BioInvasions Records: Author Guidelines

Editors' note to authors

Thank you for choosing BioInvasions Records for your manuscript. We aim to provide a professional, rigorous and timely peer review and therefore ensure that we publish your high quality papers. You, the authors, are part of this process. You can help us to maintain our high standards, and at the same time maximize your chance of acceptance and reduce manuscript processing time, by following these simple Author Guidelines.


Once the pre-review evaluation is completed your manuscript will be assigned to one of our relevant editors who will handle the review process. The handling editor will check your manuscript, obtain reports from expert reviewers, and if applicable pass this information on to you to revise your manuscript accordingly. When replying to reviewer and editor comments, please be as thorough as possible. For example, address all comments whether you follow the recommendations or not, indicate the location of revisions in your manuscript using line numbers, and, if it seems reasonable, please include revised sentences and passages in your responses. This will again help ensure efficiency and reduce time delays, as editors and reviewers will not have to try to figure out what you have done and where to find it. This will in turn influence them to view your manuscript more favourably which will increase your chances of a positive outcome.


The peer-review process is conducted through the online BIR Editorial Manager (https://www.editorialmanager.com/bioinv/). You can check the status of your submission in your personal workspace in the Editorial Manager. If necessary, you can also contact the Managing Editor Dr. Vadim Panov (bir_editor@reabic.net, vepanov@gmail.com). We welcome such enquiries and will try to deal with them quickly and as efficiently as possible, but before sending us an email, please ask yourself whether you really need to.


Below are listed some useful publications on preparation of scientific papers and the peer-review process:
1. Kalwij JM, Smit C (2013) How authors can maximize the chance of manuscript acceptance and article visibility. Learned Publishing> 26: 28–31. https://doi.org/10.1087/20130106
2. Silver P (2016) Advice for early-career peer reviewers and authors responding to peer reviews. Freshwater Science 35: 1073–1075. https://doi.org/10.1086/688968
3. Grossman GD (2017) Coping with the editorial process: considerations for early–career biologists. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 40: 269-276. Available at http://abc.museucienciesjournals.cat/files/ABC_40-2_pp_269-276.pdf
4. Taylor BW (2016) Writing an effective response to a manuscript review. Freshwater Science 35: 1082–1087. https://doi.org/10.1086/688886
5. Cassey P, Blackburn TM (2003) Publication rejection among ecologists. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18: 375-376. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00160-5 (free copy is available at ResearchGate).


Submission procedure

BioInvasions Records is an English-language journal supported by an international editorial board. BioInvasions Records is peer reviewed and accepts original, not previously published, manuscripts (see Types of manuscripts section below). Authors are kindly requested also to read the Journal Information page before submitting manuscripts.

Manuscripts should be submitted online at https://www.editorialmanager.com/bioinv/
Acknowledgement of manuscript submission will occur via automated e-mail.
In case of any technical problems with online manuscript submission, please contact the Managing Editor of BioInvasions Records, Dr. Vadim Panov by bir_submissions@reabic.net (preferable contact e-mail) or vepanov@gmail.com.

Online submissions should include three obligatory files and supporting (optional) files, not exceeding 2 Mb size each.

Obigatory files include: Title page, Manuscript and Covering letter.

Title page file (Word 2007 file) contains preferred type of manuscript, the manuscript's title, running title header (brief version of the title), and complete name, affiliation(s), and both e-mail and institutional addresses of all contributing authors. Please identify the corresponding author using an *(asterisk), and place the asterisk after the number that designates the institutional affiliation.

All persons listed as authors should have been sufficiently involved in the research to take public responsibility for its content.

Important note: The Author Contribution, Acknowledgements, Funding Declaration, Conflict of Interest/Declaration of Interests, Ethics and Permits sections should be included only in the Title page. Please see details on presentation of these sections in the Manuscript presentation section.


Manuscript file must be submitted as a single file (Word 2007 file not exceeding 2 Mb size), including line numbering, and with tables and low resolution figures embedded in the manuscript (after list of references). At the later stages of manuscript processing, authors of accepted manuscripts can, if necessary, be requested to provide high-resolution figures (see Manuscript Preparation section).

