Research data
- Submission checklist
- After acceptance
- Author inquiries
We now differentiate between the requirements for new and revised submissions. You may choose to submit your manuscript as a single Word or PDF file to be used in the refereeing process. Only when your paper is at the revision stage, will you be requested to put your paper in to a 'correct format' for acceptance and provide the items required for the publication of your article.
To find out more, please visit the Preparation section below.
Introduction
Types of article Research papersAnimal Behaviour publishes original papers relating to all aspects of the behaviour of animals, including humans. Papers may be field, laboratory or theoretical studies. Preference is given to studies that are likely to be of interest to the broad readership of the Journal and that test explicit hypotheses rather than being purely descriptive. Reviews
These should address fundamental issues relating to behaviour and provide new insights into the subject(s) they cover. Original interdisciplinary syntheses are especially welcome. Reviews should be no longer than 6000 words (excluding references) and should include an abstract of up to 300 words. In the first instance, a preliminary outline of up to 600 words should be submitted online (see Contact details for submission below). The decision as to whether to proceed to a full review then rests with the Executive Editors or invited advisers. Contributions submitted on this basis will be subjected to the same refereeing process as normal manuscripts. Commentaries
The Commentaries section of the Journal provides an opportunity to raise issues of general importance to the study of behaviour, including statistical analysis, theory, methodology and ethics. Unless there are clearly broader implications for the study of behaviour as a whole, critiques of particular papers or issues of more local interest should be reserved for the Forum section (see below). Decisions as to whether borderline submissions are more appropriate to the Commentaries or Forum section rest with the Executive Editors. Contributions should be brief, normally not more than six printed pages, and should not contain an abstract. Methodological contributions may be longer, and may contain an abstract, subject to the discretion of the Executive Editors. The initial decision as to prima facie merit rests with the Executive Editors or invited advisers. Contributions with prima facie merit are subjected to the same refereeing process as normal manuscripts, but responses or complementary articles may be solicited by the Executive Editors at their discretion. Other contributions are returned unrefereed to the author(s). Forum
The Forum section is published on ScienceDirect with contributions listed in the contents of the relevant hardcopy issue and cited as indicated in References below. The section accepts critiques of published papers relevant to the areas of interest of the Journal, and provides an opportunity for constructive exchanges on issues surrounding particular fields of study. Submission, review and acceptance procedures are as for Commentaries (see above), but there is no word limit. In the case of Forum critiques of published papers, the author(s) of the target article must be contacted and trivial points of difference or misunderstanding resolved; this correspondence must be submitted in a cover letter accompanying the Forum article with the knowledge of the author(s) of the target article.
More general correspondence on matters relating to behavioural research is published, unrefereed, in the newsletters of ASAB and ABS. Such correspondence should be sent to: the newsletter editor Dr K. Graham, Department of Psychology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, U.K. (e-mail: [email protected]) for ASAB; the ABS Secretary ([email protected]) for ABS. Single and double-blind peer review
Animal Behaviour has instituted a double-blind peer review process (i.e., where neither the authors' nor the reviewers' identities are known to each other). Reciprocal anonymity is suggested to provide a more objective and potentially less biased assessment of manuscripts, and help ensure that the process is fair to both junior and well-established scientists. The switch to double blind-review requires some changes to editorial procedures, and we ask potential authors to pay close attention to our revised submission guidelines. Our policy with respect to reviewers is to allow them to waive anonymity if they wish, and in accord with this, authors may also choose to submit their papers without being blinded, giving both authors and reviewers maximum flexibility in how they wish their work and comments to be assessed. Animal Behaviour is one of the foremost journals in its field, and the implementation of double-blind review aims at ensuring our reputation for integrity, fairness and openness to new ideas. Contact details for submission
Authors should submit manuscripts online to Editorial Manager (EM) https://www.editorialmanager.com/anbeh. When submitting online, authors are requested to select the article type (Research paper, Review, Review Proposal, Commentary, Forum). Each category of article is further divided into US and UK articles (e.g. US Research paper, UK Research paper, etc.) depending on whether the US or UK Editorial Office is responsible for processing the manuscript. Authors whose current address is in the Americas, or neighbouring islands, or who are members of the Animal Behavior Society should select the US article types and authors in other geographical areas or who are members of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour should select the UK article types. Hard copies are not required in addition to copies submitted online. Authors who are submitting a manuscript online for the first time should read the Author Tutorial on the submission site. For questions about the editorial process (including the status of manuscripts under review) or for technical support on submissions, please visit our Support Center.
For other general correspondence:
The address of the UK office is: Dr A.K. Turner, Managing Editor, Animal Behaviour Editorial Office, School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, U.K.(e-mail: [email protected]).
The address of the US office is: Kris Bruner, Managing Editor, Animal Behaviour Editorial Office, Indiana University, 407 N. Park Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47408, U.S.A. (e-mail: [email protected]).
