Author guidelines
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Below you will find a description of article types, general formatting instructions, and other information. The guidelines for Reports and Rediscoveries (article types 1 and 2) are more detailed than the requirements for most articles at most journals. The standardization of documentation is essential because ranked categories of imperiled and lost are a pipeline that is often based on the weight of evidence of absence, and either leads to rediscovery or extinction, which have legal and societal consequences.
This is the primary article type that is used to report on the status of species (or lower taxonomic units, e.g. subspecies or varieties) by placing them in the ranked categories of imperiled, lost, or extinct. Reports can cover one or multiple species; in the case of multiple species, there will typically be some geographic or taxonomic focus. The loss of undescribed biological diversity, such as species without a formal scientific name, is also an appropriate focus if accompanied by sufficient justification.
The length of Reports will vary depending on the number of species being covered. Reports on single species are 20 manuscript pages or less, which includes the title page through to the last figure of the submitted document. Reports on multiple species can be up to 50 manuscript pages.
Reports will include the elements listed below which should be used by authors as a pre-submission checklist.
1) Title page with article title, authors and affiliations, and indication of article type.
2) Abstract in English and a second language relevant to the geography of the focal species, not more than 300 words (for each version); with 5-8 keywords. The abstract should include information on the category (imperiled, lost, or extinct) being assigned to focal species.
3) Conservation statement is a short passage, up to 120 words, outlining important messages from the article aimed at conservation practitioners, land managers, and policy makers. For Reports covering multiple species, this statement can refer to all species.
4) Introduction; the subsections below include species-specific information; for multi-species Reports, we leave it up to the author's discretion (for this and section in the main text) if required elements listed below are covered one species at a time or in taxonomic or geographic groups.
4.1) Taxonomy: describe taxonomic status and history, for example when a species was described, and with reference to established databases such as ITIS when possible; for lower taxonomic units (subspecies or varieties) describe evidence to support those designations. If discussing undescribed taxa, present as much evidence as possible to justify taxonomy. Finally, discuss any disagreements over taxonomic status.
4.2) Systematics: provide details about relevant evolutionary relationships (a focal species to sister taxa; or among focal species for multi-species reports); discuss whether the loss of the species represents or would represent a significant loss of evolutionary history, as would happen, for example, with the loss of a monotypic taxon.
4.3) Natural history: present the basic biology and ecology of the focal species, including life history information and interactions with other species. Photographs or illustrations from the wild or from museum specimens are highly encouraged.
5) Main text includes the subsections listed below, which specify and justify status, as well as report on geography and search effort.
5.1) Status: state the category, imperiled, lost, or extinct, being assigned* by the article. Describe any formal legal status or efforts to protect the species, with reference to relevant organizations including, for example, IUCN and CITES, or laws with national jurisdiction. Present the evidence supporting the idea that the species is imperiled, lost, or extinct. Quantitative analyses are welcome but will not be necessary in all cases. Standard practice in this emerging field is to draw from all available sources (for occurrence records and validation of status) including but not limited to GBIF (the Global Biodiversity Information Facility) and community science platforms, and to consult with taxonomic experts regarding collections and undigitized specimens. (*For multi-species reports, status categories can be summarized in a table; and, if including previously well-documented extinctions, those taxa could be included in the table with citations and not discussed in the same depth.)
5.2) Geography: provide a map showing occurrence records; if precise locations need to be obscured, the map can be provided at whatever resolution achieves that. If possible, include on the map a visualization of any threats such as habitat loss.
5.3) Search effort: If sampling was carried out by the author(s), include information on area(s) searched, sampling duration(s), when sampling occurred, and method(s) of detection. If sampling was carried out by persons other than author(s), include the same information to whatever extent possible.
5.4) Threats: discuss stressors that affect or affected a species, such as habitat loss, climate change, and others. If a species is dependent on specialized interactions, for example for parasitic taxa, discuss the evidence for specialization and dependence.
5.5) Rediscovery strategy: for species that are lost or imperiled (in cases of range contraction, for example), include information on how a species could be rediscovered, specifically when and where search effort should be directed and methods used for detection.
6) Conclusion: this section is flexible, and authors should consider discussing the consequences of the loss of focal species, which could include lost interactions with other species, altered ecosystem function, and other outcomes. For multi-species Reports, this section (as with the Conservation Statement) could cover all taxa or could be parsed by species.