Important note: BioInvasions Records follows a double-blind review model and thus the manuscript file should be anonymous. The first page of the manuscript should not include names and contact information of authors, and the name of the document owner should be deleted using the ‘properties’ function of the file.



Covering letter (Word 2007 file): as part of the process of submission, authors are also kindly requested to provide an electronic covering letter to editors of BioInvasions Records, explaining why the work is novel, topical (under the scope of the journal - please check at the Journal Information page) and of broad international interest.


The covering letter should also include the following obligatory statements (in bold font):
the manuscript has neither been submitted nor published elsewhere (or provide details on previous submissions and formal publication decision, or copy of formal letter to the journal editor on withdrawal of manuscript);
the manuscript adheres to publisher's Ethical Guidelines (please read Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
)
the authors agree with journal publication policy, including data publication policy (please read our Data Publication Policy), and reviewing and publication decision procedure (please read Manuscript presentation and Manuscript processing after submission sections below);
the authors agree to pay article processing charges (APCs) if their manuscript is accepted for publication.

Please read Article Processing Charges section below; these include the significant reductions for members of the International Association for Open Knowledge on Invasive Alien Species (INVASIVESNET).
If relevant, please indicate in the covering letter your membership in the Association and include web link to your personal INVASIVESNET profile.

Please also provide name, address and VAT number of your institution/organization  (VAT number is needed for VAT-registered organizations from European Union countries; if applicable, the VAT number for the organization should be validated at http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do).

Supporting (optional) files include: Supplementary figures (single Word 2007 file), Supplementary tables (single Excel 2007 file), Other supplementary materials (single Word 2007 file), Publication decisions by other journals (Word 2007 file), and Reply to comments by editor and reviewers – in case of justified rejection or withdrawal from other journal (Word 2007 file).

During online submission procedure, please also identify your submission's areas of interest and specialization by selecting one or more standard classifications, suggest minimum 5 relevant internationally recognized experts as potential reviewers for your submission, and provide specific reasons for your suggestion in the comments box for each person. Please note that the editorial office may not use your suggestions, but your help is appreciated and may speed up the selection of appropriate reviewers.

File names of submitted documents should include name of document type and date of submission of this document (Type_ year_month_date.doc, e.g. Title_page_2020_11_17).

Important note: Please keep your anonymity and delete the name of document owner (in file properties).

For the procedure on submission of revised manuscripts, please see Manuscript processing after submission section.

In case of any technical problems with online manuscript submission, please contact the Managing Editor of BioInvasions Records, Dr. Vadim Panov (bir_submissions@reabic.net or vepanov@gmail.com).

 

Types of manuscripts

The international journal BioInvasions Records publishes results of field research in the area of biological invasions in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, including scientific accounts of biological surveys and monitoring (see Journal Information page) in the form of the following types: Editorial Papers, Letters to BioInvasions Records, BioInvasions Viewpoints, Rapid Communications, Research Articles, Reviews, Data Papers, and Special issues.

BioInvasions Records are published accounts of alien, cryptogenic and neonative (i.e. range expanding without human agency, e.g. due to climate change) species (for terminology see Essl et al. 2018 BioScience 68: 496-509 & Essl et al. 2019 BioScience 69: 908-919).

Editorial papers are generally short concept or reviewing papers by the journal editors and/or by guest editors of special issues, normally not longer than 6 printed journal pages.

Letters to BioInvasions Records are short papers with critical discussion of recently published papers. They should not regularly exceed 6 printed journal pages.

BioInvasions Viewpoints are generally short concept papers by the journal editors and/or by contributing authors, normally not longer than 8 printed journal pages.

Research Articles are scientific papers, normally not longer than 24 printed journal pages. They should include an abstract that summarizes the results of the study (or submitted data), keywords (max 7), Introduction section with clear description of the purpose of study, Methods and materials section, Results section with description of the results (or submitted data), Discussion section, references and the appendices in standard tabular format with primary geo-referenced species record data, if appropriate (see Manuscript presentation section).