Before you begin
PreregistrationPreregistration of your research plan, such as your hypotheses, methodology and data analysis, is a way to reduce bias as you carry out your research and to increase the transparency and credibility of your study. Animal Behaviour supports (but does not expect) preregistration in an archived registry such as the Open Science Framework. Authors should mention any preregistered material in their cover letter. Ethics in publishing
Animal Behaviour publishes papers by scientists conducting research at locations around the globe. Publication is, therefore, based upon mutual trust between publisher and authors. Professional integrity in the conduct and reporting of research is an absolute requirement of publication in the journal, as is a willingness to share information with other members of the scientific community. Consequently, as a condition of publication in Animal Behaviour, authors must agree both to honour any reasonable request for materials or methods needed to verify or replicate experiments reported in the journal and to make available, at submission, any data sets upon which studies are based. Anyone who encounters a persistent refusal to comply with these guidelines, or who has reason to suspect some other departure from acceptable standards of scientific conduct, should contact the appropriate Executive Editor (European or American) of the journal. The Executive Editors will act in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee for Publication Ethics (http://www.publicationethics.org) and may inform an author's institution of a purported infraction. Statements on scientific integrity by the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour and the Animal Behavior Society can be found at, respectively, http://www.asab.org and http://www.animalbehaviorsociety.org. Originality and plagiarism
As noted in Elsevier's publishing and ethical guidelines, authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works. If authors have used the work, data, or words of others or their own earlier publications, please ensure that this has been appropriately cited or quoted. Please also declare such overlaps in the cover letter on submission.
Plagiarism takes many forms, from 'passing off' another's paper as the author's own paper, to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper or indeed one's own earlier paper (without attribution), to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. All manuscripts are automatically put through a plagiarism check program and flagged results are evaluated individually.
For further information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication, see also https://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and https://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
Welfare of nonhuman animal and human subjectsResearch using nonhuman subjects should adhere to the ASAB/ABS Guidelines for the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals in research (updated in each January issue of the journal: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.006), the legal requirements of the country in which the work was carried out and all institutional guidelines. Animal Behaviour has exceptionally high standards for animal care including both vertebrates and invertebrates. Although most invertebrates may not necessarily fall under formal legal protection in many countries, for research involving invertebrates to be published in Animal Behaviour, authors working with these groups should still address potential concerns regarding their welfare. In addition to the usual requests for permit and agency approval numbers (as available), authors should briefly explain the potential ethical concerns faced in their study and how they addressed these concerns given the constraints of the experimental design (see Methods, Ethical Note below). ASAB and ABS endorse the PREPARE guidelines for planning experiments (https://norecopa.no/prepare) and the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting experiments (https://arriveguidelines.org/arrive-guidelines) using live animals. Authors must include all relevant information in the Ethical Note.
Although Animal Behaviour primarily publishes research focused on nonhuman animals, submissions involving human behaviour are welcome. Studies involving human subjects, their data, tissue or biological samples should match the aims and scopes of the journal (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/animal-behaviour) and should adhere to the ethics of scientific publication as detailed in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index). Authors must include a statement confirming that ethical approval was granted by the local and/or other relevant ethics committees including the name(s) of the committee(s) and approval number(s) (see https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/index.html), and certify that the research was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Authors must include this information as well as verification of participants' consent to participate and the consent to publish in the Ethical Note. If a study was granted exemption from formal ethical review, reasons for this exception must be clearly stated and explained.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of their ethical statements. Manuscripts without sufficient information in the Ethical Note cannot be considered for publication. The Editors of Animal Behaviour reserve the right to seek additional information and, ultimately, to reject submissions that do not meet the ethical standards and guidelines described above.
Declaration of InterestAll authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations and grants or other funding. Authors must disclose any interests in two places. (1) A summary declaration of interest statement in the Acknowledgments and Declaration of Interest file (if double anonymized) or the manuscript file (if single anonymized). If there are no interests to declare, then please state this: 'Declaration of Interest: none'. (2) Detailed disclosures as part of a separate Declaration of Interest form, which forms part of the journal's official records. It is important for potential interests to be declared in both places and that the information matches. More information. Declaration of generative AI in scientific writing
The below guidance only refers to the writing process, and not to the use of AI tools to analyse and draw insights from data as part of the research process.
Where authors use generative artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, authors should only use these technologies to improve readability and language. Applying the technology should be done with human oversight and control, and authors should carefully review and edit the result, as AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased. AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author, or be cited as an author. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans, as outlined in Elsevier’s AI policy for authors.
Authors should disclose in their manuscript the use of AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by following the instructions below. A statement will appear in the published work. Please note that authors are ultimately responsible and accountable for the contents of the work.
Disclosure instructions
Authors must disclose the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript in the core manuscript file, before the References list. The statement should be placed in a new section entitled ‘Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process’.
Statement: During the preparation of this work the author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE] in order to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as needed and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.
This declaration does not apply to the use of basic tools for checking grammar, spelling, references etc. If there is nothing to disclose, there is no need to add a statement.
* Animal Behaviour will not consider submissions that have been published elsewhere, nor will it republish data found in other publications, unless the data are re-evaluated to provide new information not found in the original. Abstracts that both appear in published conference proceedings with ISBNs or ISSNs, such as special editions of journals, and provide explicit quantitative summaries of the key results, are considered as prior publication. Overlap between submitted manuscripts and published abstracts containing qualitative descriptions of the manuscript will be allowed, provided that such abstracts are not verbatim reproductions of the abstract contained within the submitted manuscript. Include details of all abstracts and other published materials in a cover letter accompanying the submitted manuscript on Editorial Manager EM, and provide copies of relevant published material as 'Related Material' on EM. Submission declaration and verification
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously, except in the form of an abstract (see Declaration of Interest) or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis or as an electronic preprint, see https://www.elsevier.com/sharingpolicy), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright-holder. Authors should confirm these points in the cover letter. To verify originality, your article may be checked by the originality detection service CrossCheck https://www.elsevier.com/editors/plagdetect.
Before submitting online, make sure that you have the following details: all authors' names and addresses and their permission to proceed with submission; the details of any licences/permits/institutional approval you had for the study; and suggestions for referees and any opposed referees. You will need to upload a cover letter, title page, acknowledgments (including funding details)/Declaration of Interest statement and the manuscript. The manuscript must also include a Data Availability statement (between the Discussion and the References) and an Ethical Note in the Methods (see below).
