For editors and conference organizers (Proposals submission)
Nature and Evolution: Proceedings (NEP) publishes volumes derived from conferences, workshops, and symposia proceedings. The volumes are composed of chapters referred to as original research, and reviews in the form of full and short papers. However, short papers should not exceed 30% of the entire volume. Other paper typologies like posters, demos, etc. will be listed in the proceedings volume, but they will not be indexed as individual documents. For those who are organizing a conference and are interested in publishing their proceedings in NEP, feel free to complete this proposal form and send it to nep.proceedings@colnes.org.
In exceptional situations, proceedings of past events can be considered.
For authors (chapters preparation)
1 Aims and scope
NEP is a book series oriented to (not limited to) the fields of biology, zoology, evolution, and plant science.
2 Before you submit
2.1 Editorial policies
NEP ensures the publication of high-quality content derived from transparent and trusted research practices. NEP follows all the guidelines and best publication practices defined by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE).
2.1.1 Authorship
NEP demands that all authors listed in the chapters have taken real responsibility during the research process and manuscript creation. We encourage the corresponding authors, project leaders, or institutions to avoid adding people who did not contribute to the research output (Gift authors) or to exclude people who did contribute and its name is not finally included (Ghost authors). To prevent this, it is strongly recommended to decide the authorship before project writing.
Before considering a paper for possible publication, a decision needs to be made regarding the definition of the ‘corresponding author’ and the ‘order of authors’. The corresponding author will play an administrative role since he/she will be contacted by the Editorial Office during the manuscript evaluation, production, and post-publication processes.
2.1.2 Conflict of interest
A Conflict of Interest (COI) takes place when authors have personal, academic, or financial relationships with third parties that could influence the content of research work submitted for publication.
At the time to submit a book or chapter, authors are requested to complete the COI Statement by which all potential interests are declared, if applicable. Through this statement, the following issues might be declared:
These are some examples of COI statements:
If there is no conflict of interest, the authors must declare:
2.1.3 Research data, reproducibility, and transparency (If applicable)
The authors are encouraged to share the data behind the research work. The NEP policy is to make all scientific data of open access since we follow the Guidelines on Open Access to Scientific Publications and Research Data defined by the European Commission.
The data sharing process can occur in the following ways:
Citations to research data should appear in the full text in the reference section. Authors need to follow the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles to provide the correct citation and referencing of the data.
2.1.4 Statement of data consent (If applicable)
To make science more transparent, open, and reproducible, NEP encourages its authors to submit a data statement; which will be publicly available. These are some examples:
2.1.5 Open access and copyright
All chapters published by NEP are of open access, meaning they are freely available without any kind of subscription or restriction. Chapters are published under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits the sharing and adaptation of the material as long as appropriate credit be given, a link to the license be provided, and all changes are indicated. More information about this license can be found here.
2.1.5 Publication fees
There is no fee or charges applied for volume processing and/or publication in NEP.
3 Book and chapter preparation
3.1 Book structure
Frontmatter:
Parts:
Back matter:
3.2 Chapter structure
3.3 Text
3.4 Additional files
3.5 Language
NEP accepts contributions in the English, Spanish, and Portuguese languages. Please consider the following issues:
3.6 Abstract
Abstracts should contain between 150 to 200 words and they will be mandatory for the chapters derived from proceedings. In the case of monographs, abstracts will be optional, but we encourage authors to include abstracts in the chapters. For those chapters written in NEP and Portuguese languages, an English abstract will be required.
3.7 Keywords
Please provide 3 to 6 keywords that represent the content of the chapter. The usage of keywords will be mandatory for the chapters derived from proceedings. In the case of monographs, the abstracts will be optional. For those chapters written in Spanish and Portuguese languages, an English abstract will be required.
3.8 Tables
3.9 Figures
3.10 Abbreviations
Non-standard abbreviations in the field should be defined at first mention in the text. Please avoid abbreviations in the title, abstract, and keywords.
3.11 Footnotes
Footnotes can be used to provide additional information to the text, tables, and figures. They should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript.
3.12 References
NEP follows the reference style of the American Psychological Association (APA 6th edition).
3.12.1 In-text citations
Citations in text must appear in the reference list and vice versa. Here are some examples:
Smith (2004) considers …
Smith and Kim (2004) consider …
Smith et al. (2004) consider …
... a technique widely employed in previous studies (Smith, 2004; Smith & Kim, 2004; Smith et al., 2004).
3.12.2 Reference list
Journal article
Osman, M. (2010). Controlling uncertainty: A review of human behavior in complex dynamic environments. Psychological Bulletin, 136(1), 65-86. doi:10.1037/a0017815
Book
Berkman, R. I. (1994). Find it fast: How to uncover expert information. New York, NY: Harper Perrenial.
Book chapter
Baker, F. M., & Lightfoot, O. B. (1993). Psychiatric care of ethnic elders. In A. C. Gaw (Ed.), Culture, ethnicity, and mental illness (pp. 517-552). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.
Conference paper
Bowden, F.J., & Fairley, C.K. (1996, June). Endemic STDs in the Northern Territory: Estimations of effective rates of partner change. Paper presented at the Scientific Meeting of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, Darwin.
Website
Atherton, J. (2005). Behaviour modification. Retrieved from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/behaviour_mod.htm
Thesis
Rahman, M. (2013). Using authentic materials in the writing classes: Tertiary level scenario. (Unpublished master's thesis). BRAC University, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
In case you are referencing sources not displayed above, we recommend you to visit this website for more examples.
3.13 Funding
In case the research has received funds, please declare the following: This research has received funds by [Institution name or equivalent] (grant number).
3.14 Appendices
Appendices should be placed after references. Whether these are in a table or figure format, they must be numbered consecutively.
4 Post-submission
For those conference organizers who wish to use the editorial management system of this series, they will need to adhere to our peer review procedures. Once a chapter is submitted, the Volume Editor in coordination with the Series Editor will check its relevance to the series, completeness of metadata and content, such as technical quality and presentation. At this stage, the editors might reject the chapter if he/she considers it not suitable for peer review.
When the Volume Editor moves the chapter to the peer review phase, two external reviewers of considerable expertise in the field and, who are willing to collaborate, will be assigned. Reviewers perform voluntary work; nevertheless, they are asked to consider timeliness, confidentiality, possible conflict of interests, and ethical behavior.
Once the review process is completed, the Volume Editor in coordination with the Series Editor makes a final decision, which can be one of the following:
When the chapters are ‘considered with minor revisions’, ‘considered with major revisions’ or ‘rejected’, the author(s) will receive the comments resulting from the evaluation process. Those authors whose chapters are accepted in their current form may receive comments regarding the series’s guidelines to publish the final version.
The review process is closed when, after all the required review rounds, the author(s) addresses all the comments raised by the reviewers and/or editors.
5 After acceptance
5.1 Proofreading
Once the chapter is ready for publication, authors will receive proofs to check the completeness of the text. Authors are asked to revise the entire content structure, author(s) information, numbering of figures and tables, references, as well as other issues. Please note that this is a critical stage as, after proofreading, the chapter will be published without further changes.