Rapid Communications are brief scientific papers on new records of alien, cryptogenic or neonative species, normally not longer than 12 printed journal pages. The paper should include an abstract, keywords (max 7), paper text (divided to sections like in Research article - Introduction, Material and methods, Results and Discussion sections), references and the appendices in standard tabular format with primary geo-referenced species record data and/or other relevant information (see Submission of datasets section).
Rapid Communications, describing new records of alien, cryptogenic or neonative species, should include also a brief description of the species records and include a high quality photograph or drawing of the recorded species, preferably showing specific morphological features of the species, and a species distribution map.

Reviews are review papers in the area of biological invasions, normally not longer than 30 printed journal pages.

Data Papers are brief descriptions of scientific datasets, including annotated checklists of alien, cryptogenic and/or neonative species for countries or for specific geographic areas, or extended datasets on geo-referenced records of alien, cryptogenic and/or neonative species (and native species, if relevant), normally not longer than 8 printed journal pages. The paper should include an abstract, keywords (max 7), paper text (regularly divided to sections like in research article), references and the appendices in standard tabular format with primary geo-referenced species record data and/or other relevant information (see "Submission of datasets" section).
Data Papers should include detailed description of methods and data verification procedure (specifically for citizen-science based data), and technical description of data presentation.
Presentation of species distribution maps in Data Papers is optional.

Special issues of BioInvasions Records may include extended papers longer than 40 printed pages, relevant conference proceedings and extended datasets upon special agreement with editors. If you are interested in becoming an author or guest editor of a specific special issue, please contact the Managing Editor of BioInvasions Records, Dr. Vadim Panov (bir_submissions@reabic.net or vepanov@gmail.com).

Important note: on average, one printed journal page in BioInvasions Records is the equivalent of one single-sided, single-spaced manuscript of A4 format pages prepared using Times New Roman 12-point font, including up to 500 words, or 3200 characters with spaces.

 

Manuscript presentation

All manuscripts must be in English, preferably checked by a native English-speaking colleague, before submission. The latter will greatly improve both the legibility and scientific quality of your paper for acceptance by the journal if English is not your first language. You may also consider utilising the services of Bioedit English Language Editing, Editage, Enago, or Textcheck.

Please single-space all material (text, figure legends, tables, references, etc.), use 12-point Times New Roman font and include line numbering.

The first page of the manuscript should start with the preferred type of manuscript (see Types of manuscripts section), title of article, running title header (not to exceed 70 characters and spaces), abstract and key words.

Important note: First page of the manuscript should not include names and contact information of authors, and the name of document owner should be deleted using the ‘properties’ function of the file.

Abstract: The abstract should briefly describe the methods, results of the research and conclusions (minimum three related sentences, maximum of 300 words or 2000 characters with spaces). The abstract should be a single paragraph and contain no citations or footnotes.

Key words: Please provide 5-7 key words, preferably different from those specified in the title of the manuscript.

Text: Please separate paragraphs with a blank line. First order section headings (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion etc) should be in bold, second order headings should be italicized, third order headings should be not-italicized but underlined. Please provide line numbering in text.

Citations in the text should be identified by means of an author‘s name followed by the date of the reference (no comma) in parentheses and page number(s) where appropriate. In-text citations should be listed chronologically (in ascending order). If two or more studies were published in the same year, those should be organized alphabetically (by author last name). When there are more than two authors of a publication, only the first author‘s name should be mentioned, followed by "et al.". In the event that an author cited has had two or more works published during the same year, the reference, both in the text and in the reference list, should be identified by a lower case letter like "a" and "b" after the date to distinguish the works. Examples: (Author 2001; Author 2002a, b; Author and Co-Author 2005; Author et al. 2007). Before submitting the manuscript, please check carefully each citation in the text against the list of References to ensure that they match exactly.

Direct links to internet resources in the paper text should be avoided, and all relevant internet based resources should cited in the regular way by the author and year (or institutional author, and year, see “References” subsection).

Species taxonomy: Please consult   WoRMS web site,   FishBase  and  ITIS web site for species taxonomy. Each first citation of a species latin name within the main text of paper must give the scientific authority and the year of first publication (with comma), e.g, Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771), Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758. Please use lower case letters for all common names ("zebra mussel", "common carp").

Units for water salinity: Salinity should be reported as either PSU or with no units.