Use of inclusive languageInclusive language acknowledges diversity, conveys respect to all people, is sensitive to differences, and promotes equal opportunities. Content should make no assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; contain nothing which might imply that one individual is superior to another on the grounds of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition; and use inclusive language throughout. Authors should ensure that writing is free from bias, stereotypes, slang, reference to dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise to seek gender neutrality by using plural nouns ("clinicians, patients/clients") as default/wherever possible to avoid using "he, she," or "he/she." We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health condition unless they are relevant and valid. When coding terminology is used, we recommend to avoid offensive or exclusionary terms such as "master", "slave", "blacklist" and "whitelist". We suggest using alternatives that are more appropriate and (self-) explanatory such as "primary", "secondary", "blocklist" and "allowlist". These guidelines are meant as a point of reference to help identify appropriate language but are by no means exhaustive or definitive. Reporting sex- and gender-based analyses (SGBA)
Reporting guidance
For research involving or pertaining to nonhuman animals, investigators should report the sex of their subjects, where known. For research involving or pertaining to humans, investigators should integrate sex and gender-based analyses (SGBA) into their research design according to funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field. Authors of studies on human subjects should address the sex and/or gender dimensions of their research in their article. In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research's generalizability. Importantly, they should explicitly state what definitions of sex and/or gender they are applying to enhance the precision, rigour and reproducibility of their research and to avoid ambiguity or conflation of terms and the constructs to which they refer (see Definitions section below). Authors can refer to the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines and the SAGER guidelines checklist. These offer systematic approaches to the use and editorial review of sex and gender information in study design, data analysis, outcome reporting and research interpretation - however, please note there is no single, universally agreed-upon set of guidelines for defining sex and gender.
Definitions
Sex generally refers to a set of biological attributes that are associated with physical and physiological features (e.g. chromosomal genotype, hormonal levels, internal and external anatomy). In humans, a binary sex categorization (male/female) is usually designated at birth ('sex assigned at birth'), most often based solely on the visible external anatomy of a newborn. Gender generally refers to socially constructed roles, behaviours and identities of women, men and gender-diverse people that occur in a historical and cultural context and may vary across societies and over time. Gender influences how people view themselves and each other, how they behave and interact and how power is distributed in society. Sex and gender are often incorrectly portrayed as binary (female/male or woman/man) and unchanging whereas these constructs actually exist along a spectrum and include additional sex categorizations and gender identities such as people who are intersex/have differences of sex development (DSD) or identify as nonbinary. Moreover, the terms 'sex' and 'gender' can be ambiguous; thus it is important for authors of studies on human subjects to define the manner in which they are used.
For transparency, we require corresponding authors to provide co-author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant CRediT roles. The CRediT taxonomy includes 14 different roles describing each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output. The roles are: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Funding acquisition; Investigation; Methodology; Project administration; Resources; Software; Supervision; Validation; Visualization; Roles/Writing - original draft; and Writing - review & editing. Note that not all roles may apply to every manuscript, and authors may have contributed through multiple roles. More details and an example. Changes to authorship
Authors are expected to consider carefully the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript and provide the definitive list of authors at the time of the original submission. Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript has been accepted and only if approved by the journal Editor. To request such a change, the Editor must receive the following from the corresponding author: (a) the reason for the change in author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement. In the case of addition or removal of authors, this includes confirmation from the author being added or removed.
Only in exceptional circumstances will the Editor consider the addition, deletion or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the Editor considers the request, publication of the manuscript will be suspended. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests approved by the Editor will result in a corrigendum. Article transfer service
This journal uses the Elsevier Article Transfer Service to find the best home for your manuscript. This means that if an editor feels your manuscript is more suitable for an alternative journal, you might be asked to consider transferring the manuscript to such a journal. The recommendation might be provided by a Journal Editor, a dedicated Scientific Managing Editor, a tool assisted recommendation, or a combination. If you agree, your manuscript will be transferred, though you will have the opportunity to make changes to the manuscript before the submission is complete. Please note that your manuscript will be independently reviewed by the new journal. More information. Copyright
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (see more information on this). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases.
For gold open access articles: Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'License Agreement' (more information). Permitted third party reuse of gold open access articles is determined by the author's choice of user license.
Author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) have certain rights to reuse your work. More information.
Find out how you can share your research published in Elsevier journals. Role of the funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article in the Acknowledgments section of the manuscript. Open access
Please visit our Open Access page for more information about open access publishing in this journal. Language and language services
Write manuscripts in British English and preferably in the active voice. Authors who are unsure of correct English usage should have their manuscript checked by someone proficient in the language. Manuscripts in which the English is difficult to understand may be returned to the author for revision before scientific review. Papers that are accepted but incorrectly prepared or whose English is poor, may also be subject to delays in the press. After acceptance, the Editorial Offices will edit papers in accordance with the house style and will help authors to communicate effectively.
Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit https://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at service.elsevier.com for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions: https://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions
Our online submission system guides you stepwise through the process of entering your article details and uploading your files. The system converts your article files to a single PDF file used in the peer-review process. Editable Word files are required to typeset your article for final publication. All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent by e-mail.
Before submitting online, make sure you have the following details: all authors' names and addresses and their permission to proceed with submission, the details of any licences/permits/institutional approval you had for the study, suggestions for referees and any opposed referees. You will need to upload a cover letter, title page, animal welfare note (including details of any licences/permits/institutional approval, etc.; see Animal welfare and Ethical Note), acknowledgments and manuscript.
