Earth Stewardship Author Guidelines

General Information

Earth may be approaching a tipping point toward either irreversible degradation and climate warming or toward a more societally engaged commitment to sustainable futures. At Earth Stewardship we invite contributions that:

  1. Address those dynamics of civil engagement in learning and acting on behalf of nature and society grounded on environmental justice and ethics; and
  2. Focus on the processes and dynamics that link the integration of different knowledge systems to action through the consideration of many perspectives, including the natural and social sciences and humanities, as well as technical, practitioner, traditional local environmental, and Indigenous knowledges.

At Earth Stewardship we provide a platform for the Ecological Society of America’s (ESA’s) values and recognition that scientists have an obligation to engage managers, policy makers and civil society in co-producing the knowledge and actions needed to shape a more favorable future for nature and society on planet Earth. Hence, Earth Stewardship responds to the most pressing scientific issues of our time; this requires new frameworks, concepts, tools, and collaborations that go beyond the traditional bounds of ecology, experimentation, and statistical analysis.

At Earth Stewardship we establish a yet-missing interface and invite diverse and innovative evidence and testimony on how scientists and society at large can collaborate to shape the future of our planet, at local to global scales.

The Earth Stewardship editorial team embraces ESA’s goals for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ). At Earth Stewardship we recognize the presence of institutionalized biases and the historical lack of diversity in scholarly publishing, including acute biases based on race, gender, geography, and age that have affected ecology and other life sciences. We therefore especially encourage the submission of manuscripts by historically underrepresented members of the international communities of science and practice and ask prospective authors to consider sharing relevant (anonymous) demographic information upon submission, which will help us broadly assess and further invoke diverse authorship in the context of achieving DEIJ goals.

At Earth Stewardship, we expect high author diversity representing a breadth of knowledge systems (academic, local, environmental, Indigenous, practitioners, institutional, organizational) and playing key roles in decision-making. We invite diverse contributions deriving from inter- and transdisciplinary research with explicit and broad stakeholder engagement in research, and representation in authorship. 

Author profile and contribution:

In Earth Stewardship, we recognize the importance of transdisciplinary research and partnership formation. Hence, listing of author affiliation (institution, organization, civil community, ethnicity), expertise, and contribution are required.     

When preparing and submitting manuscripts to Earth Stewardship for potential consideration, prospective authors should simultaneously consider all the aforementioned information, as well as the following guidance below.

General Criteria of Articles Published in Earth Stewardship

Earth Stewardship features the following types of peer-reviewed contributions:

  • Original Research Articles
  • Technical Articles
  • Reviews
  • Concepts/Perspectives
  • Letters
  • Commentaries

In addition, Earth Stewardship publishes editorials and commentaries; they are recruited and handled directly by the Editor-in-Chief (EiC). To inquire about either category of submission, please contact EiC Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald at [email protected].

Below, you will find general guidance for all article types followed by descriptions and criteria for submissions. Attention to Earth Stewardship’s author guidelines is the first criterion by which we assess the fitness of a manuscript for peer review, and manuscripts that are substantially out of compliance with our author guidelines may be rejected without even a cursory review.

Cover Letter

With each manuscript, authors must submit a cover letter that includes the following information (please do not simply cut and paste the abstract into your cover letter):

  • Brief introduction to the work explaining its fit within Earth Stewardship’s aims and scope.
  • Listing of all (academic and non-academic) authors, their affiliations, and a brief reference to individual author contributions (for details on author contributions, please see “List and role of Authors” and “Author Contributions” below)
  • Briefly state the fundamental question/objective addressed and the key novel findings presented in the submission.
  • Attach author’s consensus statement to promote equitable authorship.
  • Suggest pertinent academic (preferentially early career from different countries of the Global South) and non-academic reviewers and their contact information and confirm you do not have conflicts of interest (for details see below) with any of them.   
  • Statement pertaining to authors’ conflicts of interest (real or perceived), if any (see “Conflicts of Interest” section below).
  • Declaration that the work being submitted is original and has not been previously published in any form and has not simultaneously been submitted to nor is currently under consideration with any other journal or publishing outlet (see “No Prior Publication” section below).
  • If an earlier version of the manuscript was submitted to Earth Stewardship, but was rejected and invited for resubmission, the previous manuscript ID number must be provided, and a separate document added detailing how reviewers’ comments on the previous submission were addressed.
  • Very brief explanation of any other additional information or circumstances regarding the submitted manuscript that is considered helpful with the initial review (e.g. see “No prior publication” below).

List of Roles and Authors

Names of all authors and co-authors must be present in the online submission form and on the first page of the manuscript, beneath the article title. Also on the first page, state each author’s affiliation(s) (institution, social organization, among others), during the period when all or most of the data were collected or research conducted. Present address(es), if different, should be noted.

Joint first and/or senior authorship: Due to the strong transdisciplinary nature of the journal, we strongly encourage considering joint first authorship. In this case, a footnote needs to be added to the author listing. Similarly, due to the strong interdisciplinary nature of the journal, joint senior authorship is encouraged to be considered; in the footnote reference to joint senior authors should be made.

Earth Stewardship welcomes authors to share “lead” responsibility for published manuscripts. If their submitted manuscript is accepted for publication, the editors will facilitate shared responsibility (e.g., joint corresponding authorship) in the Version of Record. During the submission process, however, our manuscript handling platform, Research Exchange, requires a single author to serve as responsible party for various permissions. Therefore, joint corresponding authors must designate a single author who will take on the role of corresponding author during the submission, review, and production processes. We request that all authors reach consensus regarding all aspects of authorship prior to submission.

