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Journal of Biogeography

Edited by:
Robert J. Whittaker

Print ISSN: 0305-0270
Online ISSN: 1365-2699
Frequency: Monthly
Current Volume: 37 / 2010
ISI Journal Citation Reports® Ranking: 2008: 15/124 Ecology; 2/31 Geography, Physical
Impact Factor: 4.566

TopAuthor Guidelines

Did you know... Journal of Biogeography has no page charges?

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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 http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/ for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

Instructions for Authors
Papers dealing with all aspects of spatial, ecological and historical biogeography are considered for publication in the Journal of Biogeography. The mission of the Journal is to contribute to the growth and societal relevance of the discipline of biogeography through its role in the dissemination of biogeographical research. To that end, the editorial policy is that the Journal seeks to be representative of the discipline of biogeography, to be global in scope, and to be inclusive of major traditions and viewpoints in the discipline. Authors are particularly encouraged to submit concise, clearly written papers focused on precisely framed questions or hypotheses of broad interest to the wide international readership of the journal. Article formats include provocative Guest Editorials, short Commentaries and Correspondence, submissions of which are encouraged alongside standard research papers (Original Articles).

The Journal was established in 1974 and is published in 12 issues a year.

Review policy: To avoid unnecessary delay for authors, papers submitted to the journal are first assessed editorially, and either are rejected outright at this stage or are entered into a full peer review process. We aim to reach an editorial decision on each manuscript in a timely fashion and to do so for first submissions in all cases within three months of receipt. As of January 2009, the mean time to first decision for the previous 12-month period was 34 days.

Article types and guidelines for layout
The Journal publishes articles under the following main headers: Guest Editorials, Commentaries, Original Articles and Correspondence. All submissions are subject to peer review. All submissions should be concisely and clearly written. Please state the word count for the abstract and also for the main body of the text (exclusive of the abstract and references) on the title page of the manuscript.

Guest Editorials
The Guest Editorial section is intended for stimulating and reflective essays providing personal perspectives on key research fields and issues within biogeography. Contributions are by the invitation of the editors, and authors wishing to contribute to this section should therefore contact the editorial office in advance. When published, guest editorials should be of no more than eight printed pages (main text maximum 5000 words), and they should include a short, single-paragraph abstract, and a set of 6-10 keywords.

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: the first line should say Article type: Guest Editorial, followed on a new line by the article title, and then author names and addresses, address and e-mail address of corresponding author, running head (of up to 8 words), the abstract, 6-10 keywords, the body of the text, and the references, using the standard referencing system of the journal. A biosketch (see below) may be included after the references section providing the overall paper length limit is not exceeded.

Commentaries
The aim of the Commentary section is to provide readily intelligible comment on the latest original research in biogeography. The prose style should be light, and the article should be written with the minimum of technical language and jargon, so as to be understandable to a general audience or an undergraduate taking an introductory course in biogeography. Authors who wish to contribute to this section are advised to contact the editorial office for further guidance and to discuss ideas for this section. Contributions will be subject to rapid peer review. Commentaries should occupy a maximum of two pages of the journal, and should have a maximum of 10 references.

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: the first line should say Article type: Commentary, followed on a new line by an article title of maximum 10 words, the body of the text (if headers are used within the text, keep them to a minimum), author names and addresses, including an e-mail address for the corresponding author, and the references, using the standard referencing system of the journal. The overall word count, inclusive of all of the above (i.e., text, title line, author details, references), should not exceed 1600 words. Should you wish to include a small figure or other illustration, this can be accommodated by a reduction in the number of words on a pro rata basis.

Original Articles
Most contributions to the Journal appear under the strapline Original Article. This is intended for regular research papers, whether empirical, theoretical or synthetic in nature. Authors are strongly encouraged to limit the overall length of their manuscript so that, when published, the article will comprise not more than 10 to 12 published pages. One page of the journal can carry one of the following: a) the article title, author list, abstract, and keywords; b) about 1000 words of text (including subheadings); c) about 30 references. Depending on the amount of illustrative material, the main text excluding references should not exceed 6000 words. Longer papers will continue to be accepted providing the content can be deemed of particular significance and of wide general interest to the journal's readership.