Submit your articlePlease submit your article via https://www.editorialmanager.com/anbeh. Referees
Please submit, with the manuscript, the names and e-mail addresses of 4 potential referees.
For double-blind peer review, please make sure that all text that may reveal your identity is excluded from the source files.
Preparation
NEW SUBMISSIONSSubmission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts your files to a single PDF file, which is used in the peer-review process.
As part of the Your Paper Your Way service, you may choose to submit your manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. This can be a PDF file or a Word document, in any format or lay-out that can be used by referees to evaluate your manuscript. It should contain high enough quality figures for refereeing. If you prefer to do so, you may still provide all or some of the source files at the initial submission. Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be uploaded separately. Your Paper Your Way
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. However, please don't use numbers for the references in the text and list them alphabetically in the Reference section. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. Formatting requirements
There are no strict formatting requirements but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript, for example Title page, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables, Figure Legends, Figures, and bulleted Highlights summarizing your article. If your article includes any Videos and/or other Supplementary material, this should be included in your initial submission for peer review purposes. Divide the article into clearly defined sections. Line numbering and double-spacing text
Please ensure the text of your paper is double-spaced and has consecutive line numbering – this is an essential peer review requirement. Figures and tables embedded in text
Please ensure the figures and the tables included in the single file are placed next to the relevant text in the manuscript, rather than at the bottom or the top of the file. The corresponding caption should be placed directly below the figure or table. Peer review
This journal operates a double-blind review process. All contributions will be initially assessed by the editor for suitability for the journal. Papers deemed suitable are then typically sent to a minimum of two independent expert reviewers to assess the scientific quality of the paper. The Editor is responsible for the final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of articles. The Editor's decision is final. More information on types of peer review. Double-blind review
Authors can opt for double-blind review, which means that the identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa. More information is available on our website. To facilitate this, please include the following separately:
Title page (with author details): This should include the title, authors' names, affiliations and a complete address for the corresponding author including an e-mail address.
Anonymized manuscript (no author details): This should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.
Acknowledgments/Declaration of Interest (with author details, but only if submitted separately from the anonymized manuscript).
Anonymized Supplementary Material (no author details): This should not include any identifying information, such as the authors' names or affiliations.
REVISED SUBMISSIONS LanguagePlease write your text in good English (British usage only is accepted). Use decimal points (not decimal commas); use a space for thousands (10 000 and above). Use of word processing software
Regardless of the file format of the original submission, at revision you must provide us with an editable file of the entire article. Keep the layout of the text as simple as possible. Most formatting codes will be removed and replaced on processing the article. The electronic text should be prepared in a way very similar to that of conventional manuscripts (see also the Guide to Publishing with Elsevier). See also the section on Electronic artwork.
To avoid unnecessary errors you are strongly advised to use the 'spell-check' and 'grammar-check' functions of your word processor. Required submission items
When you revise your paper, please prepare a detailed explanation of how you have dealt with the reviewers' and Editor's comments and upload your response to Editorial Manager as 'Detailed Response to Reviewers'. In addition, please submit both a Non-Highlighted and Highlighted version of your revised manuscript. For the Highlighted version, use the Track Changes or Highlight Tools in MS Word or underline your changes. Article structure Subdivision - unnumbered sections
Divide your article into clearly defined sections. Each subsection is given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line. Subsections should be used as much as possible when cross-referencing text: refer to the subsection by heading as opposed to simply "the text".
The usual main headings for Research papers are: Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments and References (no heading is used for the Abstract or Introduction). Papers should not be forced to fit into this pattern of headings, however, if they do not naturally do so. Type main headings in capitals on a separate line on the left of the page. Type subheadings in italics at the left of the page on a separate line, and begin the main words with a capital letter. Type sub-subheadings in italics on a new line, aligned full left. Start the text on a new line after subheadings and sub-subheadings. When presenting multiple experiments, authors may use main headings for the titles of each experiment, with the Methods and Results of each experiment listed as subheadings. Try to keep subheadings short enough to fit within a single column. Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results.
The Introduction should be brief, not normally exceeding two manuscript pages. Keep references to a minimum by citing reviews rather than primary research papers where appropriate. Methods
Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Give the names and addresses of companies providing trademarked products. State sample sizes (the number of subjects used in the study) and the age, sex and source of subjects. Full details of testing or observational regimes should be given, including environmental and housing conditions during any period before or during the study that might bear on the results. The Methods section should also contain a description of how variables were defined/operationalized, including any ethograms used, and a description of any statistics used during analysis including the sample sizes for each treatment. Authors must also explicitly address the ethical considerations within their study in a separate subsection titled Ethical Note (see below).
Ethical note. Ethical considerations arising from the study must be addressed in the Methods in a separate subsection headed Ethical Note. Although no technique or approach is absolutely forbidden if scientifically justified, the ethical study of living subjects is paramount to good science, especially in behaviour. As such, authors are asked to describe, explain and justify the techniques and approaches that they used in their study as related to nonhuman animal/human welfare. The goal of this subsection is not to repeat methodology or to copy/paste from approved ethics protocols. Instead, this subsection allows authors to explain the actual approach to and constraints in managing or enhancing the welfare of their research subjects, providing the reader with a more comprehensive understanding of the limitations of the study methodology and, thus, a better understanding of the value of the results and conclusions. Moreover, Animal Behaviour is an international journal that welcomes submissions from researchers from around the world. The Ethical Note allows our diverse group of Editors and reviewers the opportunity to assess clearly, fairly and equitably the ethical concerns of methodologies that have originated from countries and jurisdictions with diverse customs and variation in legal protections of both nonhuman animal and human welfare.