The appointed corresponding author in Research Exchange will be responsible for liaising with co-authors regarding any editorial queries during the submission, peer review and, if accepted, production processes. The appointed corresponding author must sign the publishing agreement on behalf of all the listed authors. After acceptance, the editors will work with the corresponding author during copyediting to ensure that shared or joint authorship (e.g., multiple corresponding authors) is appropriately reflected in the final published Version of Record.

Detailed statements of author contributions should be provided in an Author Contributions Statement. Please consult CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) for guidance after the Acknowledgements section.

No Prior Publication. ESA journals require that all submissions be original contributions, with full disclosure of any possible redundant publication made in the accompanying cover letter (as mentioned above). Under certain circumstances, use of the same data in two or more publications is appropriate and beneficial. This may be particularly true when new information allows reinterpretation of previously published data. In many cases, however, duplicate publication is wasteful of journal space and user resources. Although it is the Editor’s responsibility to decide whether specific duplications are useful, these decisions are generally based on information supplied by the authors. ESA journals have adopted a policy to facilitate this process. At the time of submission, authors must provide information describing the extent to which data or text in the manuscript have been used in other papers that are published, in press, submitted, or soon to be submitted (at Earth Stewardship or elsewhere). In cases of overlap with other publications or submissions, authors must include copies of said publications along with the current submission.

Sometimes it is difficult to assess whether a work has truly been published previously. Please err on the side of caution in considering overlap. Reference needs to be made to any closely related previous publication both in the cover letter and manuscript, especially if a table or figure is reproduced. If any data in a manuscript have been included in other published or unpublished manuscripts, the legend of each table or illustration reporting such data must cite those manuscripts. When in doubt, an author should supply copies of the previous publication; these copies will be shared with the associate editor and reviewers, who would then be asked to consider this matter. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce previously published material (see “Permissions” section below).

Preprint Policy

A preprint is a scholarly manuscript posted by the author(s) in an openly accessible platform, usually before or in parallel with the peer review process.

  • Earth Stewardship will consider for review articles previously posted as preprints on any preprint server, such as bioRxiv, medRxiv, chemRxiv, ArXiv, engrXiv, psyArXiv, SocArXiv, and others.
  • Earth Stewardship accepts the citation of preprints in journal submissions.
  • Preprints can be posted prior or in parallel to submission to Earth Stewardship.
  • Authors are expected to declare any relevant preprint copies of the work in their cover letter.
  • Authors are requested to update any pre-publication versions with a link to the final published article.
  • Authors may also post the final published version of the article immediately after publication.

For more information, see: COPE Council. COPE Discussion document: Preprints. March 2018.

All article types need to include the following sections:

Title:

Each manuscript should begin with a title of no more than 95 characters (including spaces). The title should be catchy, punchy, and avoid acronyms and jargon (scientific, technical, or discipline-specific terminology).

Abstract:

Abstracts are needed for Original Research Articles, Technical Articles, Reviews, and Concepts/Perspectives Articles. An abstract should not exceed 300 words maximum. Abstracts are among a paper’s most important features for engaging readers’ initial interest. Abstracts should do more than just repeat in brief what the article says, they must draw readers in by explaining what the article is about and why it is novel and important. This and the early introductory paragraphs of the main text should try to convey a sense of the enthusiasm that the writer(s) feel(s) for their subject.

Graphical abstract:

In addition to written abstracts, visual or audiovisual summaries of the contributions are strongly encouraged for Original Research Articles, Technical Articles, Reviews, and Concepts/Perspectives Articles. Graphical abstracts should be concise, high-quality, visually engaging summaries of the submitted contributions, comprised of a brief textual description and an accompanying figure created for the graphical abstract. Typically, the figure accompanying the graphical abstract is not one of the figures used in the text. Graphical abstracts aim to provide readers with a clear overview of the paper’s main and novel findings and significance through a combination of graphics, icons, symbols, illustrations, and minimal text. Effective graphical abstracts should be simple and easy to understand and highlight the most important findings or elements prominently. When including legends and/or labels, they must be kept brief and placed near corresponding visuals. The graphical abstract needs to fit within the designated dimensions. If using images or elements created by others authorized permissions need to be provided.

Abstract translation(s):

Abstracts need to be presented in English and should include at least one and preferentially up to three translations including pertinent minority or indigenous languages related to the research, country, geographic region that study is addressing.

Keywords:

List in alphabetical order 6 to 8 keywords in English, and those languages to which the abstract is translated.

Acknowledgements:

Need to include:

  • All funding sources and project and scholarship IDs accredited to specific authors (include Author initials only) that contributed to the work need to be mentioned.
  • All communities, organizations, institutions who participated in the work but to not merit authorship need to be mentioned.
  • Any additional information considered pertinent.

Statement of compliance with ESA’s Open Research Policy

For the Open Data/Science information include the name and hyperlink of the online repository where data, R-codes, etc. are stored.

Embedded Rich Media

Embedded rich media within journal articles complement and enhance the textual content and is often an effective way to communicate research findings and engage a broad transdisciplinary audience. Earth Stewardship invites the submission of supporting videos, audios, interactive graphics, or other forms of multimedia as separate files; they must be cited and described in the manuscript (e.g. Video 1). For detailed instructions, consult https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2416/author-resources/Journal-Authors/Prepare/manuscript-preparation-guidelines.html/embedded-rich-media.html

Rich media content needs to include captions for videos, transcripts for audio, and explanatory text for images. Any non-English version of embedded media needs to include an English translation in the transcript. Any embedded rich media material needs to be high-quality, both visually and in content; it will be subject to peer-review. Editors reserve the right to request modifications (lengths, content) to rich media submissions as a condition of acceptance. At the time of submission, participant’s consent needs to be provided.

