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Tropical Conservation Science

Tropical Conservation Science


eISSN: 19400829 | ISSN: 19400829 | Current volume: 16 | Current issue: 1 Frequency: Yearly

Journal Highlights

  • Impact Factor: 1.7
  • Indexed in key databases, including: Web of Science (Journal Citation Reports), Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), SCOPUS, EBSCO, and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
  • Publication is subject to payment of an article processing charge.
  • Submit your next paper.

Tropical Conservation Science (TCS) is a peer reviewed open access journal which focuses on the conservation of tropical ecosystems. Please see our Aims and Scope for further information.
This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Submission Information

Submit your manuscript today at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/trc.
Please review the Submission Guidelines for more information on how to submit your article to the journal.

Open access article processing charge (APC) information

Publication in the journal is subject to payment of an APC. The APC serves to support the journal and ensures that articles are freely accessible online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

The APC for this journal is currently 2000 USD.

The APC is payable when a manuscript is accepted after peer review, before it is published. The APC is subject to taxes where applicable. Please read our FAQs for further details.

Why Publish Open Access in Tropical Conservation Science

  • Visibility and Impact: Anyone anywhere in the world can read, use and cite your research.
  • Rigorous Standards: Single-blind peer review policy.
  • Speed: Avg. 30 days from submission to first decision.
  • Copyright: Authors retain copyright under a Creative Commons License. The standard Tropical Conservation Science license is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial.

Useful Links

Aims and Scope

The main objective of Tropical Conservation Science (TCS) is to bring to light research related to the conservation of tropical ecosystems.

TCS is a peer-reviewed, online, open access journal that provides a forum for original state-of-the-art research of broad interest to tropical conservationists. Short turn-around time from submission to publication is an important feature of the journal. Tropical Conservation Science publishes diverse types of papers, including: Review Articles, Research Articles, Conservation in Action, Short Communications and Opinion Articles.

TCS seeks submissions that investigate conservation problems involving, first and foremost, socio-economic, political and industrial drivers of tropical ecosystem loss and degradation. Equally important to the journal is its aim to stimulate the publication of research that maps, tracks, and assesses drivers of tropical/ecosystem conservation. TCS welcomes studies that examine how nature (e.g. natural resources/biodiversity/geodiversity) is impacted/managed/used/valued by people across the tropics. How can conservation science be positively applied to generate solutions, change behaviors and obtain better conservation outcomes? This can include local studies with broader conservation implications, global scale analysis and insights from comparisons including both tropical and temperate zones.

TCS manuscripts typically report on a wide range of topics including taxonomy, ecology, evolution, behavior, parasitology, epidemiology, and population genetics, for both plant and animal communities, as they relate to tropical conservation. TCS also welcomes manuscripts reporting on social and economic issues related to tropical conservation, such as the impacts of and/or on indigenous people, poverty, population growth, ecological footprint, conservation policy, and pertinent scientific, technological, cultural and religious issues. The journal encourages interdisciplinary papers using a wide range of methods, including modeling, molecular biology, epidemiology, ecology and/or evolutionary theory, to analyze, assess and discuss vital tropical conservation issues.