Any welfare or environmental implications of the experimental design and procedures should be identified, and all licences or approvals acquired to carry out the work must be specified. Please consult the list below for details needed to meet these requirements. Briefly, authors should describe any procedures taken to minimize distress, pain or the welfare impact on subjects as well as any steps taken to enhance subject welfare (e.g. through 'environmental enrichment'). If the study involved keeping wild animals in captivity, authors should state how those animals were captured, for how long the animals were captive and their disposition at the end of the study. Studies involving human subjects should include acknowledgment of both informed consent to participate and consent to publish (if individuals' data are identifiable). Studies involving both human and nonhuman subjects are required to provide the relevant information for both groups.
The list below is a guide to some of the main issues requiring consideration from an ethical point of view in manuscripts submitted to Animal Behaviour. It is a guide only and not intended to be exhaustive. Its purpose is to encourage authors to reflect on their procedures prior to submitting their manuscript for review to reduce the need for Editors to request further details. See also the 'Guidelines for the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals in behavioural research and teaching' (updated in each January issue of the journal: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.006). For further details on how to report experiments using live animals, see the ARRIVE guidelines (https://arriveguidelines.org/arrive-guidelines). For studies involving human subjects, please refer to https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.
- Specify the authority who granted any licences or permits for the study, both for animal collection and data collection, and include approval/permit numbers. Such permissions include (but are not limited to) IACUC/IRB, AWERB, federal, state/provincial and local collection permits, import/export permits and permissions from local ethics committees. Statements such as 'the study conforms to legal requirements' are insufficient.
- Clearly state and justify the number of individuals involved in the study, together with age (or age class if exact ages are unknown) and sex. Where applicable, refer to previously published work, pilot studies or power analyses.
- State the origins or source of subjects. For wild animals, provide information regarding welfare concerns and minimizing stress during capture and transport. If traps were used, give details regarding the type of trap, baiting, drugs used during capture, routines for checking traps (e.g. frequency, times of day), provision of shelter, bedding, food and water. For humans, provide details on participant recruitment or compensation. Provide details if the study included vulnerable populations.
- Provide details of housing or environmental conditions; for example, cage or tank size, number of animals per cage/tank, temperature, light:dark regime, relative humidity, bedding, diet, water, whether food and water were provided ad libitum, shelter and environmental enrichment. If any of these were restricted or did not follow common standards for the species, reasons should be stated. Authors might wish to make explicit reference to taxon-specific requirements, constraints or limitations. However, statements such as 'animals were housed in accordance with species standards' are insufficient
- If the observer or experimenter's activities could have caused disturbance (e.g. approaching marine animals by boat or a colony of breeding birds), give details of the disturbance, if any, as well as strategies to minimize disturbance. For human subjects, state how confidentiality or anonymity was maintained, and informed consent obtained.
- If the study involved invasive or potentially harmful techniques, give full details of the procedure, any possible short-term or long-term adverse effects, and steps taken to minimize those effects. For nonhuman subjects, invasive and potentially harmful techniques might include (but are not limited to): marking, use of live vertebrate food, blood and tissue sampling, anaesthesia, chemical or hormone manipulations, staged fights or predation (including the use of stimuli of predators), parasitism, exposure to parasites, removal of individuals from a territory or group (e.g. during captive studies of wild animals), plumage or colour manipulations, food deprivation or limitation, diet manipulations, social deprivation, separation of mother and offspring, infanticide, drug administration, hot plate or other potentially harmful tests, manipulations of broods or litters, manipulations of the environment with potentially harmful effects. For human subjects, invasive and potentially harmful techniques might include (but are not limited to): deceit, withholding informed consent, questions pertaining to identity, traumas or personal health, blood and tissue sampling, chemical manipulation, exposure to violent or traumatic materials, social deprivation or manipulation.
- Provide details regarding the disposal or humane end points of nonhuman animals at the end of the study. If nonhuman animals were euthanized, the reason should be stated, and the method described. If nonhuman animals were released, state when and where, and provide acknowledgment of legal authorization.
Results should be clear and concise. This section should include only results that are relevant to the hypotheses outlined in the Introduction and considered in the Discussion. The text should complement material given in Tables or Figures but should not directly repeat it. Give full details of statistical analysis either in the text or in Tables or Figure legends. Include the type of test, the precise data to which it was applied, the value of the relevant statistic, the sample size and/or degrees of freedom, and the probability level. Number Tables and Figures in the order to which they are referred in the text.
Means and standard errors/standard deviations (and medians and interquartile ranges/confidence limits), with their associated sample sizes, are given in the format X +SE = 10.20+1.01 g, N = 15, not X = 10.20, SE = 1.01, N = 15.
For significance tests, give the name of the test followed by a colon, the test statistic and its value, the degrees of freedom or sample size (whichever is the convention for the test) and the P value (note that F values have two degrees of freedom). The different parts of the statistical quotation are separated by a comma. Note use of italics for F, P, N and other variables.