Names of disputed geographical features: The journal maintains its neutrality with regard to names of disputed geographical features. Our practice is to allow authors to use national names in conjunction with internationally accepted names for such disputed geographical features.

Footnotes: Footnotes should only be used in tables. Indicate each footnote in a table with a superscript lowercase letter.

Figures: all relevant photographs, graphs and diagrams should be named as Figure and numbered, and along with captions they should be embedded in the manuscript after References section. Please insert in manuscript only low or medium resolution figures to ensure a reasonable size of manuscript file (for instance, inserted jpg file should not regularly exceed 200 kb size). Please refer to each figure in the text of manuscript as (Figure 1, 2 etc).

Authors are encouraged to provide figures in colour, if relevant, however, authors are advised to test the reproductive clarity of colors, and information presented using color backgrounds, in figures by printing test examples on standard black and white printers and photocopiers.

Multi-part figures ought to be labelled with higher case letters (A, B, etc.). Please insert keys and scale bars directly in the figures, and avoid using small fonts. Times Roman 12-point (or larger) font is recommended.

The axes caption on graphs should be in lower case except for the first letter or in the case of proper names. The vertical axis caption on graphs should be placed sideways and both captions and scale numbers should be large enough to be clear when reduced to one column width.

Number of figures is not limited, but authors are advised to include only those figures that are essential to the manuscript.

Important note: Images should not contain alpha channels or transparencies.

Important note: all species distribution maps are acceptable only when they are supported by primary geo-referenced species record data, which should be provided as supplementary tables in standard format in Excel. Publication of these supplementary tables with primary record data is not limited by size and is free of charge for the authors, who are encouraged to submit the extended datasets on both alien and native species records (see section "Supplementary information" below.

Tables text should be Time New Roman min 7 or max 10-point font and single table size should be equal or less than 1 printed journal page, and embedded in the manuscript after the References section. Larger tables and tables with primary geo-referenced species record data should be provided in form of appendices and located after the References section. Authors are encouraged to keep all tables within one or two column widths (portrait A4 page). Please refer to each table in the text of manuscript as (Table 1, 2 etc). Also, please include only those tables that are essential to the manuscript.

Acknowledgements: please provide a brief paragraph acknowledging the assistance of individuals or organizations not identified among the list of authors. Specifically, please acknowledge reviewers (anonymous or named) during revision of your manuscript.
Acknowledgements should be placed in a separate section before the Funding Declaration section (please provide this section only in the Title page!).

Funding Declaration: please identify who provided financial support (funding and in-kind) for the conduct of the research and/or preparation of the article and briefly describe the role of the funder(s) in:
    • study design;
    • the collection, analysis and interpretation of data;
    • the preparation and/or writing of the manuscript; and
    • the decision to publish, including:
         - the decision to submit the manuscript for publication;
         - selection of journal; and
         - selection of potential reviewers.
If the funding source(s) had no such involvement in the research then this should be stated as “The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.” If the study was unfunded, include this sentence as the Financial Disclosure statement: “The author(s) received no specific funding for this work.”
This information must also describe sources of funding that have supported the work including:
    • specific grant numbers;
    • initials of authors who received each award/sponsorship;
    • full names of commercial companies that funded the study or authors;
    • initials of authors who received salary or other funding from commercial companies.
Funding Declaration should be placed in a separate section before the Authors’ Contribution section (please provide this section only in the Title page!).

Authors’ Contribution: please include a clear statement as to the individual author contributions to the manuscript using the relevant roles as follows:
    • research conceptualization;
    • sample design and methodology;
    • investigation and data collection;
    • data analysis and interpretation;
    • ethics approval;
    • funding provision; and
    • roles/writing - original draft; writing - review & editing.
Authorship statements should be formatted with the initials of authors first and role(s) following.
Authors’ Contribution should be placed in a separate section before the Conflict of Interest/Declaration of Interests section (please provide this section only in the Title page!).

Conflict of Interest/Declaration of Interests: all authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest including any financial, personal, or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. Examples of potential competing interests include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. If there are no interests to declare then please include a sentence that states “Declarations of interest: none”.
Conflict of Interest/Declaration of Interests should be placed in a separate section before the Ethics and Permits section (please provide this section only in the Title page!).