Participant Consent: It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to seek informed consent from any identifiable participant in the rich media files. Masking a participant’s eyes, or excluded head and shoulders is not sufficient. Please ensure that a consent form (https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2416/author-resources/Journal-Authors/licensing/licensing-info-faqs.html) is provided for each participant.

Categories of Articles Published in Earth Stewardship

Following is guidance specific to each peer-reviewed article category:

Original Research Articles

Original Research Articles are novel, high-impact papers that showcase primary research and clearly demonstrate the importance and application of natural and social science disciplines and complementary knowledge systems related to conservation, management, or policy making. Authors interested in submitting an Original Research Article should prepare a manuscript that meets the following criteria:

  1. The main text should follow the standard structure considering Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions; however, when requiring variations thereof a roadmap of article structure/content needs to be added.
  2. We seek submissions that are written in a style that is crisp, concise, and accessible to all: experts, interdisciplinary scientists AND those in community, practitioner management, policy, and education. Therefore, authors should strive to avoid jargon (scientific, technical, or discipline-specific terminology) that might be unfamiliar to a broad, multidisciplinary and non-academic readership. Similarly, authors should please avoid using too many acronyms and be sure to spell out the meaning of any used upon first appearance.
  3. Format: initial submissions should
    1. Not exceed 8000 words in the main text (i.e., excluding abstract, title, author names/affiliations, references, figure legends BUT including any panel or text box text, if applicable)
    2. Contain a maximum of 50 references
    3. Include no more than five (5) of any combination of the following components: figures, tables, and/or panels
    4. Provide a statement of compliance with ESA’s Open Research Policy
  4. In addition, authors may submit a maximum of five (5) pieces of Supporting Information (supplementary online-only materials including WebFigures, WebTables, and WebPanels). See “Supporting Information” section below for additional details.

Technical Articles

Technical Articles consider new transdisciplinary research and action tools, social innovation methods, and techniques to link science and policy, science and art, among others. The articles start with an introduction that includes a literature-based justification for the need of new tools, social innovations, and techniques for research and action. The main body of the text is structured as follows:

  1. design and methodology of the tool/methods (qualitative and quantitative) with a detailed description of each section that permits replication;
  2. broad applicability/application of the new tool/method/innovation including a series of diverse case studies; and
  3. discussion of how the proposed tool/method/innovation improves Earth Stewardship from local to global level.

Authors interested in submitting a Technical Article should prepare a manuscript that meets the following criteria:

  1. The main text should follow this structure: Introduction, Design, Methods, Application, Discussion and Conclusions.
  2. Format: initial submissions should
    1. Not exceed 5000 words in the main text (i.e., excluding abstract, title, author names/affiliations, references, figure legends BUT including any panel or text box text, if applicable)
    2. Contain a maximum of 40 references
    3. Include no more than five (5) of any combination of the following components: figures, tables, and/or panels
    4. Provide a statement of compliance with ESA’s Open Research Policy
  3. In addition, authors may submit a maximum of five (5) pieces of Supporting Information (supplementary online-only materials including WebFigures, WebTables, and WebPanels). See “Supporting Information” section below for additional details.

Reviews

Reviews are synthesis papers that may focus on a wide range of social-ecological and environmental science topics but are expected to feature a strongly inter and transdisciplinary and integrative analysis designed to advance the paper’s field of focus. As with all paper types in Earth Stewardship, Reviews should address as a central concern special topics, methods, conceptual frameworks ultimately improving conservation and management practices, governance, transdisciplinary education, and /or policy making. Topics should have broad, inter and transdisciplinary appeal.

Authors interested in submitting a Review Article should prepare a manuscript that meets the following criteria:

  • The main text should follow this structure: Introduction, 6 sections, Discussion and Conclusions.
  • Format: initial submissions should
    1. Not exceed 7000 words in the main text (i.e., excluding abstract, title, author names/affiliations, references, figure legends BUT including any panel or text box text, if applicable)
    2. Contain a maximum of 60 references
    3. Include no more than six (6) of any combination of the following components: figures, tables, and/or panels
    4. Provide a statement of compliance with ESA’s Open Research Policy
  • In addition, authors may submit a maximum of five (5) pieces of Supporting Information (supplementary online-only materials including WebFigures, WebTables, and WebPanels). See “Supporting Information” section below for additional details.

Concepts/Perspectives

Concepts and Perspectives articles bear some similarity to Reviews (as described above), but focus mostly on recent publications (past 2 years), present a concise view of research/methods/concepts/policies and based on a critical analysis showcase novel viewpoints not yet widely accepted or demonstrated by the scientific and transdisciplinary community – i.e., they may be more conceptual and less well developed in the literature. Earth Stewardship expects submissions in this category to demonstrate the same approach to genre-expanding integrative analysis and policy/management/action relevance as do Reviews.

Authors interested in submitting papers in the Concepts/Perspectives category should prepare a manuscript that meets these criteria:

  1. The text should follow this structure: Introduction, in-depth focused Review, Analysis of Viewpoints, Discussion, New Directions, Conclusion
  2. Format: initial submissions should
    1. Not exceed 3000 words in the main text (i.e., excluding abstract, title, author names/affiliations, references, figure legends BUT including any panel text, if applicable)
    2. Contain a maximum of 40 references
    3. Include no more than four or five (5) of any combination of the following components: figures, tables, and/or panels
    4. Provide a statement of compliance with ESA’s Open Research Policy
  3. In addition, authors may submit a maximum of five (5) pieces of Supporting Information (supplementary online-only materials including WebFigures, WebTables, and WebPanels). See “Supporting Information” section below for additional details.