Manuscripts should be presented in the following order: the first line of the submission should say Article type: Original Article, followed on a new line by the article title, author names and addresses, address and e-mail address of the corresponding author, running head (of up to 8 words), a structured abstract (as detailed below), 6-10 keywords, the body of the text, and the references, using the standard referencing system of the journal. A biosketch entry should be included after the references section (see below).

Structured abstracts. Abstracts should be of no more than 350 words, presented as a series of factual statements under the following headings: Aim, Location, Methods, Results, and Main conclusions. The Aim should give a clear statement of the principal research question(s) or hypotheses, the Methods should give details of materials/sampling/methods of analysis, and the Main conclusions should give the main take-home message.

Biosketch/Biosketches. A short Biosketch/Biosketches entry (30-100 words for one author/150 words for the first three authors, respectively) describing the research interests of the author(s) should be provided. For papers with 4 or more authors, biosketch details should be supplied for the first author only and/or a general statement of the focus of the research team (which may include a link to a group web page) plus, in all cases, a statement of author contributions, e.g. 'Author contributions: A.S. and K.J. conceived the ideas; K.J. and R.L.M. collected the data; R.L.M. and P.A.K. analysed the data; and A.S. and K.J. led the writing.'

Correspondence
The journal welcomes short items of correspondence prompted by papers previously published in this or occasionally in other journals. The text should not normally exceed 2500 words, inclusive of a short one-paragraph abstract (< 150 words), and a list of 6-10 keywords. No biosketch is included in Correspondence papers.

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. Japanese authors can also find a list of local English improvement services at http://www.wiley.co.jp/journals/editcontribute.html. 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.

Submission
Submission to the Journal of Biogeography is via an online submission process at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jbi. When submitting, authors should upload a single word file (.doc or .rtf) containing the text, tables and embedded figures. If the paper has Supporting Information (for online publication only), this material should be uploaded as a separate editable file (or files), with embedded figures if applicable. Any explanatory notes, companion papers etc. for the attention of reviewers should be uploaded under 'Comments to reviewers'. Once the files have been uploaded, the system automatically creates a single PDF file for review purposes combining the files designated as being for review. An optional cover letter for the editor may be uploaded separately.

If and when your paper is accepted for publication, the editorial office will request you to upload your figures as separate files in the format(s) specified below (see 'Tables and figures'). When supplying these files, use the following naming convention: Number of submission_figure number, and then the appropriate file extension e.g. 'JBI-08-0500_Fig1.tif'.
Full instructions and support for authors can be found on the ScholarOne Manuscripts (formerly known as Manuscript Central) site. To use the site you will need a user ID and password. Go to the Journal's submission homepage (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jbi) and click 'New user' if you have not registered as an author before. If you require technical assistance with ScholarOne Manuscripts, you will find details of how to contact ScholarOne Support directly by clicking the GET HELP NOW link that appears at the top of every ScholarOne Manuscripts page. Alternatively, please contact the Editorial Office by telephone or by e-mail.

The text
Manuscripts should bear the title of the contribution, names of the authors and complete addresses of the place(s) where the work was carried out. The full postal and e-mail address of the author who will receive correspondence and check the proofs should also be included, as well as the present address of any author if different from the place where the work was carried out. Manuscripts must be written in English (using UK spellings please); where this is not the author's first language they should be carefully checked by a scientifically competent English speaker before submission.

