Ibis

Published on behalf of the British Ornithologists' Union

Edited by:
Paul F. Donald (Editor in Chief)

Print ISSN: 0019-1019
Online ISSN: 1474-919X
Frequency: Quarterly
Current Volume: 152 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 5/18 Ornithology
Impact Factor: 1.443

TopAuthor Guidelines

No Page Charges

PUBLICATION POLICY

Ibis publishes original papers and comments in English, covering the whole field of ornithology, together with reviews of recent publications, notices of BOU business and matters of interest to BOU members. Submission is considered on the condition that papers are previously unpublished, are not offered simultaneously elsewhere, and that all contributors have read and approved the content. Authors with ideas for major reviews are asked to contact the editor (ibis.editor@bou.org.uk) in advance of submission.

Contributions will be acknowledged automatically by the editor and assigned a unique registration number which must be quoted on correspondence. Papers are refereed, although the editor reserves the right to reject without review.

Ethical considerations: The BOU established a policy on the ethics of ornithological research in 1995 (Ibis 137: 457-458). Submitted work must comply with this policy.

EXCLUSIVE LICENCE FORM
Once a paper is accepted for publication, authors are required to sign an exclusive licence form (ELF) granting the BOU exclusive publishing rights. Signature of the ELF is a condition of publication and papers will not be handled by the publisher unless a signed form has been received. Signature of the ELF does not affect ownership of copyright in the material. After publication authors retain the right to publish their paper in various media/circumstances (please refer to the form for more information).

The ELF will be requested at the point of final acceptance and can be downloaded from the Ibis online submission website http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ibis. Please do not send in your ELF until requested to do so. Production will not start on your paper until we are in receipt of a signed exclusive licence form.
Government employees need to complete the AUTHOR WARRANTY sections, although copyright in such cases does not need to be assigned. For multi-author papers, it is the responsibility of the corresponding author to submit a signed ELF, on behalf of all contributors.

OPEN ACCESS

OnlineOpen is available to authors of primary research articles who wish to make their article available to non-subscribers on publication, or whose funding agency requires grantees to archive the final version of their article. With OnlineOpen the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made available to non-subscribers upon publication via Wiley InterScience, as well as deposited in the funding agency's preferred archive. For the full list of terms and conditions, see http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/authorresources/onlineopen.html#OnlineOpen_Terms.

Any authors wishing to send their paper OnlineOpen will be required to complete the payment form available from our website at:

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/IBI_OOF.pdf

Prior to acceptance there is no requirement to inform an Editorial Office that you intend to publish your paper OnlineOpen if you do not wish to. All OnlineOpen articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.

SUBMISSIONS

Submitted work must comply with the BOU's Ethics of Ornithological Research (1995). Work carried out under licence should report the licence number. A photocopy of relevant research licences should be scanned and uploaded with your submission.

Manuscripts

Ibis only accepts submission at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ibis. This enables the quickest possible review of scientific papers. The exception is for topical viewpoint articles of no more than 1500 words (see Editorial in April 2007 issue of Ibis) which should be sent direct to the Editor (ibis.editor@bou.org.uk). Other paper categories are reviews, standard papers (normally

Pre-submission English-language editing
Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to improve the English. A list of independent suppliers of editing services can be found at www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor/english_language.asp. All services are paid for and arranged by the author, and use of one of these services does not guarantee acceptance or preference for publication.

Manuscript submission online can be as Word document (.doc) or RTF (.rtf). If using LaTeX please upload a PDF file of the manuscript for the reviewers - note that upon acceptance we will require your TeX/LaTeX source files to edit and typeset the article. Figures may be uploaded separately or embedded into the text of your initial submission.

Word 2007
Will authors please note that Word 2007 is not yet compatible with journal production systems. Unfortunately, the journal cannot accept Microsoft Word 2007 documents until such time as a stable production version is released. Please use Word's 'Save As' option therefore to save your document as an older (.doc) file type.

On acceptance, you will be required to upload your manuscript as one text file and additional high resolution graphics files . TIFF (.tiff) or EPS (.eps) are our preferred formats. Full upload instructions and support are available online from the submission site via the 'Get Help Now' button. Please submit your covering letter or comments to the editor when prompted online.

Revisions

Revised manuscripts must be submitted in their final form within two months of receipt of a revision letter from the Editor. Resubmissions after this time will be considered as new submissions.

PRESENTATION

Text

MANUSCRIPTS SHOULD BE TYPED IN A STANDARD, EASY TO READ FONT, EITHER 11 OR 12 POINT IN SIZE. MANUSCRIPTS SHOULD HAVE DOUBLE OR 1.5 X LINE SPACING, GENEROUS MARGINS AND RUN IN ONE SINGLE COLUMN. PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE TURNED TRACK CHANGES OFF AND REMOVED ANY REVIEWING NOTES FROM YOUR MANUSCRIPTS ELSE THESE WILL BE VISIBLE THROUGHOUT THE REVIEW PROCESS.