Letters

Letters are very short, undergo peer review, and may take one of two foci:

  1. Original communications on applied social-ecological or broad environmental science topics in keeping with Earth Stewardship’s aims and scope. These submissions may include primary research or conceptual analysis and should briefly discuss relevant larger-scale importance or policy, management, governance or conservation-related implications.
  2. Responses to articles or Letters that previously appeared in the journal. These submissions should provide additional or alternative interpretations of or perspectives on the original work. We do not publish Letters that constitute personal opinions or out-of-scope discourse between competing researchers or stakeholders. Earth Stewardship editors only consider Letter submissions written in professional language or content. For response Letters, the journal will invite a reply from the author(s) of the original work. If that author submits a reply, Earth Stewardship will run both Letters together in the same issue, but that will end the discussion – i.e., no further correspondence on the article in question will be accepted or published.

Authors interested in submitting a Letter should prepare a manuscript that meets the following criteria:

  1. The Text does not have a predefined order, yet should follow a logical structure
  2. Format: initial Letter submissions should:
    1. Include a brief title of no more than 65 characters with spaces
    2. Limit the main text to no more than 800 words (excluding title, author names/affiliations, references, and [if applicable] a figure legend)
    3. Contain a maximum of 12 references
    4. Include not more than one (1) small figure and/or table
    5. (only for Letters containing primary research) Provide a statement of compliance with ESA’s Open Research Policy.
  3. In addition, authors may submit a maximum of two (2) pieces of Supporting Information (supplementary online-only materials including WebFigures, WebTables, and WebPanels). See “Supporting Information” section below for additional details.

Where to Submit a Manuscript

All manuscripts must be submitted through Earth Stewardship’s online manuscript submission system, Research Exchange.

Prior to submission, and if authors have not already done so, please check to see whether you are already in the Research Exchange database by entering your email address in the E-mail Address field under Password Help. A record for you may exist in the database even if you were never previously an author of a manuscript submitted to any of the ESA journals, including Earth Stewardship. Do not create a new account if you are already in the database. If you have verified that there is no account for you, you can create an account at the submission site by clicking on the “Register Here” button. From that point, the system should guide you through the submission process.

If you need help with your Research Exchange account or if you have any submission-related questions, please contact [email protected]

Please make electronic backup copies of everything that you have uploaded to Research Exchange.

Submission site at: https://wiley.atyponrex.com/journal/EAS2

Earth Stewardship’s Peer-Review Process

At Earth Stewardship, all submitted manuscripts follow this process:

  1. The corresponding author (in case of two or more corresponding authors, only one) submits a manuscript to Earth Stewardship’s Research Exchange online submission system for consideration. Upon initial processing, the manuscript will be assigned a unique ID and the author will receive a notification of receipt via email.
  2. The author is requested to provide two potential reviewers both covering scientific and non-academic authority expertise, following ESA’s conflict of interest regulations.
  3. The EiC evaluates whether the manuscript will proceed to peer review. For manuscripts not advanced into review, the EiC informs the corresponding author of this via email.
  4. Manuscripts advanced into review are assigned to an associate editor (AE) for handling.
  5. The AE reviews the manuscript and either recommends that it be rejected (in which case the EiC is notified; see step 9) or recommends several potential reviewers from different sectors (see step 7).
  6. The AE invites the potential reviewers via email through Research Exchange.
  7. Potential reviewers accept or decline (or fail to respond to) the invitation to review. Those that fail to respond in due course automatically have their invitations withdrawn and then new potential reviewers are identified by the AE.
  8. Once secured, the reviewers (usually two, sometimes three) submit their comments. The timeline of review may vary based in part on reviewers’ availability.
  9. Once all reviews are received, they are read and synthesized by the AE, who adds comments of their own and submits a recommendation to the EiC. AE recommendations are one of the following: reject, major revision, minor revision, or accept.
  10. On the basis of the reviewers’ comments and AE’s recommendation, the EiC makes a final decision (reject, major revision, minor revision, or accept) and emails a decision letter to the author via Research Exchange, forwarding all of the review comments and any additional editorial guidance. The AE and reviewers remain anonymous throughout Earth Stewardship’s single-blind peer-review process.
  11. Where major or minor revisions have been requested, the authors are asked to revise their manuscripts and resubmit them via Research Exchange, following the instructions provided by the EiC. The original AE is normally reassigned (pending their availability) to the revised manuscript, and may select the original reviewers, new reviewers, or a combination of both. The process begins again from step 5 and proceeds (for as many iterations as necessary) until the manuscript is either rejected or accepted.

ESA Code of Ethics and Conflicts of Interest

All authors submitting manuscripts to Earth Stewardship agree to abide by the ESA’s Code of Ethics, which addresses issues including (but not limited to) authorship, plagiarism, fraud, unauthorized use of data, copyrights, errors, confidentiality, intellectual property, attribution, willful delay of publication, and conflicts of interest, as well as other matters that are not specific to the publication process. All Earth Stewardship editors also adhere to the ESA Code of Ethics.

If ESA has reason to doubt the ethical practices of an author of a manuscript, either because of concern raised by an editor, or because of information obtained from some other source, the EiC will process the manuscript in accordance with normal practice, but will simultaneously refer the matter to the ESA Director of Publishing for review and consultation with the EiC, after which it may be elevated to ESA’s Executive Director and Professional Ethics Committee for review. The Committee will conduct whatever investigation it feels appropriate, taking care not to inadvertently damage the reputation of any of the parties concerned. The EiC will receive the advice of the Committee and decide a course of action in consultation with the Executive Director and Director of Publishing of the Society.