Please note that Word 2007 is not yet compatible with journal production systems. Please use Word's 'Save As' option therefore to save your document as an older (.doc) file type. Manuscripts should be double line spaced. All pages should be numbered in the top right hand corner. A range of three different headings levels may be used and authors should indicate the level of each heading by formatting them as bold-capital, bold-lower case or italics-lower case for main, second and third level heading, respectively. The correct nomenclatural authorities for the main study species must be given on their first mention in the main body of text, or reference must be made to an appropriate nomenclatural source reference covering the taxa mentioned in the paper. Where specific equipment or software is mentioned, please give the manufacturer/company's name, town and country.

Abbreviations and units
SI units (m, km^2, kg, etc.) are preferred. Statistics and measurements should always be given in figures, i.e. 10 km, except where the number begins the paragraph. When the number does not refer to a unit of measurement, it is spelt out (e.g. three samples), except where the number is greater than or equal to 10 (e.g. 25 samples). Use: negative exponents (e.g. t year^-1, not t/year); L for litres; 24 hour clock format (e.g., 10.00 h); and format dates as 31 March 1999. The word 'Figure' should be abbreviated in the text, e.g. Fig. 1, Figs 2 and 3. All acronyms/abbreviations should be given in full at first mention. A list of preferred abbreviations and naming conventions is available here.

Tables and figures
Tables should be cited consecutively in the text and included in the file at the end of the paper; they should be editable and constructed using 'tabs' (not spaces or software options). Table column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses. Abbreviations should be defined.

All illustrations (including photographs and maps) are classified as figures and they should be numbered consecutively as first cited in the text. Figure legends/captions should be inserted at the end of the paper. Figure legends should make the material completely understandable and abbreviations should be defined. Panels should be labelled (a), (b), (c), etc. rather than (A), (B), (C) etc. and referred to in the text as, for example, Fig. 1a.

Please ensure that figures are prepared such that, after reduction to print size, all lettering and symbols will be clear and easily read. Photographic figures should be saved in tif format at 300 d.p.i. (or failing that in jpg format with low compression). Line figures should be saved as vector graphics (i.e. composed of lines, curves, points and fonts) in eps or pdf format, as this enhances their display when published online. Combination figures (those composed of vector and pixel/raster elements) should also be saved in eps or pdf format where possible. If line figures and combination figures cannot be saved in vector graphics format, they should be saved in tif format at high resolution (i.e. 600-800 d.p.i.) (do not save them in jpg format). If you are unsure about the resolution of your tif files, please zoom in and check that fonts, curves and diagonal lines are smooth-edged and do not appear blocky. Note that tif files are downsampled for online publication and so authors should preferentially opt for vector graphic formats for line and combination figures (full resolution tif files are used for print publication).

Colour figures should be saved in CYMK rather than RGB. Bar scales for maps and photographs are preferred to numerical scales and must be given on all such items. Full artwork guidelines are given on the publisher's web site here.

Maps that display area data and organism distribution at a continental, hemispheric, or world scale must always use an equal-area map projection (e.g., Mollweide or Aitoff's). Note especially that Mercator's projection is not acceptable for such data. Please indicate the precise projection employed in the caption. On these maps, the equatorial scale should be indicated, while scale information should be provided, preferably as a scale bar within the figure, for all maps of whatever size and area; use 'km' or 'kilometres', not 'kilometers'. Maps should include adequate geo-referencing information.

Cover images
Authors are encouraged to submit potential cover illustrations. These should be scanned to be 300 d.p.i. when enlarged/reduced to reproduction size (typically 11 x 16 cm).

References
Authors must use the system illustrated below. All author names of multi-authored works should be given. Page extents of single-volume works are not required. Titles of journals should be given in full. Unpublished data, works in preparation and papers submitted but not yet accepted may be cited in the text, giving the author's initials and surname, but should not be included in the reference list. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission from colleagues to include their work as a personal communication.