Manuscript Submission 

  • Submit your manuscript at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/trc 
  • Please refer to the Submission Guidelines for more information before submitting your manuscript. 
  • We encourage authors to include photographs and videos of the landscapes, flora and/or fauna they have studied. Photos can be arranged as mosaics that should be treated as figures and credits for the photographs should be provided in the figure legend. 
  • Article Processing Charge (APC) of 2000 USD.
  • If the corresponding author on a manuscript is doing research at an institution in country listed in Group A or B of the Research4Life lists, the APC for the submission will automatically be fully waived. 
  • Copyright: Authors retain copyright under a Creative Commons License. The standard Tropical Conservation Science license is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC 3.0), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial.
Editor in Chief
Dr. Sophie Calmé Université de Sherbrooke, Canada
Managing Editor
Dr. Sarah Bologna Independent Consultant, Co. Cork, Ireland
Associate Editors
Dr. Ellen Andresen Ecosystem and Sustainability Research, UNAM, Mexico
Dr. Norberto Asensio University of the Basque Country, Spain
Dr. Renee Bellinger U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, Hawai'i
Dr. Claudia Benham The University of Queensland, Australia
Dr. Júlio César Bicca-Marques Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Dr. Sarah Boyle Rhodes College, USA
Dr. Erin Buchholtz US Geological Survey Fort Collins Science Center, USA
Dr. Eliana Cazetta Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC, Brazil
Dr. Adriano Garcia Chiarello University of São Paolo, Brazil
Dr. Kenneth Clarke University of Adelaide, Australia
Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo Stanford University, USA
Dr. Hope M. Draheim USFWS OLE National Fish and Wildlife Forensic Laboratory, USA
Dr. Christine Dranzoa Makerere University, Uganda
Dr. Juan Manuel Dupuy Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan, A.C., Mexico
Dr. Thaise Emilio University of Campinas, Brazil
Dr. Paul Garber University of Illinois-Urbana, USA
Dr. Eduardo García Frapolli Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, Mexico
Dr. Holly Gibbs University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Dr. Angela Guerrero Stockholm University, Sweden
Dr. Alice Hughes School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong, China
Dr. Chen Jin Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Gardens, China
Prof. Beth A. Kaplin University of Rwanda, Rwanda
Dr. Waseem Razzaq Khan Department of Forestry Science, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Dr. Inza Kone L'Université Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Côte d'Ivoire
Dr. Martin Kowaleski Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, Argentina
Dr. Joanna Lambert University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Dr. Andrew Marshall University of York, UK
Dr. Fernanda Michalski Universidade Federal do Amapa, Brazil
Dr. Salvador Montiel CINVESTAV-Mérida, Mexico
Dr. Mariana Morais Vidal Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC/Fiocruz), Brazil
Dr. Mariana Munguía-Carrara Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad (CONABIO ), Mexico
Dr. Eduardo Naranjo El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Mexico
Dr. Patrick Omeja Makerere University, Uganda
Dr. N. Parthasarathy Pondicherry University, India
Dr. Johanne Pelletier Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University, USA
Dr. Fan Peng-Fei Sun Yat-sen University, China
Dr. Dewi M. Prawiradilaga Museum Zoologicum Bogoriense, Research Centre for Biology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Indonesia
Dr. Katherine Renton Institute of Biology, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
Dr. Innocent Rwego Makerere University, Uganda
Dr. Cagan Sekercioglu Stanford University, USA
Dr. Roisin Stanbrook University of Central Florida, USA
Dr. Kathryn Stoner Texas A & M University, USA
Dr. Jatna Supriatna University of Indonesia, Indonesia
Dr. Nicolas Urbina Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Columbia
Dr. Kevina Vulinec Delaware State University, USA
Editor Emeritus
Dr. Darren Norris Universidade Federal do Amapa, Brazil
Dr. Alejandro Estrada Estación de Biología Tropical Los Tuxtlas, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
In Memoriam
Dr. Ben Collen Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, UK
  • Clarivate Analytics: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • EBSCOhost
  • EBSCOhost: Biological Abstracts (Online)
  • ProQuest
  • ProQuest: Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management
  • Scopus
  • Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)
  • This Journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics.

    This Journal recommends that authors follow the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals formulated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

    Please read the guidelines below then visit the journal’s submission site https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/trc to upload your manuscript. Please note that manuscripts not conforming to these guidelines may be returned.

    Only manuscripts of sufficient quality that meet the aims and scope of Tropical Conservation Science (TRC) will be reviewed. Manuscripts must have clear Implications for Conservation and authors should check for existing evidence for any intervention. A good place to check for existing evidence relating to conservation interventions is the database found at Conservation Evidence (https://www.conservationevidence.com/).