7) Remaining items as follows: statement on data accessibility, acknowledgements, literature cited, figure legends, tables, and figures.
These articles describe recent observations confirming that a species or lower taxonomic unit that was formerly lost has been documented in the wild again. As the review process will be expedited for this article type, we ask authors to send us a pre-submission notice so that we can work ahead to select an appropriate handling editor and find reviewers.
Rediscovery articles are brief and should be 10 manuscript pages or less, with the following elements:
1) Title page with title, authors and affiliations, and indication of article type.
2) Abstract in English and a second language relevant to the geography of the focal species, not more than 250 words (for each language version); with 5-8 keywords.
3) Conservation statement is a short statement, up to 120 words, outlining important messages from the article aimed at conservation practitioners, land managers, and policy makers.
4) Introduction and main text, which briefly describe the species and the evidence that it has been found in the wild; to the extent possible, evidence should be included in the manuscript, for example photos or genetic documentation. Depending on the extent to which the original loss of the species (prior to rediscovery) was documented, authors should considered reporting taxonomic, systematic, and other information (see checklist above for Reports).
5) Conclusion emphasizing the next steps that should be taken for protection, recovery, and management, as well as additional monitoring.
6) Remaining items as follows: statement on data accessibility, acknowledgements, literature cited, figure legends, tables, and figures (if figures are included).
If a Rediscovery article refers to a species previously reported as lost in a JLS article, researchers submitting the rediscovery article will have the opportunity to contact the authors of the original Report that described the loss of the focal species (assuming that they are not already the same people); this creates the opportunity, at the discretion of the rediscovery authors, for collaboration on the publication of the rediscovery. The new article will be linked digitally through JLS online content to the original article.
This is the most flexible category of articles, and can include opinion pieces, articles on methods development, as well as data papers investigating issues relevant to global change, the Anthropocene, declines in biodiversity, and processes of extirpation and extinction.
For letters on biodiversity decline, for example using data from monitoring programs, we are most interested in studies that align with the lost species concept and cover patterns spanning ten or more years.
Letters follow general article formatting guidelines (see below), with the exception that authors can deviate from the standard elements as appropriate for the subject (e.g., an opinion piece will not need a Materials and Methods or a Results section).
For initial submission and evaluation, authors need to follow a minimal set of guidelines:
Manuscripts should be accompanied by a brief cover letter summarizing the main points of the article and stating if the manuscript has been made available on a preprint service.
Manuscripts should be double-spaced, with 12 point font and line numbers that are continuous from the first page to the last. Do not use numbered or bulleted lists, italics, bold, or underlining for emphasis.
The first page of the manuscript file is a title page that includes the following information:
the title of the article, authors and affiliations;
contact information (including email address) for the corresponding author;
indication of article type (Report, Alert, etc., see next section);
The overall length of the manuscript as well as the sections and items included will depend on the manuscript type (see above), but in general will be ordered as follows: title page, abstract, main text, statement on data archiving (see last section on this page), acknowledgements, literature cited, figure legends, tables, figures.
Accepted manuscripts will have abstracts in both English and a language relevant to the geography of the species being discussed. For the first submission, an abstract in English is sufficient but we encourage authors to visit our Accessibility page for more details on translation.
For initial submission, references can be formatted in any style as long as in-text citations are written out (not numbered), and final submission for accepted manuscripts will follow APA reference style.
JLS follows a single-blind reviewer system, with reviewers remaining anonymous during and after the review process. We give reviewers the option, however, to have their names and affiliations published with the final article. We encourage authors to submit names of potential reviewers as part of the submission process to ensure that reviewers are selected with appropriate taxonomic expertise.
As of early 2025, our manuscript submission system is in development; for manuscripts ready to be submitted before the system is available, message us through our contact page.
The open access philosophy of JLS is consistent with the use of preprint services such as bioRxiv and Authorea, although JLS encourages discretion and care when making articles available for public access before they have been through peer review, especially when articles involve species likely to attract public attention.
Quantitative data such as occurrence records should be made available in publicly-available repositories such as Dryad, Zenodo, GBIF (the Global Biodiversity Information Facility), iNaturalist, or others. When possible (if datasets are small), we also recommend that authors include data in tables as part of the paper, either in the main text or in supplementary material. All articles will include a statement on data accessibility that clearly states where relevant data are accessible. If data are not shared publicly because they are sensitive or protected, or they are masked in some way (e.g., with locations obscured) this needs to be clearly stated with rationale.