We require all authors to declare any conflicts of interest in the relevant space on the online manuscript submission form and in the submission’s cover letter. We ask that all authors disclose financial and personal relationships with other persons or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) their work. Examples of financial conflicts include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications, and travel grants occurring within three years of beginning the work submitted. If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that there are none. Acknowledgements, including relevant sources of funding, should be declared in a brief statement at the end of the manuscript text. (For more information, see the Professional Practice section of the ESA’s Code of Ethics.)

Legally Protected Species and Animal Welfare Certifications

Authors whose reported research involves species protected under relevant federal law (e.g., US Endangered Species Act, US Marine Mammal Protection Act) must certify that their research was conducted pursuant to applicable permits in compliance with the relevant laws.

Authors using experimental vertebrate animals must certify that their care was in accordance with institutional guidelines.

Authorship vs. Acknowledgments

Individuals listed as authors should have played a significant role in designing or conducting the research, writing the manuscript, or providing extensive guidance on the execution of the project. Those whose role was limited to providing materials, financial support, or review should be recognized in the Acknowledgments section.

Open Research Policy

All manuscript submissions must adhere to the ESA Open Research Policy. To do so, authors must include a statement of compliance at the time of submission. For authors whose data or code must be made available in an accepted publicly accessible archive, please note: we understand that authors often postpone undertaking the work necessary to provide archival access until after acceptance, but this works both ways. Our peer review process relies on our AEs and reviewers being able to assess the data and/or code on which a manuscript is based. Therefore, access is needed prior to a decision being rendered on the submission.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

ESA Publications follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) position that artificial intelligence (AI) tools cannot be recognized as authors, as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted manuscript. If authors use AI tools such as ChatGPT or other large language models in the writing of a manuscript, in the production of images, or in the collection and analysis of data, they must transparently disclose how and which tool was used in the section of the manuscript to which use of AI pertains, with an additional disclosure statement in the paper’s Acknowledgments. In addition, this must be disclosed in the manuscript submission form. Tools that are used to improve spelling, grammar, and general editing are excluded from the scope of these guidelines. Authors are responsible for all content generated by AI tools. 

Writing Style

As stated above, Earth Stewardship’s readership includes a broadly multidisciplinary, international community of scientists and humanists, artists, community leaders, environmental professionals, indigenous knowledge holders from a wide range of backgrounds. Therefore, Earth Stewardship’s writing style is less “traditionally academic” than many other journals. It is crucial that the language contained within the manuscript be as clear and accessible as possible, especially with respect to complex or technical content. Please minimize the use of jargon (scientific, technical, or discipline-specific terminology) wherever possible in the text (and explain it clearly when you do use it).

Inclusiveness is a cross-cutting commitment in ESA journals, particularly for this journal because of the nature of transdisciplinary research interests. We particularly encourage contributions from non-native English-speaking authors from academic and non-academic institutions. We are particularly encouraging contributions in indigenous language, however in that case an extensive executive summary in English needs to be added. For specific guidance, please contact Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald at [email protected].  

The following guidelines apply to both the abstract and the main body of the text:

  • Briefly and clearly explain technical concepts and terms when they are first mentioned
  • Where possible, choose commonly used words and more accessible language rather than complex technical terms
  • Use the active instead of the passive voice
  • Use shorter sentences rather than longer ones
  • Write concisely, avoiding fillers (e.g., “The fact that” and “In order to”)
  • Break the text up into paragraphs of no more than a few hundred words, and add short, imaginative subsection headings whenever the subject changes, or simply to avoid overlong blocks of uninterrupted text
  • Give the scientific name (genus and species, in italics and in parentheses) of each species the first time it is mentioned, in addition to its common name, if any. The common name can then be used throughout the text. Genus names should start with a capital letter and may be abbreviated to a single letter after their first mention, if no confusion will result
  • Use as few acronyms as possible, and spell out all acronyms at first mention, putting the acronym in parentheses and using it from then on
  • Include specific details such as names, places, and numbers when appropriate and if permitted
  • Ask yourself if your piece will be interesting and clearly understandable to readers in areas of professional practice different than your own, including to nonscientists in resource management and conservation fields. If in doubt, consider sharing your article with colleagues in other departments and seeking feedback
  • Earth Stewardship does not use footnotes; work the information into the text or include as a separate panel. It is possible to include (to a limited extent) Supporting Information web material, which will appear online.
  • If you use automatic citation software such as Reference Manager, Endnote, or Zotero, remove all field shading before submitting your manuscript
  • Always add page numbers and line numbers to the manuscript prior to submission

Formatting Your Manuscript for Online Submission

We prefer manuscripts to be prepared and submitted in Microsoft Word (.docx) format, if possible. Please do not submit manuscripts as PDFs, as it interferes with the process of initial review. (Research Exchange will automatically create a complete PDF from the separate pieces of your submitted manuscript.)

Tables and figures must not be embedded within the main text. Figures should be prepared as individual high-resolution files (preferably in jpeg or tiff format) and uploaded separately from the main text of the manuscript. Figure captions and any tables should be placed at the end of the paper, after the references section. It is not necessary to specify where tables and figures should be placed in the main text, provided that each of these elements has at least one in-text callout (e.g., “Figure 1”, “Table 1”, etc.). In-text callouts for figures, tables, and panels must appear in sequential/numerical order (e.g., the first callout for Figure 1 must appear earlier in the text than the first callout for Figure 2).

See the following section for more information on preparing figures, tables, and panels.

Figures, Tables, and Panels

As is the norm in scholarly publishing, Earth Stewardship’s papers are made much more appealing to our readers when they include a thoughtful selection of pertinent figures, tables, and/or panels (e.g. maps). See each manuscript type’s specific guidance, above, for respective limits on the allowable number of figures, tables, and/or panels. Below is our guidance on the preparation of these materials for submission with your manuscript. Important: if you intend to include previously published figures or other materials with your submission, please refer to the “Permissions” section below for additional details.