If the test statistic is conventionally quoted with degrees of freedom, these are presented as a subscript to the test statistic. For example:
ANOVA: F1,11 = 7.89, P = 0.017
Kruskal-Wallis test: H11 = 287.8, P = 0.001
Chi-square test: X22 = 0.19, P = 0.91
Paired t test: t12 = 1.99, P = 0.07
If the test is conventionally quoted with the sample size, this should follow the test statistic value. For example:
Spearman rank correlation: rs = 0.80, N = 11, P < 0.01
Wilcoxon signed-ranks test: T = 6, N = 14, P < 0.01
Mann-Whitney U test: U = 74, N1 = N 2 = 17, P < 0.02
P values for significant outcomes can be quoted as below a threshold significance value (e.g. P < 0.05, 0.01, 0.001), but wherever possible should be quoted as an exact probability value. Departure from a significance threshold of 0.05 should be stated and justified in the Methods. Marginally nonsignificant outcomes can be indicated as exact probability values or as P < 0.1. Nonsignificant outcomes should be indicated with an exact probability value whenever possible, or as NS or P > 0.05, as appropriate for the test.
State whether a test is one tailed or two tailed (or specific or nonspecific in the case of Meddis' nonparametric ANOVAs). One-tailed (or specific) tests should be used with caution. Their use is justified only when there are strong a priori reasons for predicting the direction of a difference or trend and results in the opposite direction can reasonably be regarded as equivalent to no difference or trend at all. Authors are referred to Kimmel (1957, Psychological Bulletin, 54, 315-353).
Do not quote decimals with naked points, for example quote 0.01, not .01, or normally to more than three decimal places (the exception being P values for significance tests, which may be quoted to four decimal places where appropriate, e.g. 0.0001).
Regressions and analyses of variance. The significance of regressions should be tested with F or t but not the correlation coefficient r. R2 should be quoted with both regressions and parametric analyses of variance.
Multiple range tests. Unplanned multiple range tests following ANOVA should be avoided unless their appropriateness for the comparisons in question is verified explicitly. Authors are referred to the review by Day and Quinn (1989, Ecological Monographs, 59, 433-463).
Power tests. Where a significance test based on a small sample size yields a nonsignificant result, explicit consideration should be given to the power of the data for accepting the null hypothesis. Authors are referred to Thomas and Juanes (1996, Animal Behaviour, 52, 856-859) and Colegrave and Ruxton (2003, Behavioral Ecology, 14, 446-447) for guidance on the appropriate use of power tests. Providing a value for power based on a priori tests is preferred. Values of observed power are not appropriate. Authors should consider effect sizes and their confidence intervals in drawing conclusions regarding the null hypothesis.
Transformations. Where data have been transformed for parametric significance tests, the nature of the transformation and the reason for its selection (e.g. log x, x 2, arcsine) should be stated.
DiscussionIt is often helpful to begin the Discussion with a summary of the main results. The main purpose of the Discussion, however, is to comment on the significance of the results and set them in the context of previous work. The Discussion should be concise and not excessively speculative, and references should be kept to a minimum by citing review articles as much as possible. Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, as a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section. Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they should be identified as 1, 2, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should be given separate numbering: equation (A1), equation (A2), etc. Essential title page information
Title. This should be brief and informative, and should not exceed 120 characters. Avoid abbreviations, as well as part numbers unless the papers are to be published consecutively in the same issue of the Journal.
Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g. a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Affiliations should not include street, box number, postal (zip) code, country (when that is obvious) or city, state, province, etc., when that is redundant with the University name.
Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who is willing to handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that the telephone number (with country and area code) is provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
Correspondence. At the bottom of the page, give the full postal address and e-mail address (if desired) of the corresponding author and the present addresses of any co-authors if different from their affiliations; e-mail addresses of co-authors may also be given.
Word count. Include a word count for the text.
Title documentThe title document should contain the title of the article, all affiliations of the corresponding author and co-authors and the corresponding author's address. For double-blind peer review, this information should not appear in any other file, in order not to yield the authors identity to the reviewer. Abstract
The Abstract should describe the purpose of the study, outline the major findings and state the main conclusions. It should be concise, informative, explicit and intelligible without reference to the text. Abstracts should usually be limited to 300 words. Use both common and scientific names of animals at first mention in the Abstract unless they are given in the title. Avoid using references; if used, give the journal name, volume and page numbers, or the book title and publisher. Highlights
Highlights are mandatory for this journal for research articles, reviews, commentaries and forum articles. They consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate file in the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters including spaces and each bullet point should be on a separate line). See https://www.elsevier.com/highlights for examples. Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide up to 10 keywords, in alphabetical order, using British spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, "and", "of"). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard in this field at their first mention in the abstract and the main text. Ensure consistency of abbreviations throughout the article. Acknowledgments
Either upload acknowledgments separately (for double-blind review), or collate acknowledgments in a separate section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore, include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g. providing language help, writing assistance or proofreading the article, etc.). Also include details of institutions, etc., that provided funding for the study. Nomenclature and units
Follow internationally accepted rules and conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. Math formulae
Present simple formulae in the line of normal text where possible. Single-letter variables should be italics. Number consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text.
Numerals
Write numbers of 10 or more as numerals except at the beginning of a sentence. Write the numbers one to nine in words, unless they precede units of measure or are used as designators. Quote times of day using the 24-hour clock without a break or point in the middle and followed by 'hours'; e.g. '1515 hours'. Give years in full; e.g. '1986-1987'.
FootnotesUse footnotes only to add information below the body of a Table (using superscript letters or numbers), for probability values in Figures and Tables (using multiple asterisks) and, on the title page, for authors' affiliations (using an asterisk for the corresponding author and superscript letters for authors' affiliations). Superscript numbers may be used for coauthors' e-mail addresses and/or changes of address, and other information such as a deceased author. Artwork Image manipulation
While it is accepted that authors sometimes need to manipulate images for clarity, manipulation for purposes of deception or fraud will be seen as scientific ethical abuse and will be dealt with accordingly. For graphical images, this journal is applying the following policy: no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable if and as long as they do not obscure or eliminate any information present in the original. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g. changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend. Electronic artwork
General points
• Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Preferred fonts: Arial (or Helvetica), Times New Roman (or Times), Symbol, Courier.