    As part of the submission process you will be required to warrant that you are submitting your original work, that you have the rights in the work, that you are submitting the work for first publication in the Journal and that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere and has not already been published elsewhere, and that you have obtained and can supply all necessary permissions for the reproduction of any copyright works not owned by you.

    Please Read the Manuscript Submission Guidelines below before submitting your manuscript here:
    SUBMIT MANUSCRIPT

     

    1. Open Access
    2. Article processing charge (APC)
    3. What do we publish?
      3.1 Aims & scope
      3.2 Article types
      3.2.1 Structure
      3.3 Writing your paper
      3.3.1 Making your article discoverable 
    4. Editorial policies
      4.1 Peer Review Policy
      4.2 Authorship
      4.3 Acknowledgements
      4.3.1 Writing assistance
      4.4 Funding
      4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests
      4.6 Research ethics and patient consent
      4.7 Clinical Trials
      4.8 Reporting guidelines
      4.9 Research data
    5. Publishing policies
      5.1 Publication ethics
      5.1.1 Plagiarism
      5.1.2 Prior publication
      5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement
      5.3 Permissions
    6. Preparing your manuscript
      6.1 Word processing formats
      6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics
      6.3 Supplemental material
      6.4 Reference style
      6.5 English language editing services
    7. Submitting your manuscript
      7.1 How to submit your manuscript
      7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts
      7.3 Information required for completing your submission
      7.4 Additional important guidelines
      7.4.1 Species common names
      7.4.2 Graduate students
      7.5 ORCID
      7.6 Permissions
    8. On acceptance and publication
      8.1 SAGE Production
      8.2 Continuous publication
      8.3 Promoting your article
    9. Further information

    1. Open Access

    Tropical Conservation Science is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. Each article accepted by peer review is made freely available online immediately upon publication, is published under a Creative Commons license and will be hosted online in perpetuity. Publication costs of the journal are covered by the collection of article processing charges which are paid by the funder, institution or author of each manuscript upon acceptance. There is no charge for submitting a paper to the journal.

    For general information on open access at SAGE please visit the Open Access page or view our Open Access FAQs.

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    2. Article processing charge (APC)

    If, after peer review, your manuscript is accepted for publication, a one-time article processing charge (APC) is payable. This APC covers the cost of publication and ensures that your article will be freely available online in perpetuity under a Creative Commons license.

    Please note: The APC for this journal is $2,000 USD.

    Please note that waivers may apply if the corresponding author on a submission is doing research at an institution in a country on the Research4Life Group A or B lists. You can view the currents lists here.

    If you do not qualify for Research4Life but genuinely cannot afford an APC, please visit here for more information.

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    3. What do we publish?

    3.1 Aims & scope

    Before submitting your manuscript to Tropical Conservation Science please ensure you have read the Aims & Scope.

    3.2 Article types

    Tropical Conservation Science will publish the following types of papers:

    • Research Articles
    • Review Articles
    • Systematic Reviews
    • Conservation in Action
    • Opinion Articles
    • Short Communications
    • Commentaries (invitation-only)
    • Perspectives (invitation-only)

    A clear Implications for Conservation section is required for Research Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Conservation in Action and Short Communications. If a conservation intervention was tested, provide a least a sentence summarizing the evidence related to the intervention in the introduction. If there is no previously published evidence, please state that. A good place to check for existing evidence relating to conservation interventions is the database found at https://www.conservationevidence.com/
    We encourage authors to include photographs of the landscapes, flora and/or fauna they have studied. These can be arranged as photo mosaics using a table from MS Word. The mosaics should be treated as figures and credits for the photographs should be provided in the figure legend. Photos provided in color will be published online in color at no additional charge.

    All submitted articles should be in English.

    Research Articles should be regular research papers and/or synopsis/reviews of particular topics. The maximum length is 8,000 words, not including references. They must have a structured abstract of no more than 300 words with the following sections: Background and Research Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Implications for Conservation. Example articles: here, here, here and here.