Note that figures, tables, and/or panels cannot take up a full page of text on a page, and so must be sized appropriately.

Figures

High-quality color graphics and high-resolution, high-quality color photos are strongly encouraged for Earth Stewardship papers. There are no charges for use of color in figures in Earth Stewardship.

Each photo and figure should be submitted as a separate electronic file (jpeg or tiff files preferred). The file name should consist of the lead author’s last name and the figure number (and letter, where part of a multipart/multipanel figure [e.g., Smith Figure 2a]). If photographs are embedded within a table or figure, please also supply high-resolution versions of those photos as separate files.

Please consult with Wiley’s full guide for authors here:

https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2416/author-resources/Journal-Authors/Prepare/manuscript-preparation-guidelines.html/figure-preparation.html

The following are notes on styles and fonts required for figures appearing in Earth Stewardship.

  • Always use Arial or Helvetica as the font for ALL in-figure text, keys, and axis labels, etc.
  • Graphics should be in color wherever possible, on a white background. When the same type of information is presented in more than one figure, colors should be used consistently across all figures (e.g., if red represents temperature in Figure 1, then that same color red should be used in any subsequent figures that display temperature)
  • If possible, please use color schemes that are distinguishable by those with color-blindness (e.g., avoid using reds and greens of the same intensity).
  • Photos must be high resolution (300 dots-per-inch [dpi] at a width of 3.5 inches [8.9 cm]; original file size at least 1.5–2 MB or more)
  • For multipart figures, label each part using parentheses and lowercase lettering, preferably in the top-left corner (but always in the same position in each panel) – e.g.: (a), (b), and (c) – these should be in black or white font, to aid visibility; do not include opaque circles or squares under these panel designators
  • For all in-figure text, keys, and axis labels, capitalize the first letter of the first word only – the rest should be lowercase, unless it is a place name or proper name, which would normally be capitalized
  • Use American English spelling (as opposed to British English)
  • Use SI units throughout; selected exceptions: hectares (ha), degrees Celsius (°C), metric tons (t), liters (L), seconds (s), minutes (min), hours (hr), years (yr)
  • Except for accepted unit abbreviations such as above, spell out all words if adequate space is available (e.g., “Agriculture”, not “Agric”)
  • Use scientific notation for very large or very small values, but replace “2e-05” with “2 × 10–5”
  • For values between 10 and 9999, do not separate numbers with commas or spaces
  • For values greater than 9999, separate numbers in groups of three with a comma: 10,000, 100,000
  • Follow journal style conventions for units in axis labels (e.g., replace “square kilometers per year” with “km2 yr –1”)
  • Do not use periods in acronyms or abbreviations (no periods or commas in eg or ie; important exception: et al.)
  • Individual panels within figures should not be set off by boxes or other edging
  • Do not forget to add axis labels and units to graphs. For maps, add scale bars and compass roses. For aerial, macro, or micro photographic images, add scale bars as appropriate
  • Do not use grid lines in graphs
  • Use en dashes (–), not hyphens (-), to indicate negative numbers, including those in sub/superscripts. Use the en dash also to separate ranges (e.g., 15–25 days; March–May)

Figure Layout

In laying out figures, keep things clear and simple and try to maximize the space given to the data. Avoid both clutter and wasted empty (white) space.

  • Figures published within Earth Stewardship’s paper categories are most often 3.5 or 4.5 inches (8.9 or 11.4 cm) wide, and are occasionally 6 inches wide; please create your original images as close to these dimensions as possible to avoid distortion caused by shrinking or enlarging, and to preserve the best resolution
  • Titles or labels not absolutely necessary for understanding the figure should be removed and/or explained in the figure legend
  • Use of color for the graphic elements (lines, symbols, etc.) is welcomed, particularly where this helps readers to understand what is being illustrated
  • Use solid (filled) symbols for plotting data if possible, unless data overlap or there are multiple symbols; make symbols large enough that they will be distinguishable when the figure is reduced
  • Do not use three-dimensional graphics unless necessary
  • Scales or axes should not extend beyond the range of the data plotted
  • Standard line weight (thickness) is 0.5 points for boxes, graphs, etc., but this can be increased to up to 2 points for line graphs
  • Keys to symbols should be kept as simple as possible and be positioned so they do not needlessly enlarge the figure; details can be included in the captions
  • Tick marks along the axes of graphs should point outwards from the axis (left of y-axis and below x-axis)

Figure Captions and Credits

  • Each figure requires an explanatory caption; all figure captions should be listed in sequential order at the end of the paper, after the References section.
  • Each caption should be under 100 words, and preferably under 50. Be clear and concise. Information in overlong captions should be integrated into the main text.
  • For images and graphics, credits (and, if applicable, licenses) should be clearly indicated within the accompanying figure caption. Example credit for a multipart figure with three components (a, b, and c): “Image credits: (a) AB Johnson, (b) © Oxford University Press, and (c) J Smith (CC BY-SA 3.0)”. Authors are responsible for obtaining all of the necessary permissions to use previously published images. Please see the “Permissions” section below for additional details.

Tables

  • Tables of reasonable size and sidebars (panels) containing extra information are also welcomed; in an effort to conserve space, very large tables may need to be converted into online-only WebTables (see “Supporting Information” section below)
  • Do not embed tables within the main text of the paper; tables should be placed toward the end of the paper, after the References and figure captions
  • Try to limit tables to 200 words and five columns; if you have more information than this, please consider, in order of preference, (1) trimming down the information, (2) dividing it into multiple tables (while adhering to the manuscript type-specific limits for content described above), or (3) contacting editorial staff for guidance on Supporting Information (see also below)

Panels

In Earth Stewardship, a panel is a brief extension of showcased text (often in paragraph form but may also be displayed as a short list, such as a glossary) that catches the reader’s eye and complements the main text by providing a more extensive description of a particular topic.