Ethics and Permits: please acknowledge that it is understood that with submission of this article the authors have complied with the institutional and/or national policies governing the humane and ethical treatment of the experimental subjects, and that they are willing to share the original data and materials if so requested. Please provide the ethics approval number, and the approving ethics committee name. If ethics was not required, please include a sentence that states this clearly.
Please provide specific permit details (permit name, full name of agency that issued the permit, and permit number(s)). If your research did not require permits please include this sentence “All research pertaining to this article did not require any research permit(s).”
Ethics and Permits should be placed in a separate section after Conflict of Interest/Declaration of Interests section (please provide this section only in the Title page!).

References: please group full references alphabetically by author, then chronologically, after the acknowledgements section. If relevant, please include in specific references a DOI number for research papers and other documents available online (https://doi.org/...). Please list all authors of publications, and provide full titles for journals (journal issue number and DOI for released papers with page numbering is optional). Before submitting the manuscript, please check carefully the list of References against each citation in the text of manuscript, tables, annexes and figure captions to ensure that they match exactly.

Please use the following style for the reference list:

1. Regular journal article
Green-Gavrielidis LA, Hobbs N-V, Thornber CS (2019) The brown macroalga Colpomenia peregrina (Sauvageau, 1927) reaches Rhode Island, USA. BioInvasions Records 8(2): 199-207, https://doi.org/10.3391/bir.2019.8.2.01

Non-English publication (English translation is optional):
Ates R (1998) De druipzakpijp, Didemnum lahillei Hartmeyer, 1909 in Zeeland [The sea squirt Didemnum lahillei Hartmeyer, 1909 in Zeeland]. Het Zeepaard 58(4): 101-110

2. Article in press
Galil BS, Marchini A, Occhipinti-Ambrogi A (2016) East is East and west is west? Management of marine bioinvasions in the Mediterranean Sea. Estuarine Coastal and Marine Science, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2015.12.021

3. Book, authored
Elton CS (1958) The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. Methuen, London, England, 181 pp, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7214-9
Eales NB (1961) The Littoral Fauna of the British Isles, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 306 pp

4. Book, edited
F. Gherardi (ed) (2007) Biological Invaders in Inland Waters: Profiles, Distribution and Threats. Invading Nature - Springer Series in Invasion Ecology, Volume 2. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 733 pp, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6029-8

5. Book articles
Ojaveer H, Leppäkoski E, Olenin S, Ricciardi A (2002) Ecological impacts of alien species in the Baltic Sea and in the Great Lakes: an inter-ecosystem comparison. In: Leppäkoski E, Gollasch S, Olenin S (eds), Invasive Aquatic Species of Europe: Distributions, Impacts, and Management. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 412-425, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9956-6_41

6. Book, conference proceedings
Osman R, Shirley T (eds) (2007) Proceedings and Final Report of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Marine Invasive Species Workshop. Corpus Christi, USA, February 26-27, 2007. Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Corpus Christi, USA, 47 pp

7. Article in conference proceedings book
Miller W (2007) Shipping vectors within the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean: ballast water and hull fouling. In: Osman R, ShirleyT (eds) (2007) Proceedings and Final Report of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Marine Invasive Species Workshop. Corpus Christi, USA, February 26-27, 2007. Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Corpus Christi, USA, pp 12-13

8. Reports and official documents
By author:
Smeets E, Weterings R (1999) Environmental indicators: Typology and overview. European Environment Agency (EEA). EEA Technical report No 25, 19 pp

By institutional author:
European Community (2000) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy. Official Journal of the European Communities L327: 1-72

European Community (2006) Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 – and beyond. Sustaining ecosystem services for human well-being. Communication from the Commission of the European Communities COM (2006) 216, Brussels, Belgium, May 22, 2006, 15 pp

9. Theses
Gumuliauskaitė S (2007) Life history of the Ponto-Caspian amphipod, Pontogammarus robustoides, and its impact on Lithuania's freshwater communities. PhD Thesis, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania, 39 pp

10. Web sites and online databases (should be provided in the separate section or as part of supplementary material)
REABIC (2009) Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre (REABIC). http://www.reabic.net  (accessed 15 December 2008)