    Review Articles should comprise a review of the state of knowledge regarding a regional or a country-wide or a continental or a global conservation problem. The maximum length is 12,000 words, not including references. They should have an structured abstract of no more than 300 words. Example articles: here, here, here, here and here.

    Systematic reviews focus on a clearly formulated question, using systematic methods to appraise relevant research. Systematic Reviews must include a completed PRISMA checklist and flow chart (see section 4.8). The maximum length is 8,000 words, not including references. They should have a structured abstract of no more than 300 words.

    Conservation in Action is the vehicle to communicate about project designs of broad relevance for conservation, techniques, methodologies and use of innovating technologies for conservation, modelling for conservation, GIS applications, among others. Conservation in Action submission can also deal with general and specific approaches or concepts to conservation which are innovating. The maximum length is 8,000 words, not including references. They must have a structured abstract of no more than 300 words with the following sections: Background and Research Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Implications for Conservation. Example articles: here, here, here, here and here.

    Opinion articles should be non-traditional and have as a central theme something like "critical thinking," whether it is a taxonomic, conservation policy, ecological, physiological or historical article. These types of papers would aim to be a bit edgy and promote thinking by moving into the next paradigm even when traditional journals refuse to move there. Such approach could promote discussions, disagreements and advances in thinking. Opinion articles may be written in free form and the maximum length is 4,000 words, not including references. Example articles: here, here and here.

    Short communications may report results of brief studies and/or assessments related to conservation issues. The maximum length is 2,000 words, not including references. They must have a structured abstract of no more than 300 words with the following sections: Background and Research Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Implications for Conservation. Example articles: hereherehereherehere and here.

    Commentaries are by invitation only. These are short summaries of significant recent and forthcoming papers, published elsewhere, that provide additional insights, new interpretations or speculation on the relevant topic. These manuscripts may include models, which due to space limitations were not included or discussed in the original paper. Commentaries may be written in free form and should include the bstract of the original paper. They should be under 1,200 words with no abstract and have no more than 10 references. Please include keywords for indexing purposes. Figures are encouraged, but no more than three. Please give your commentary a brief title and add the phrase “Comment on (citation to your original article).” underneath the keywords. Commentary material may be peer reviewed at the editor’s discretion.

    Perspectives are by invitation only. These are short (up to 1,500 words and 1 figure, no more than 25 references, no abstract) pieces that highlight recent research as it relates to the author’s previous research. These should add to the research and avoid simply summarizing the findings. They can discuss the interdisciplinary importance of the research or how they believe the topic will develop in the future.

    3.2.1 Structure

    The following structure should be followed for Research Articles and Short Communications.

    • Abstract*
    • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion
    • Implications for Conservation
    • Acknowledgements
    • References
    • Tables
    • Figures
    • Appendices

    *Limit 300 words.The abstract should clearly present the following sections: Background and Research Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Implications for Conservation. Please note that as of May 2021 all abstracts must be structured.

    Review Articles, Conservation in Action and Opinion Articles have an open choice structure, but need to adhere to the rest of the guidelines.

    A clear Implications for Conservation section is required for Research Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, Conservation in Action and Short Communications. If a conservation intervention was tested, provide a least a sentence summarizing the evidence related to the intervention in the introduction. If there is no previously published evidence, please state that. A good place to check for existing evidence relating to conservation interventions is the database found at https://www.conservationevidence.com/.
     

    3.3 Writing your paper

    The SAGE Author Gateway has some general advice and on how to get published, plus links to further resources. SAGE Author Services also offers authors a variety of ways to improve and enhance their article including English language editing, plagiarism detection, and video abstract and infographic preparation.

    3.3.1 Making your article discoverable 

    When writing up your paper, think about how you can make it discoverable. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article through search engines such as Google. For information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords, have a look at this page on the Gateway: How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online

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    4. Editorial policies

    Editorial decisions are based on the technical and scientific quality of the submission and its fit with the aims and scope of Tropical Conservation Science. 