Panels should be less than 500 words, have a short but descriptive title, and include no more than one associated figure. Please be judicious with the amount of text you include in your panels and note that the word counts of panels are included within the total word count limit of the main text of your manuscript. (See each manuscript type’s specific guidance, above, for respective word limits.)

In your submitted manuscript, panels should be placed toward the end of the paper, after the References, figure captions, and tables.

Reference Section

Earth Stewardship’s submissions all require a standard reference section, containing full bibliographic information for all sources cited in the main text (including panels), as well as for any sources cited within figure captions and tables.

For journal name abbreviations, Earth Stewardship generally follows ISI Web of Science style (see this guide).

Following is style guidance for several different types of references:

Article in Journal

Belhabib D. 2021. Ocean science and advocacy work better when decolonized. Nat Ecol Evol 5: 709–10.

Keeler BL, Chaplin-Kramer R, Guerry A, et al. 2017. Society is ready for a new kind of science – is academia? BioScience 67: 591–92.

LaRue EA, Hardiman BS, Elliott JM, and Fei S. 2019. Structural diversity as a predictor of ecosystem function. Environ Res Lett 14: 114011.

Lovell ST and Taylor JR. 2013. Supplying urban ecosystem services through multifunctional green infrastructure in the United States. Landscape Ecol 28: 1447–63.

Book

Clewell AF and Aronson J. 2013. Ecological restoration: principles, values, and structure of an emerging profession (2nd edn). Washington, DC: Island Press.

Keeley JE, Bond WJ, Bradstock RA, et al. 2012. Fire in Mediterranean ecosystems: ecology, evolution and management. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Kimmerer RW. 2020. Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions.

Chapter in Book

Hortle KG. 2009. Fisheries of the Mekong River Basin. In: Campbell IC (Ed). The Mekong. New York, NY: Academic Press.

May RM and Anderson RS. 1983. Parasite–host coevolution. In: Futuyama DJ and Slatkin M (Eds). Coevolution (3rd edn). Sunderland, MA: Sinauer.

Suding K, Spotswood E, Chapple D, et al. 2016. Ecological dynamics and ecological restoration. In: Palmer MA, Zedler JB, and Falk DA (Eds). Foundations of restoration ecology. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Conference Proceedings

Cherrett JM. 1989. Key concepts: the results of a survey of our members’ opinions. Proceedings of the 31st Symposium of the British Ecological Society; 4–6 Apr 1989; Southampton, UK. London, UK: British Ecological Society.

Renwick WH, Sleezer RO, Buddemeier RW, and Smith SV. 2006. Small artificial ponds in the United States: impacts on sedimentation and carbon budget. Proceedings of the Eighth Federal Interagency Sedimentation Conference; 2–6 Apr 2006; Reno, NV. Reston, VA: US Geological Survey.

Scientific and Technical Reports and their Parts

Grant GE, Lewis SL, Swanson F, et al. 2008. Effects of forest practices on peakflows and consequent channel response: a state-of-science report for western Oregon and Washington. Portland, OR: US Department of Agriculture. PNW-GTR-760.

Hock R, Rasul G, Adler C, et al. (Eds). 2019. High mountain areas. In: Pörtner H‐O, Roberts DC, and Masson‐Delmotte V, et al. (Eds). Special report on the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC.

IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2007. Climate change 2007: synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II, and III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva, Switzerland: IPCC.

Dissertations and Theses

Feth JA. 1947. The geology of Northern Canelo Hills (PhD dissertation). Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona.

Osano PM. 2005. Estimating the opportunity costs of biodiversity conservation in Western Cape, South Africa (MS thesis). Cape Town, South Africa: University of Cape Town.

Websites

BirdLife International. 2018. Bird species distribution maps of the world (v2018.1). Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/requestdis. Viewed 23 Oct 2020.

Faust LJ, Theis M, Long S, and Shell S. 2011. PMCTrack: a website for monitoring breeding and transfer recommendations for zoo programs. Chicago, IL: Lincoln Park Zoo. https://www.pmctrack.org. Viewed 12 May 2021.

PRISM Climate Group. 2020. PRISM climate data. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University. https://prism.oregonstate.edu. Viewed 13 Aug 2020.

Newspaper Articles

Baker JK. 1999. Switch to dollar bodes ill for Ecuador. Washington Post. Sep 12.

Articles In Press*

Fulton RS. In press. Predator–prey relationships in an estuarine littoral copepod community. Ecology.

*Important note: statements made in Earth Stewardship papers need to be supported by data that readers have access to, and Earth Stewardship therefore does not allow citation and reference to unpublished or otherwise inaccessible materials. “In press” references will be considered on a case-by-case basis. However, for any references listed as “in preparation” or “in review”, authors of accepted papers will be asked to provide updates on the publication status of each at the copyediting stage. If published, authors must then add the full bibliographic information to the References section. If unpublished, authors will either need to replace the reference in question with a published alternative, or else delete the callout and revise the sentence accordingly.

Data Sharing

This journal expects data sharing. You can learn more about data sharing in Wiley’s Data Sharing Policies resource. 

Supporting Information

Earth Stewardship welcomes the submission of a limited amount of supporting information (SI) with each of its peer-reviewed article types. SI is material that is separate from, but may be cited within, an article’s main text. SI includes supporting figures, supporting tables, supporting panels, supporting audio, supporting videos, and/or other supporting visuals, such as interactive maps – all contained within a single document (with rare exceptions). During the latter stages of production, the typesetter will provide a URL link to the SI toward the end of the article’s main text; this link will be activated after article publication.