• Number the illustrations according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image.
• For Word submissions only, you may still provide figures and their captions, and tables within a single file at the revision stage.
• Please note that individual figure files larger than 10 MB must be provided in separate source files.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalized, please 'save as' or convert the images to one of the following formats (note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS (or PDF): Vector drawings. Embed the font or save the text as 'graphics'.
TIFF (or JPG): Colour or greyscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF (or JPG): Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (colour or greyscale): a minimum of 500 dpi is required.
Please do not:
• Supply files that are optimized for screen use (e.g., GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low.
• Supply files that are too low in resolution.
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content. Colour artwork
If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures, then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the Web (e.g. ScienceDirect and other sites) and in the printed version of the article. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. A caption should comprise a brief title (not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. It should not repeat results given in the text. Keep text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used. Tables
Number tables consecutively, with Arabic numerals, in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the table body and indicate them with superscript symbols. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Do not divide tables into two or more parts. Tables should not contain vertical rules, and the main body of the table should not contain horizontal rules. Large tables should be narrow (across the page) and long (down the page) rather than wide and short, so that they can be fitted into the column width of the Journal. References
Citations in the text
Check that all references in the text are in the reference list and vice versa, that their dates and spellings match, and that complete bibliographical details are given, including page numbers, names of editors, name of publisher and full place of publication if the article is published in a book. References cited in the Abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results are not recommended in the reference list. If these references are included in the reference list, they should follow the standard reference style of the journal. Check foreign language references particularly carefully for accuracy of diacritical marks such as accents and umlauts. For papers in the course of publication, use 'in press' to replace the date and give the journal name in the references.
Web referencesBecause of the ephemeral nature of many Web sites, other Web citations will be reviewed by the Editors to ensure they are appropriate to an archival journal. As a minimum, the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.), should also be given. Data references
This journal encourages you to cite underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository, version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add [dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article. Preprint references
Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer-reviewed publication, the formal publication should be used as the reference. If there are preprints that are central to your work or that cover crucial developments in the topic, but are not yet formally published, these may be referenced. Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including the word preprint, or the name of the preprint server, as part of the reference. The preprint DOI should also be provided. References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles in the same Special Issue. Reference management software
Most Elsevier journals have their reference template available in many of the most popular reference management software products. These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as Mendeley. Using citation plug-ins from these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software, please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes from different reference management software. Reference formatting
There are no strict requirements on reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. Use of DOI is highly encouraged. The reference style used by the journal will be applied to the accepted article by Elsevier at the proof stage. Note that missing data will be highlighted at proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references yourself they should be arranged according to the following examples: Reference style
Text: Citations in the text should follow the referencing style used by the American Psychological Association. You are referred to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition, ISBN 978-1-4338-3215-4, copies of which may be ordered online.
List: references should be arranged first alphabetically and then further sorted chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication.
Examples:
Reference to a journal publication:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2010). The art of writing a scientific article. Journal of Scientific Communications, 163, 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sc.2010.00372.
Reference to a journal publication with an article number:
Van der Geer, J., Hanraads, J. A. J., & Lupton, R. A. (2018). The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon, 19, Article e00205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205.
Reference to a book:
Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style (4th ed.). Longman (Chapter 4).
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
Mettam, G. R., & Adams, L. B. (2009). How to prepare an electronic version of your article. In B. S. Jones, & R. Z. Smith (Eds.), Introduction to the electronic age (pp. 281–304). E-Publishing Inc.
Reference to a website:
Powertech Systems. (2015). Lithium-ion vs lead-acid cost analysis. Retrieved from http://www.powertechsystems.eu/home/tech-corner/lithium-ion-vs-lead-acid-cost-analysis/. Accessed January 6, 2016
Reference to a dataset:
[dataset] Oguro, M., Imahiro, S., Saito, S., & Nakashizuka, T. (2015). Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding forest compositions. Mendeley Data, v1. https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
Reference to a conference paper or poster presentation:
Engle, E.K., Cash, T.F., & Jarry, J.L. (2009, November). The Body Image Behaviours Inventory-3: Development and validation of the Body Image Compulsive Actions and Body Image Avoidance Scales. Poster session presentation at the meeting of the Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, New York, NY.
Reference to software:
Coon, E., Berndt, M., Jan, A., Svyatsky, D., Atchley, A., Kikinzon, E., Harp, D., Manzini, G., Shelef, E., Lipnikov, K., Garimella, R., Xu, C., Moulton, D., Karra, S., Painter, S., Jafarov, E., & Molins, S. (2020, March 25). Advanced Terrestrial Simulator (ATS) v0.88 (Version 0.88). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3727209.
Reference to a thesis:
Bower, J. L. (2000). Acoustic interactions during naturally occurring territorial conflict in a song sparrow neighborhood (Doctoral dissertation). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
Brewis, J. M. (1981). The population dynamics and growth of the freshwater crayfish Austvopotamobius pallipes in an aqueduct in Northumbria (Doctoral thesis). Durham, U.K.: Durham University. Retrieved from http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7546/
Note that journal titles in the reference list should be written in full.
For publications in any Latin script language other than English, give the original title and, in brackets, the English translation. Titles of publications in non-Latin scripts should be transliterated. Work accepted for publication but not yet published should be referred to as "in press".