    English language/grammar/linguistic fluency issues are not a reason for rejection. Authors should ensure that the text is sufficiently clear so it can be fairly evaluated by international reviewers (all reviewers share their time and expertise for free). To help ensure a swift and robust review process the editorial team may return submissions to authors with guidance for language improvements prior to peer review.

    There is a four step editorial process. Firstly submissions are evaluated by the Managing Editor to ensure content follows author guidelines and submission requirements. Secondly, members of the Editorial Board assess appropriateness for review (approximately 10% of submissions are returned to authors at this stage). Thirdly submissions are sent to single-blind peer review. Guidelines are provided to ensure reviewers complete fair and robust evaluations (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/journal-reviewer-gateway). Finally the Associate Editor makes a recommendation based the peer reviews and the Editor-in-Chief then makes the final decision based on these recommendations. 
     

    4.1 Peer review policy

    SAGE does not permit the use of author-suggested (recommended) reviewers at any stage of the submission process, be that through the web-based submission system or other communication. 
    Reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript. Our policy is that reviewers should not be assigned to a paper if:

    •  The reviewer is based at the same institution as any of the co-authors
    •  The reviewer is based at the funding body of the paper
    •  The author has recommended the reviewer
    •  The reviewer has provided a personal (e.g. Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail) email account and an institutional email account cannot be found after performing a basic Google search (name, department and institution). 

    Tropical Conservation Science is committed to delivering high quality, fast peer-review for your paper, and as such has partnered with Publons. Publons is a third party service that seeks to track, verify and give credit for peer review. Reviewers for Tropical Conservation Science can opt in to Publons in order to claim their reviews or have them automatically verified and added to their reviewer profile. Reviewers claiming credit for their review will be associated with the relevant journal, but the article name, reviewer’s decision and the content of their review is not published on the site. For more information visit the Publons website.

    4.2 Authorship

    Papers should only be submitted for consideration once consent is given by all contributing authors. Those submitting papers should carefully check that all those whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors. The list of authors should include all those who can legitimately claim authorship. This is all those who:

    (i) Made a substantial contribution to the concept or design of the work; or acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data, (ii) Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content, (iii) Approved the version to be published, (iv) Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

    Authors should meet the conditions of all of the points above. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content. Any changes to the authorship of a paper at any point after the initial submission will require written agreement from all of the authors on the submission.

    When a large, multicentre group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship.

    Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship, although all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines for more information on authorship.

    Please note that AI chatbots, for example ChatGPT, should not be listed as authors. For more information see the policy on Use of ChatGPT and generative AI tools.

    4.3 Acknowledgements

    All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in an Acknowledgements section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help, or a department chair who provided only general support.

    Any acknowledgements should appear first at the end of your article prior to your Declaration of Conflicting Interests (if applicable), any notes and your References.

    4.3.1 Third party submissions

    Where an individual who is not listed as an author submits a manuscript on behalf of the author(s), a statement must be included in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript and in the accompanying cover letter. The statements must:

    • Disclose this type of editorial assistance – including the individual’s name, company and level of input
    • Identify any entities that paid for this assistance
    • Confirm that the listed authors have authorized the submission of their manuscript via third party and approved any statements or declarations, e.g. conflicting interests, funding, etc.

    Where appropriate, SAGE reserves the right to deny consideration to manuscripts submitted by a third party rather than by the authors themselves.

    4.3.2 Writing assistance

    Individuals who provided writing services, for example, from a specialist communications company, do not qualify as authors and must be declared at the time of submission and may be included in the Acknowledgements section. Authors must disclose any writing services received – including the individual’s name, company and level of input– and identify the entity that paid for this assistance. If you have received informal writing assistance from a friend or colleague you may choose to include them in the Acknowledgements section though it is not mandatory. 