Birnbaum C (2006) NOBANIS – Invasive Alien Species Fact Sheet – Dreissena polymorpha. Online Database of the North European and Baltic Network on Invasive Alien Species – NOBANIS. http://www.nobanis.org  (accessed 10 January 2009)

11. Computer programmes and databases (should be provided in the separate section or as part of supplementary material)
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (2007) Hydrographic database of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

Supplementary information regularly should include extended datasets in tabular format, specifically, geo-referenced species record information. In the latter case we encourage authors to cross-reference distribution maps and record information in supplementary tables providing relevant cross-numbering of record points on the map and record line in the supplementary table. Column headings should be clearly labelled. Geographic coordinates should be provided in decimal degrees (DD) format ( PGC Coordinate Converter). Please refer to each supplementary table, figure or other material in the text of manuscript as Table S1, Table S2, Figure S1, Figure S2, Appendix 1, 2 etc).
Supplementary information can also include lists of web sites and online databases cited in text, and full bibliographic references for supplementary tables and figures).

 

Important note: Please provide list of all supplementary tables and figures after References section, and include in this list only brief versions of titles of these figures and tables (one brief sentence). Full titles should be available in separate files with supplementary figures (single Word file) and supplementary tables (single Excel file with specific tables in the separate spreadsheets).  

Important note: Authors are highly encouraged to deposit species records (for papers on species records and/or distribution) and checklists of non-native species (for relevant review or data papers) to the species repository of the Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre (REABIC). Standard Excel tables with recommended formats for data submission to REABIC can be downloaded here Species_records_format_example.xls, Checklist_format_example.xls. Deposition of your species record data and/or checklists of non-native species in the REABIC repository will greatly contribute to both the scientific value and visibility of your paper and may enhance both the citation rate of your paper and the impact factor of the journal. 

Important note: Nucleic acid sequences also should be deposited in an appropriate database (i.e. GenBank) in time for the accession number to be included in the published article.  

Important note: in case your separate files with supplementary materials exceed 1 Mb size and you are not able to submit them online, please contact the Managing Editor of BioInvasions Records, Dr. Vadim Panov (bir_submissions@reabic.net or vepanov@gmail.com).  

 

Manuscript processing after submission

Reviewing process
Approximately two weeks after submission, the responsible Thematic editor may contact authors by e-mail, either in the case of any problems with a submitted manuscript, and/or to acknowledge successful submission and also notify authors regarding the start of the reviewing process. In case authors do not receive confirmation of initial submission after three weeks, they are kindly requested to contact the Managing Editor of the journal, Dr. Vadim Panov (bir_editor@reabic.net or vepanov@gmail.com).
Up to 20% of papers submitted to BioInvasions Records are rejected without review. This reduces the burden on the refereeing community and enables authors to submit, without delay, to another journal.
In some cases our editors may recommend re-submission of relevant manuscripts to other thematic REABIC journals, Management of Biological Invasions or Aquatic Invasions
Submitted manuscripts that pass the initial assessment will be assigned to one of our Associate Editors (the manuscript handling editor).
After acknowledgment of successful submission, the handling editor will contact at least 2 independent referees to review the manuscript and provide comments (referees will be selected from experts suggested by the authors and/or other relevant experts). Normally, selected reviewers are required to complete their reviews within 30 days, including evaluations, suggestions for improvements and recommendation for acceptance or rejection of manuscripts. In the case of all reviews, the responsible editor will send the corresponding author a decision letter along with detailed comments from referees.

Important note: BioInvasions Records uses double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process.  


Submission of revised manuscripts
After receiving a positive decision letter from the responsible editor (publication decision) and comments from the referees, authors are required to return the revised manuscript along with a detailed response letter to referees comments within one month or less in the case of minor revisions (authors are kindly requested to reply to all reviewers' suggestions and/or any reasons for rejecting/modifying/improving all or any part of their specific suggestions). Delayed revisions may be treated as new submissions and sent for further evaluation by new referees unless an extension to the revision period has been agreed both with responsible (handling) and thematic editors.

Also, submission of high resolution figures in separate files also may be requested in some cases.