In the text, references should be made by giving the author's name with the year of publication, as follows: (Bush & Rivera, 1998). When reference is made to a work by three or more authors the first name followed by et al., is used on all occasions. If several papers by the same author and from the same year are cited, a, b, c, etc., should be put after the year of publication, as follows (Schoener & Shoener, 1983a, b). When citing a list of papers, place them in date order (alphabetically when within a year) and separate them with semi-colons as follows (Schoener & Shoener, 1983a, b; Bush & Rivera, 1998, 2003; Collins, 1998, 2002; Whittaker et al., 2007).

References must be listed alphabetically by first author, then by number of authors (one, two, three or more), then chronologically within the one-author group, alphabetically within the two-author group, and chronologically within the ≥3-author group. Please give the titles of journals in full. Check the Journal for reference style. Some examples are given below:

Prentice, I.C., Guiot, J., Huntley, B., Jolly, D. & Cheddadi, R. (1996) Reconstructing biomes from palaeoecological data; a general method and its application to European pollen data at 0 and 6 ka. Climate Dynamics, 12, 185-194.

Cox, C. B. & Moore, P. D. (1999) Biogeography: an ecological and evolutionary approach, 6th edn. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford.

Guo, Q. (1994) Dynamic desert Puccinellia maritima plant community ecology: changes in space and time. PhD Thesis, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

May, R.M. (1994) The effects of spatial scale on ecological questions and answers. Large-scale ecology and conservation biology (ed. by P.J. Edwards, R.M. May and N.R. Webb), pp. 1-17. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.

StatSoft Inc. (2003) STATISTICA (data analysis software system), version 6.1. StatSoft, Inc., Tulsa, OK.

We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote for reference management and formatting. Click here to download the most up to date EndNote reference style for Journal of Biogeography.

Appendices and Supporting Information
Appendices may be provided for important primary data, which needs to be included in the paper. Appendices which do not need to be included in the main paper, or which are extensive, should be prepared as online Supporting Information.. Such supporting information should be referred to in the text as, for example, 'see Appendix S1 in Supporting Information' (where S denotes supplementary), subsequent mention should be in the form 'see Appendix S2'. Tables and figures may also be provided as Supporting Information (e.g. Figure S1, Table S1). Authors should then include a 'Supporting Information' section immediately after their References section, which should be in the following form (text in curly brackets is for completion by the author, see instructions below):
------------------------------
Supporting Information

Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article:

Appendix S1 Short title here.
Appendix S2 Short title here.

Please note: Wiley-Blackwell is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting materials supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing material) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
------------------------------
For reasons of space, only short titles to Supporting Information should be given in this section; full titles (if different) can be given with the Supporting Information itself; full titles can include a fuller description of content, definition of abbreviations, etc. Supporting Information files are hosted by the Publisher in the format supplied by the author and are not copy-edited by the Publisher. It is the responsibility of the author to supply Supporting Information in an appropriate file format and to ensure that it is accurate and correct. Authors should therefore prepare Supporting Information with the same rigour as their main paper, including adhesion to journal style (e.g. formatting of references). Supporting Information can be provided as separate files or as one combined file. Authors are discouraged from supplying very large files or files in non-standard file formats, both of which may reduce their use to the readership. Files should be prepared without line numbers or wide line spacing, and with all track-change edits accepted.

At proof correction stage authors will be given access to their Supporting Information (via the web) and should check it for accuracy and updates. If changes are required corrected versions of the files received with the proof must be emailed to the Production Editor, with a brief description of the changes made. Supporting Information must be checked alongside the main proof and corrections for both returned to the Production Editor at the same time.

Policy on the use of RAPD markers
The appropriateness of RAPD markers for population genetic inference is increasingly questioned by our reviewers and editors because of concerns about reproducibility, dominance, and homology. Given these worries, and the ready availability of other kinds of markers that do not suffer from all of these problems, studies based primarily on RAPDs only rarely pass the scrutiny of peer review in the Journal of Biogeography. Of course, there may be situations in which RAPDs are appropriate, such as in genetic mapping studies or in searches for diagnostic markers for a given species or trait. These latter kinds of studies will continue to be reviewed by the journal.