    4.4 Funding

    Tropical Conservation Science requires all authors to acknowledge their funding in a consistent fashion under a separate heading. Please visit the Funding Acknowledgements page on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway to confirm the format of the acknowledgment text in the event of funding, or state that: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    4.5 Declaration of conflicting interests

    It is the policy of Tropical Conservation Science to require a declaration of conflicting interests from all authors enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated pages of all published articles.

    Please ensure that a ‘Declaration of Conflicting Interests’ statement is included at the end of your manuscript, after any acknowledgements and prior to the references. If no conflict exists, please state that ‘The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest’.

    For guidance on conflict of interest statements, please see the ICMJE recommendations.

    4.6 Research ethics and patient consent

    Medical research involving human subjects must be conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.

    Submitted manuscripts should conform to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, and all papers reporting animal and/or human studies must state in the methods section that the relevant Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board provided (or waived) approval. Please ensure that you have provided the full name and institution of the review committee, in addition to the approval number.

    For research articles, authors are also required to state in the methods section whether participants provided informed consent and whether the consent was written or verbal.

    Information on informed consent to report individual cases or case series should be included in the manuscript text. A statement is required regarding whether written informed consent for patient information and images to be published was provided by the patient(s) or a legally authorized representative. Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The Journal requests that you confirm to us, in writing, that you have obtained written informed consent but the written consent itself should be held by the authors/investigators themselves, for example in a patient’s hospital record. The confirmatory letter may be uploaded with your submission as a separate file.

    Please also refer to the ICMJE Recommendations for the Protection of Research Participants.

    See excerpt from the Declaration of Helsinki below: “In any research on human beings, each potential subject must be adequately informed of the aims, methods, anticipated benefits and potential hazards of the study and the discomfort it may entail. He or she should be informed that he or she is at liberty to abstain from participation in the study and that he or she is free to withdraw his or her consent to participation at any time.“

    All research involving animals submitted for publication must be approved by an ethics committee with oversight of the facility in which the studies were conducted. The Journal has adopted the ARRIVE guidelines.

    4.7 Clinical trials

    Tropical Conservation Science conforms to the ICMJE requirement that clinical trials are registered in a WHO-approved public trials registry at or before the time of first patient enrolment as a condition of consideration for publication. The trial registry name and URL, and registration number must be included at the end of the abstract.

    4.8 Reporting Guidelines

    The relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines should be followed depending on the type of study. For example, all randomized controlled trials submitted for publication should include a completed CONSORT flow chart as a cited figure and the completed CONSORT checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. Systematic reviews and metaanalyses should include the completed PRISMA flow chart as a cited figure and the completed PRISMA checklist should be uploaded with your submission as a supplementary file. The EQUATOR wizard can help you identify the appropriate guideline.

    Other resources can be found at NLM’s Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives.

    4.8.1 Statistics

    Tropical Conservation Science requires robust quantitative evidence that often includes statistical assessment. When applying statistics, authors must clearly report sample sizes, the name of statistical measures and tests used, degrees of freedom, measures of variation/uncertainty (error bars, confidence intervals, highest posterior density interval etc.), tests and probability values. Visual presentation is encouraged via clearly produced graphics and figures for effective communication.

    4.9 Research Data

    The journal is committed to facilitating openness, transparency and reproducibility of research, and has the following research data sharing policy. For more information, including FAQs please visit the SAGE Research Data policy pages

    Subject to appropriate ethical and legal considerations, authors are encouraged to:

    • share your research data in a relevant public data repository
    • include a data availability statement linking to your data. If it is not possible to share your data, we encourage you to consider using the statement to explain why it cannot be shared.
    • cite this data in your research

    4.9.1 Mandates for Specific Datasets

    Tropical Conservation Science requires that data be submitted to an appropriate public repository for the below types of datasets. Please note that accession numbers must be provided in the paper. If you have submitted your data to a repository and have not yet received an accession number, please note this in your manuscript - accession numbers must be provided prior to acceptance.