All SI components must be contained within a single stand-alone PDF, entitled “Appendix S1,” and each component therein should be named following journal convention (i.e., the first supporting panel is “Panel S1”, the first supporting table is “Table S1”, the first supporting figure is “Figure S1”, the second supporting panel is “Panel S2”, and so forth) and include a short title. For supporting figures, an accompanying caption should also be provided, along with any image credits. Each SI component must be cited at least once, either within the main text (as Appendix S1: Panel S1, Appendix S1: Table S1, Appendix S1: Figure S1, etc.) or elsewhere within the SI (as Panel S1, Table S1, Figure S1, etc.). We will consider submissions of SI in other formats (e.g., MS Excel files, mp4) on a case-by-case basis.

Earth Stewardship limits the submission of SI to a maximum of two components for Letters and five components for longer-format paper types. This means that the total combined number of supporting figures, supporting tables, supporting panels, supporting audio, supporting videos, and/or other supporting visuals, such as interactive maps, per manuscript may not exceed these limits. In addition, individual SI components must not be overlong – i.e., circumventing the limitation on the number of SI components by extending the length of individual pieces will be flagged in review and authors may be required to reduce the length of their SI submissions.

All SI components must be contained within a single stand-alone MS Word document, entitled “Appendix S1,” and each component therein should be named following journal convention (i.e., the first supporting panel is “Panel S1”, the first supporting table is “Table S1”, the first supporting figure is “Figure S1”, the second supporting panel is “Panel S2”, and so forth) and include a short title. For supporting figures, an accompanying caption should also be provided, along with any image credits. Each SI component must be cited at least once, either within the main text (as Appendix S1: Panel S1, Appendix S1: Table S1, Appendix S1: Figure S1, etc.) or elsewhere within the SI (as Panel S1, Table S1, Figure S1, etc.). We will consider submissions of SI in other formats (e.g., MS Excel files, mp4) on a case-by-case basis.

If any SI component contains in-text reference citations, you must include a bibliography at the end of the document with the full bibliographic information for each reference cited (in a section entitled “References”). Each SI component that contains citations must have its own separate stand-alone References section (i.e., do not submit one combined set of References for all the online components). The References format needs to be the same as for the main text.

Permissions

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from the copyright owner (often the publisher) to use/reprint any materials (including figures, tables, or text extracts of more than 250 words) that have been previously published. Acknowledgment alone is not sufficient; if in doubt, obtain permission. Permissions should be submitted before or immediately after your paper is accepted to avoid any delays in publication. Please submit a copy of the permission letter(s), and ensure that the correct credit information appears with each photo, graphic, table, etc. Please also provide copies of permissions where individuals who are not authors on the submitted paper have supplied photographs for inclusion. Authors should also exercise customary professional courtesy in acknowledging intellectual properties such as patents and trademarks.

In figures, photographs with recognizable individuals can be published as long as they are in the editorial context related to the article and do not reveal anything personal about them (such as health issues); are taken in public places; are not related to sensitive subjects; and do not present the individual in a false manner. Documentation such as signed photo releases or equivalent records (e.g., approval via email) is required, especially when minors are visible/identifiable in photos.

Licensing

Authors must sign a licensing/transfer agreement before publication. The author identified as the Corresponding Author will be contacted by the publisher shortly after their receipt of the final files and instructed to log into Wiley Author Services to complete the appropriate licensing/transfer agreement.

Earth Stewardship: authors of accepted articles pay an article publication charge (APC) , and their articles are published under a Creative Commons license. Mandated authors must use the CC BY Creative Commons License; all other authors can choose between the CC BY, CC BY-NC, and CC BY-NC-ND Creative Commons Licenses. 

Certain funders mandate a particular type of CC license is used. For more information about the licenses offered by this journal, please visit Wiley Author Services.

Open Access Publication

All information regarding publication fees and waivers is available on the ESA Publication Fee Overview page. 

All papers in Earth Stewardship are published Open Access. The Open Access fee is paid by the author, the author’s funding agency, or the author’s institution. Discounts are available to ESA members.

After your accepted Earth Stewardship article is sent to production, you will receive an email from Wiley Author Services with a link to your “My Publication” page on your Author Services Dashboard. Here you are asked to proceed with the payment of the Open Access charge.

Wiley has many Transformational Agreements (TAs) in place worldwide, and you may be covered and eligible for a waiver. Click here for a list of Wiley’s TA agreements to see if your institution is already covered.

Also, check here for a list of countries covered by the Research4Life partnership, whose authors may be eligible for a waiver.

ESA member discounts are granted if the corresponding author is an ESA member in good standing. Existing ESA members: for assistance with locating your membership ID number or the society Discount Code, please go to the Society membership website: http://eservices.esa.org or contact the Society membership administrator: [email protected].

If the Corresponding Author is not currently an ESA member at the time of ORIGINAL submission but wishes to apply, the membership application form is available at: http://eservices.esa.org. To qualify for the discount after joining the society, please supply your membership number, discount code, the manuscript ID number and manuscript title by email to the membership administrator at [email protected] BEFORE your manuscript is accepted for publication.

Following online publication, authors of open access articles are permitted to post the final, published PDF of their article on their personal website, institutional repository, or other free public server.

Editorial Queries and Contact Information

Editorial office staff are happy to work with authors prior to submission on the content, style, and tone of their article, and to answer any questions. Please feel free to contact us to discuss your article:

Author guidelines last revised on 5 February 2024.