Revised manuscripts should be submitted online at https://www.editorialmanager.com/bioinv/.

Please make a note “Revised Version, Date“ in the first line of your revised documents.

File names of submitted documents should include names of document type, word “revision” and date of submission of revised document (e.g. Title_page_revised_year_month_date.doc).
 

Important note: Please keep your anonymity and delete name of document owner (in file properties).  

Manuscripts will be considered as formally accepted only after the approval of the revised version by the responsible Thematic Deputy Editor-in-Chief, who may also contact the authors with additional comments.
Authors will receive a formal acceptance letter (final publication decision) of the revised manuscript by e-mail.

Paper proofs and publication
Paper proofs will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author soon after final publication decision, and authors are kindly requested to return as soon as possible the revised proofs electronically to bir_submissions@reabic.net, indicating “revised proof” in the “Subject” line of your e-mail message. Normally the paper will be placed on the BioInvasions Records website soon after receipt of the revised proof (in around 1 week).
The final version of paper (with journal volume, issue, page and DOI numbers assigned) will be released within 3 months of submission of corrected proofs.

Important note: Please do not contact scientific editors on any technical issues after final publication decision. Information on the situation with technical processing of accepted papers can be obtained from the Managing Editor of BioInvasions Records, Dr. Vadim Panov (bir_submissions@reabic.net, vepanov@gmail.com).


Ethics Statement for work involving animals

For all research involving animals authors are required to provide evidence of ethical approval. If this is not available then authors must explain why in their cover letter. Authors must also demonstrate in their manuscript that the use of animals was justified and that both the number of animals used and animal suffering were minimised as much as possible. For more detailed general guidelines on the use of animals in research please see this document.

Article Processing Charges

The Open Access policy of BioInvasions Records means that authors retain the copyright of their articles, which can be copied, downloaded and freely distributed within society (for more information on editorial policy of BioInvasions Records please see Journal Information page). This also ensures free web access to the results of research and maximum visibility for published papers. However it requires the author to pay the costs of the review and editing process, typesetting, web publication, long term archiving and inclusion in CrossRef (enabling electronic citation in other journals that are available electronically). Article processing charges (APCs) for authors (along with support from relevant funding institutions) represent the main funding source for Open Access journals. According to this funding model, papers selected for publication in BioInvasions Records are subject to article processing charge (APC) of €70 Euro per printed journal page. A minimum APC of €840 Euro is fixed for papers smaller than 12 printed pages (for size of printed journal page please read Types of manuscripts section above).    


As the publisher of BioInvasions Records, the Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre (REABIC), is VAT (Value Added Tax) registered, this means we have to charge some of our European customers VAT (currently 24.0 per cent) on top of the original APC rate. VAT is applicable only for VAT non-registered customers based within the European Union.


Normally, by submitting a manuscript to BioInvasions Records, authors agree to pay APCs if their manuscript is accepted for publication. Authors will receive APC form (invoice) along with paper proofs and asked to return payment with submission of their proof corrections. APCs must be paid within one month of the invoice date via bank transfer (preferable option for authors from European Union countries), credit card (VISA or MasterCard, preferable option for authors from non-European Union countries) or as a PayPal transfer.

Discounts for APCs are available only for submitting (corresponding) authors, members of the International Association for Open Knowledge on Invasive Alien Species (INVASIVESNET). Specifically, all Associate individual members of INVASIVESNET are eligible for 20% discounts, and up to 30% discounts are available for INVASIVESNET members from low income countries (“low income” - see this reference and “low middle income” - see this reference countries, as defined by the World Bank), students (only in case of payment from their personal funds), retired scientists (only in case of payment from their personal funds) and for members who actively participate in the editorial process of the journal.
Up to 50 % discounts will be also offered for Regular individual members (i.e. Regular organizational members of INVASIVESNET). You can find information on INVASIVESNET membership at​ https://www.invasivesnet.org

Publication of supplementary material is free of APCs.


Additional information

Additional technical information on manuscript submissions and article processing charges can be obtained from the Managing Editor of BioInvasions Records, Dr. Vadim Panov (bir_submissions@reabic.net, or vepanov@gmail.com).