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    5. Publishing policies

    5.1 Publication ethics

    SAGE is committed to upholding the integrity of the academic record. We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics’ International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics page on the SAGE Author Gateway.

    5.1.1 Plagiarism

    Tropical Conservation Science and SAGE take issues of copyright infringement, plagiarism or other breaches of best practice in publication very seriously. We seek to protect the rights of our authors and we always investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. Equally, we seek to protect the reputation of the journal against malpractice. Submitted articles may be checked with duplication-checking software. Where an article, for example, is found to have plagiarized other work or included third-party copyright material without permission or with insufficient acknowledgement, or where the authorship of the article is contested, we reserve the right to take action including, but not limited to: publishing an erratum or corrigendum (correction); retracting the article; taking up the matter with the head of department or dean of the author's institution and/or relevant academic bodies or societies; or taking appropriate legal action.

    5.1.2 Prior publication

    If material has been previously published, it is not generally acceptable for publication in a SAGE journal. However, there are certain circumstances where previously published material can be considered for publication. Please refer to the guidance on the SAGE Author Gateway or if in doubt, contact the Editor at the address given below.

    5.2 Contributor's publishing agreement

    Before publication SAGE requires the author as the rights holder to sign a Journal Contributor’s Publishing Agreement. Tropical Conservation Science publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial. For more information, you are advised to visit SAGE's OA licenses page.

    Alternative license arrangements are available, for example, to meet particular funder mandates, made at the author’s request. 

    5.3 Permissions

    Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

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    6. Preparing your manuscript

    6.1 Word processing formats

    The preferred formats for your manuscript are Word, RTF, XLS. LaTeX files are also accepted. The text should be double-spaced throughout and with a minimum of 3cm for left and right hand margins and 5cm at head and foot. Text should be standard 10 or 12 point. You can download a Word template for Tropical Conservation Science or find a general LaTeX template on the Manuscript Submission Guidelines page of our Author Gateway. This LaTeX template must be formatted to match the above specifications. American English style is preferred. Abbreviations should be spelled out at their first occurrence.

    Units of measurement should be presented simply and concisely using System International (SI) units.

    6.2 Artwork, figures and other graphics

    Figures and tables should be uploaded separately from the main document and each figure/table must be uploaded as an individual file.

    We encourage authors to include photographs of the landscapes, flora and/or fauna they have studied. These can be arranged as photo mosaics using a table from MS Word. The mosaics should be treated as figures and credits for the photographs should be provided in the figure legend. For guidance on the preparation of illustrations, pictures and graphs in electronic format, please visit SAGE’s Manuscript Submission Guidelines

    Figures supplied in color will appear in color online.

    6.3 Supplemental material

    This journal is able to host additional materials online (e.g. datasets, podcasts, videos, images etc) alongside the full-text of the article. These will be subjected to peer-review alongside the article. For more information please refer to our guidelines on submitting supplemental files, which can be found within our Manuscript Submission Guidelines page. 

    6.4 Reference style

    Tropical Conservation Science adheres to the APA reference style. Please review the guidelines on APA to ensure your manuscript conforms to this reference style.

    6.5 English language editing services

    Authors seeking assistance with English language editing, translation, or figure and manuscript formatting to fit the journal’s specifications should consider using SAGE Language Services. Visit SAGE Language Services on our Journal Author Gateway for further information. 

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    7. Submitting your manuscript

    7.1 How to submit your manuscript

    Tropical Conservation Science is hosted on SAGE Track, a web based online submission and peer review system powered by ScholarOne™ Manuscripts. Visit https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/trc.to login and submit your article online.

    IMPORTANT: Please check whether you already have an account in the system before trying to create a new one. If you have reviewed or authored for the journal in the past year it is likely that you will have had an account created. For further guidance on submitting your manuscript online please visit ScholarOne Online Help.