Text should be divided into the following sections and appear in the order: (1) title page (with short running page heading, title, authors names and affiliations) (2) summary, (3) introduction, (4) methods, (5) results, (6) discussion, (7) acknowledgements, (8) references, (9) appendices, (10) supporting information, (11) tables, (12) figure legends, (13) figures.

Short communications include no summary, but should be less than 2500 words.
Nomenclature: authorities and dates for the Latin binomial of bird species are not used in the title or summary, and only on the first mention in the main body of the text. Thereafter, the common name is used. Follow the BOU's The British List here, and Knox et al (2004) Taxonomic recommendations for British birds (Ibis 144: 518-525).
Apply capitals as follows: 'Short-eared Owl', 'Red-winged Grey Warbler', but 'owls', 'warblers'.
Statistics: calculations and the validity of deductions made from them should be checked and validated by a statistician. Authors are invited to consult the editor for advice.
Symbols, units and abbreviations should be expressed as Système International (SI) units. In exceptional circumstances, others may be used, provided they are consistent. Apply to the editorial office for advice.

References

References in the text should be inserted in parentheses in full for single and dual authored papers, but using the first author and et al. for multiple authored papers. Reference to personal communications, unedited and un-refereed work, and work that is unpublished should be minimal and should appear in the text only. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission from colleagues to include their work as a personal communication.

References in the list should follow the 'Harvard' system. Refer to a recent copy of the journal for examples.

Whilst Ibis templates may be available through bibliographic software such as Endnote or Reference Manager, we cannot guarantee that these are up-to-date, and authors must take responsibility for ensuring that the format of references both in the main text and reference list of their manuscript complies with current Ibis house style. Authors who use Endnote etc. must ensure they remove the field codes before submitting their manuscript.

Supporting Information

Quantitative biological data too extensive for inclusion in the print edition of the journal may be presented in the online edition, as supporting information. As such, it will be reviewed as an integral part of the paper. The availability of supporting information should be indicated in the main manuscript by a paragraph, to appear after the references, providing titles of figures, tables, etc. We welcome audio and video material if relevant to your paper. There are guidelines regarding supporting information here.

Graphics

Numerical results should be presented either as tables or figures. The journal welcomes colour figures and plates, although the cost must be borne by the author.

Tables should be an integral part of the text file. They should have a brief descriptive title and be self-explanatory. Units should appear in parentheses in the column headings, not in the body of the table. Repeated words or numerals on successive lines should be written in full.

Please note there is a charge made for colour in print - if you wish to use colour, please fill out this form.

In the event that an author is not able to cover the costs of reproducing colour figures in colour in the printed version of the journal, Ibis offers authors the opportunity to reproduce colour figures in colour for free in the online version of the article (but they will still appear in black and white in the print version). If an author wishes to take advantage of this free colour-on-the-web service, they should liaise with the Editorial Office to ensure that the appropriate documentation is completed for the Publisher.

Electronic artwork:

Ibis requires submission of electronic artwork via the Ibis online submission website http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ibis
Ideally, vector graphics (line artwork) should be saved in Encapsulated Postscript Format (.eps) and halftones (photographs) in Tagged Image File Format (.tif). TIF files should be supplied at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (dots per inch) at the final size at which they are to appear in the journal. Labelling should be in 8pt Helvetica or Arial. Figure sections should be designated with upper case letters. Magnification bars should be given on electron and light micrographs.

Detailed information on digital illustration standards and creating EPS files is available at this webpage.

Legends: table and figure legends should be included within the text file and contain sufficient information to be understood without reference to the text. Each should begin with a short title for the figure. All symbols and abbreviations should be explained with a key.

ARTICLE TRACKING
NEW: Online production tracking is now available for your article through Wiley-Blackwell's Author Services.
Author Services enables authors to track their article - once it has been accepted - through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production. The author will receive an e-mail with a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete e-mail address is provided when submitting the manuscript. Visit Wiley-Blackwell's Author Services for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

Proofs

Proofs will be available as a PDF to download from our e-proofing website. Full instructions will be sent via email notification when the proof is ready for collection. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required in order to read this file. This can be downloaded (free of charge) from Adobe.

In your absence, please arrange for a colleague to correct on your behalf. Major alterations will be charged to the author and delay publication.

OFFPRINTS
A PDF is provided upon publication to the corresponding author. Paper offprints can be purchased prior to print publication from COS Printers.

ARCHIVING POLICY

Unless specifically requested at submission, the publisher will dispose of all hard copy or electronic material submitted 2 months post publication.