Cite "personal communications" in the text only. Provide the initials and surname(s) for personal communications and give the date of the personal communication (as exact as possible), separated by a comma (A. Smith, personal communication, 9 September 2013).
Elsevier accepts video/audio material and animation sequences to support and enhance your scientific research. Authors who have video, audio or animation files that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include links to these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the video, audio or animation content and noting in the body text where it should be placed. All submitted files should be properly labeled so that they directly relate to the video/audio file's content. In order to ensure that your video or animation material is directly usable, please provide the files in one of our recommended file formats with a preferred maximum size of 150 MB. Video, audio and animation files supplied will be published online in the electronic version of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect: https://www.sciencedirect.com. Please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or animation or make a separate image. These will be used instead of standard icons and will personalize the link to your video/audio data. For more detailed instructions please visit our video instruction pages at https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Note: since video, audio and animation cannot be embedded in the print version of the journal, please provide text for both the electronic and the print version for the portions of the article that refer to this content. Data visualization
Include interactive data visualizations in your publication and let your readers interact and engage more closely with your research. Follow the instructions here to find out about available data visualization options and how to include them with your article. Media overview
Authors who have video and/or audio clips that they wish to submit with their article are strongly encouraged to include these within the body of the article. This can be done in the same way as a figure or table by referring to the multi-media content and noting in the body text where it should be placed with its associated caption. Supplementary material
Supplementary material, such as applications, images and sound clips, can be published online alongside your article to enhance it. This material should be restricted to file types such as videos, audio files, very large tables or figures, etc. that do not fit the normal layout of the printed journal and/or that are truly supplementary (raw data files, R code or content that is not essential to the article). Alternatively, video and/or audio clips can be embedded within the body of the article (see above). Other material such as additional methods and results, tables and figures that support the main text should be added as appendices after the references in the article. Note that research data (including raw and processed data, video, code, software, algorithms, protocols and methods) associated with your manuscript can alternatively be deposited in a data repository (see Research Data below). Submitted supplementary items are published exactly as they are received (Excel or PowerPoint files will appear as such online). Please submit your material together with the article and supply a concise, descriptive caption for each supplementary file. If you wish to make changes to supplementary material during any stage of the process, please make sure to provide an updated file. Do not annotate any corrections on a previous version. Please switch off the 'Track Changes' option in Microsoft Office files as these will appear in the published version. For guidance on submitting artwork and multimedia see https://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions. Research data
This journal requires and enables you to share data that supports your research publication where appropriate, and enables you to interlink the data with your published articles. Research data refers to the results of observations or experimentation that validate research findings. To facilitate reproducibility and data reuse, this journal also encourages you to share your software, code, models, algorithms, and other useful materials related to the project.
Below are a number of ways in which you can associate data with your article or make a statement about the availability of your data when submitting your manuscript. For double-blind review, omit identifying information such as authors' names and affiliations; for example, by using a private sharing link in a repository such as Figshare. When sharing data in one of these ways, you are expected to cite the data in your manuscript and reference list once the paper is accepted. Please refer to the "References" section for more information about data citation. Private sharing links may need to be updated to make the data public on final acceptance. For more information on depositing, sharing and using research data and other relevant research materials, visit the research data page.
Data linkingIf you have made your research data available in a data repository, you can link your article directly to the dataset. Elsevier collaborates with a number of repositories to link articles on ScienceDirect with relevant repositories, giving readers access to underlying data that gives them a better understanding of the research described.
There are different ways to link your datasets to your article. When available, you can directly link your dataset to your article by providing the relevant information in the submission system. For more information, visit the database linking page.
For supported data repositories a repository banner will automatically appear next to your published article on ScienceDirect.
In addition, you can link to relevant data or entities through identifiers within the text of your manuscript, using the following format: Database: xxxx (e.g., TAIR: AT1G01020; CCDC: 734053; PDB: 1XFN).
Data Availability statementTo foster transparency, we require you to state the availability of your data in your submission. This may also be a requirement of your funding body or institution. You will need to provide a Data Availability statement during the submission process. The statement will appear with your published article on ScienceDirect. For more information, visit the Data Statement page. Submission checklist
The following list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are present:
One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone
All necessary files have been uploaded, and the following are included:
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been 'spell-checked' and 'grammar-checked'
• Manuscript should have continuous line numbers and double spacing
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• A Data Availability statement
• An Ethical Note in the Methods
For any further information please visit our customer support site at https://service.elsevier.com.
After acceptance
ProofsOne set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author. Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader© version 10 (or higher) available free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site: http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/systemreqs. If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received. Author's discount
Contributors to Elsevier journals are entitled to a 30% discount on most Elsevier books, if ordered directly from Elsevier. Offprints
The corresponding author will, at no cost, receive 25 free paper offprints, or alternatively a customized Share Link providing 50 days free access to the final published version of the article on ScienceDirect. The Share Link can be used for sharing the article via any communication channel, including email and social media. For an extra charge, paper offprints can be ordered via the offprint order form which is sent once the article is accepted for publication. Corresponding authors who have published their article gold open access do not receive a Share Link as their final published version of the article is available open access on ScienceDirect and can be shared through the article DOI link. Press releases
You may issue a press release once your article has appeared online on ScienceDirect. Please include your article’s doi number in any press releases, so that interested readers can locate it easily.
Author inquiries
Visit the Elsevier Support Center to find the answers you need. Here you will find everything from Frequently Asked Questions to ways to get in touch.
You can also check the status of your submitted article or find out when your accepted article will be published.