    Manuscripts should be submitted by one of the authors of the manuscript online (.pdf) or Word (.doc, .docx) and should be accompanied by a cover letter.

    Submissions by anyone other than one of the authors will not be accepted. The submitting author takes responsibility for the paper during submission and peer review.

    All questions concerning publication of papers should be addressed to the executive editor at the following addresses: tropicalconservationscience@gmail.com.

    7.2 Title, keywords and abstracts

    Please supply a title, short title, an abstract and keywords to accompany your article. The title, keywords and abstract are key to ensuring readers find your article online through online search engines such as Google. Please refer to the information and guidance on how best to title your article, write your abstract and select your keywords by visiting the SAGE Journal Author Gateway for guidelines on How to Help Readers Find Your Article Online.

    Please note that abstracts should be self-contained, citation-free, and should not exceed 300 words. The abstract should clearly present the context and aim, methods, principal results, interpretation, and application/implications. Abstracts for Original Research, Review, Short Communication, and Conservation in Action articles must be structured using the following sections: Background and Research Aims, Methods, Results, Conclusion, Implications for Conservation. Please note that as of May 2021 all abstracts must be structured.

    7.3 Information required for completing your submission

    You will be asked to provide contact details and academic affiliations for all co-authors via the  submission system and identify who is to be the corresponding author. These details must match  what appears on your manuscript. The affiliation listed on the manuscript should be the institution  where the research was conducted. If an author has moved to a new institution since completing  the research, the new affiliation can be included in a manuscript note at the end of the paper. At  this stage please ensure you have included all the required statements and declarations and  uploaded any additional supplementary files (including reporting guidelines where relevant).

    7.4 Additional important guidelines

    7.4.1 Species common names Whenever possible, species listed in tables and/or text for the first time, should include internationally recognized common names (e.g. IUCN RedList or other). If the topic of the paper is a focal species, its common name should also appear in the title and abstract as well.

    7.4.2 Graduate students Graduate students submitting a manuscript will need to also submit a letter of support from their major adviser. If for some reason this may not be possible, the letter should be written by the Chair of the Department or Faculty in which the author is a student.

    7.5 ORCID

    As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process SAGE is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID. ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

    The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

    If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

    7.6 Permissions

    Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright holders for reproducing any illustrations, tables, figures or lengthy quotations previously published elsewhere. For further information including guidance on fair dealing for criticism and review, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions on the SAGE Journal Author Gateway.

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    8. On acceptance and publication

    If your paper is accepted for publication after peer review, you will first be asked to complete the contributor’s publishing agreement. Once your manuscript files have been check for SAGE Production, the corresponding author will be asked to pay the article processing charge (APC) via a payment link. After the APC has been processed, your article will be prepared for publication and can appear online within an average of 60 days. Please note that no production work will occur on your paper until the APC has been received.

    8.1 SAGE Production

    Your SAGE Production Editor will keep you informed as to your article’s progress throughout the  production process. Proofs will made available to the corresponding author via our editing portal  SAGE Edit, or by email to the corresponding author and should be returned promptly.  Authors are  reminded to check their proofs carefully to confirm that all author information, including names,  affiliations, sequence and contact details are correct, and that Funding and Conflict of Interest  statements, if any, are accurate. 

    8.2 Online publication

    One of the many benefits of publishing your research in an open access journal is the speed to publication. With no page count constraints, your article will be published online in a fully citable form with a DOI number as soon as it has completed the production process. At this time it will be completely free to view and download for all. Articles are batched every quarter and are then available in the Archive.

    8.3 Promoting your article

    Publication is not the end of the process! You can help disseminate your paper and ensure it is as widely read and cited as possible. The SAGE Author Gateway has numerous resources to help you promote your work. Visit the Promote Your Article page on the Gateway for tips and advice.

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    9. Further information

    Any correspondence, queries or additional requests for information on the Manuscript Submission process should be sent to the Tropical Conservation Science editorial office as follows:

    managingeditortcs@gmail.com

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