Policy on molecular sequences and vouchers
It is a condition of publication that papers using new molecular sequences must place the sequences in an appropriate database (e.g. GenBank). Relevant accession numbers should be provided in the final manuscript. Accession numbers are required for all sequences used in analyses, including existing sequences in databases. Museum voucher numbers may also be provided where this information could be of real value to future researchers.

Copyright, OnlineOpen and colour figure charges
Journal of Biogeography operates two publication models: (1) our standard model for which no page charges apply; and (2) a pay-to-publish OnlineOpen model. Publication is conditional on authors completing and returning an Copyright Transfer Agreement Form or an OnlineOpen form, respectively. In addition, all papers including colour artwork are subject to charges (see Colour figures below). The relevant forms must be completed and returned to the Production Editor on acceptance: papers will not be sent for typesetting until then.

Copyright Transfer Agreement Form
Authors will be required to sign an Copyright Transfer Agreement Form (CTA) for all papers accepted for publication. Signature of the Copyright Transfer Agreement Form is a condition of publication and papers will not be put into production until a signed form has been received. Please note that signature of the Copyright Transfer Agreement Form does not affect ownership of copyright in the material. (Government employees need to complete the Author Warranty sections, although copyright in such cases does not need to be assigned). After submission authors will retain the right to publish their paper in various media/circumstances (please see the form for further details). A copy of the form is available from the Editorial Office or may be downloaded here.

OnlineOpen
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/JBI_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.

Colour figures
If your paper contains colour figures, the Colour Work Agreement Form (available here, and from the Editorial Office) must be completed by the corresponding author and sent to Blackwell Publishing at acceptance. It is the policy of the Journal for authors to pay the full cost for the reproduction of their colour artwork in print (see the Colour Work Agreement Form for a summary of costs). Any article received by Blackwell Publishing with colour work will not be published until the form has been received. Please return forms to: Production Editor, Journal of Biogeography, Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, 101 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 3ES, UK; fax +44 131 226 3803.
Journal of Biogeography offers a free colour-on-the-web option whereby a figure may be produced in black and white in the printed journal but in colour in the online version, free of charge; however the same figure must be intelligible in black and white in the print version (we do not accept differing colour and black-and-white versions of the same figure).
Under exceptional circumstances, authors may request the colour in print charges to be waived. This must be done, in writing, at the time of submission of the manuscript, and authors must justify to the Editor-in-chief that inclusion of the figure(s) in colour is essential for interpretation of the results presented. If authors wish to apply for funds to cover the costs of colour printing, the Editor-in-chief will provide relevant support letters to funding bodies, indicating acceptance of the paper.

Archive policy
Please note that unless specifically requested, the Publisher will dispose of all hardcopy or electronic material submitted 2 months after publication. If you require the return of any material submitted, please inform the editorial office or the production editor.

Proofs
PDF proofs will be sent to the corresponding author by e-mail and they should be returned to the Production Editor within two weeks of receipt. Where this is not possible authors should e-mail the Production Editor (JBIProduction@Oxon.blackwellpublishing.com) to advise of the delay. The return address for proof corrections is: Production Editor, Journal of Biogeography, Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, 101 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 3ES, UK. Please do not fax back corrected page proofs or use Adobe Acrobat software options to electronically edit the proof, as doing so may delay the publication of your paper. Major alterations to the text and illustrations are only accepted when absolutely necessary; the additional costs may be charged to the author.

Offprints
A PDF offprint of the published article will be provided free of charge to the corresponding author, and may be distributed subject to the Publisher's terms and conditions. Paper offprints may be purchased if ordered on the form sent with the proof, and if returned to the Offprints Department at the time that proof corrections are returned. Printed offprints are posted to the correspondence address given for the paper unless a different address is specified on the order form. Note that it is not uncommon for printed offprints to take up to 8 weeks to arrive after publication of the journal.

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