Author Guidelines

Editors' note to authors

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

Please read and follow these Author Guidelines. Most of the delays prior to review are because authors have not followed our guidelines. We then have to send manuscripts back to authors, which doubles our handling time as we need to go through manuscripts both before and after revisions. More importantly, this also means more work and delayed manuscript processing for you.

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

At Aquatic Invasions we prefer to carry out our review process via email, as that gives us greater flexibility in dealing with manuscripts. Please send email enquiries asking about the status of your manuscript only to the responsible Associate Editor (manuscript handling editor). In the occasional case of a delayed response, please contact the Managing Editor Dr. Vadim Panov (ai_editor@reabic.net, vepanov@gmail.com). We welcome such enquiries and will try to deal with them as quickly and efficiently as possible, but before sending us an email, please ask yourself whether you really need to.

Below are listed some useful publications on preparation of scientific papers and the peer-review process:

1. Kalwij JM, Smit C (2013) How authors can maximize the chance of manuscript acceptance and article visibility. Learned Publishing> 26: 28–31. https://doi.org/10.1087/20130106
2. Silver P (2016) Advice for early-career peer reviewers and authors responding to peer reviews. Freshwater Science 35: 1073–1075. https://doi.org/10.1086/688968
3. Grossman GD (2017) Coping with the editorial process: considerations for early–career biologists. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 40: 269-276. Available at http://abc.museucienciesjournals.cat/files/ABC_40-2_pp_269-276.pdf

4. Taylor BW (2016) Writing an effective response to a manuscript review. Freshwater Science 35: 1082–1087. https://doi.org/10.1086/688886

5. Cassey P, Blackburn TM (2003) Publication rejection among ecologists. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18: 375-376. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00160-5 (free copy is available at ResearchGate).

Submission procedure

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

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to ai_submissions@reabic.net
Acknowledgement of manuscript submission will occur via e-mail.

Manuscripts must be submitted as a single file (Microsoft Office Word Document format file, not exceeding 5 Mb size), with low resolution figures, tables and supplementary material (supplementary tables and/or figures) embedded in the manuscript (after list of references). At the later stages of manuscript processing, authors of accepted manuscripts can, if necessary, be requested to provide high-resolution figures (see “Manuscript Preparation” section).

As part of the process of submission, authors are also kindly requested to provide a covering letter to editors of Aquatic Invasions, explaining why the work is novel, topical (under the scope of the journal - please check at the "Journal Information" web page) and of broad international interest.

Also, please suggest names and contact details of (at a minimum) 5 relevant internationally recognized experts as potential reviewers, and declare possible conflicts of interests with potential reviewers and journal editors (please be specific).

The covering letter should also include following statements:
• the manuscript has neither been submitted nor published elsewhere (or provide details on previous submissions and formal publication decision, or copy of formal letter to the journal editor on withdrawal of manuscript);
• the manuscript adheres to publisher's Ethical Guidelines (please read Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement)
• the authors agree with journal publication policy, including data publication policy (please read our Data Publication Policy), and reviewing and publication decision procedure (please read Manuscript presentation and Manuscript processing after submission sections below);
• the authors agree to pay article processing charges (APCs) if their manuscript is accepted for publication.
Please read Article Processiong Charges section below; these include the significant reductions for members of the International Association for Open Knowledge on Invasive Alien Species (INVASIVESNET).
If relevant, please indicate in the covering letter your membership in the Association and include web link to your personal INVASIVESNET profile.
In your covering letter, please also provide name, address and VAT number of your institution/organization  (VAT number is needed for VAT-registered organizations from European Union countries; if applicable, the VAT number for the organization should be validated at http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/vieshome.do ).

Please label the “Subject” line of your e-mail message as “submission of first version of manuscript”.

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

In case of any technical problems with manuscript submission, please contact the Managing Editor of Aquatic Invasions, Dr. Vadim E. Panov (ai_editor@reabic.net or vepanov@gmail.com).

Types of manuscripts

The international journal Aquatic Invasions publishes results of academic research in the area of biological invasions in aquatic ecosystems (see Journal Information page) in the form of the following types: Editorial papers, Letters to the Editor, Review, Research articles, and Special issues.

Important note: Manuscripts on new records of non-native species and other descriptive papers on field research of biological invasions should be submitted to our thematic open-access international journal BioInvasions Records - please see details at the journal site at http://www.reabic.net/journals/bir/

Important note: Manuscripts on research with applied focus should be submitted to our thematic open-access international journal Management of Biological Invasions - please see details at the journal site at http://www.reabic.net/journals/mbi/

Editorial papers are generally short concept or reviewing papers by the journal editors and/or by guest editors of special issues, normally not longer than 8 printed journal pages.

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

Letters to the Editor are short concept papers in the area of biological invasions, and may include also critical discussion of recently published papers. They should not regularly exceed 6 printed journal pages.

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

Research articles are scientific papers, normally not longer than 24 printed journal pages. They should include an abstract that summarizes the results of the study (or submitted data in case of "data papers"), keywords (max 7), introduction, description of the results (or submitted data) with discussion, references and the appendices, if relevant (extended tables, including species checklists and primary geo-referenced species record data in standard tabular format - please see in the "Manuscript presentation" section below).

Special issues of Aquatic Invasions may include relevant conference proceedings upon special agreement with editors. If you are interested in becoming an author or guest editor of a specific special issue, please contact the Managing Editor of Aquatic Invasions, Dr. Vadim Panov (ai_editor@reabic.net or vepanov@gmail.com).

Manuscript presentation

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

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

The first page of the manuscript should start with the preferred type of manuscript (see “Types of manuscripts” section), title of article, running title header (not to exceed 70 characters and spaces), and complete name, affiliation(s), and both e-mail and institutional addresses of all contributing authors. All persons listed as authors should have been sufficiently involved in the research to take public responsibility for its content. Please identify the corresponding author's name using an *(asterisk), and place the asterisk after the number that designates the institutional affiliation.

Abstract: The abstract should briefly describe the methods, results of the research and conclusions (minimum three related sentences, maximum of 350 words or 2400 characters with spaces). The abstract should be a single paragraph and contain no citations or footnotes.

Key words: Please provide no more than 7 key words, preferably different from those specified in the title of the manuscript.

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

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

When citing articles that are “in press,” please send to the reviewing editor a copy of the acceptance letter from the journal or book editor (copy of electronic letter is sufficient).

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

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

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

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

Statistical analyses: Details for all statistical analyses must be set out in the Methods section, either in a separate section or as part of the general text. The exact format is flexible but where relevant this should include: name of test; independent and response variables and covariates (unless unambiguous); any transformations of data for parametric tests; how test assumptions have been assessed and satisfied or explain and justify any deviations; how any pseudoreplication (i.e. temporal or spatial autocorrelations) were dealt with; whether a test is one- or two-tailed; justification for any departure from a 0.05 significance threshold; any model simplification, for example removal of factors from a maximal model.
The exact reporting format is flexible with the following exceptions: All statistical analyses performed must be reported in the Results section, except those used to justify analyses (e.g. assessment of test assumptions, justification for combining data sets) which may be included in the Methods. When more than one test has been done the precise data or hypothesis to which each test was applied must be explicit. Statistics should be presented as: name of test (unless obvious); test statistic with associated degrees of freedom presented as a subscript (note that F values have two degrees of freedom) or sample size (for those tests which do not include degrees of freedom); and probability level (P). P values should be quoted as exact values whenever possible but may be quoted as above or below a threshold significance value (e.g. P > 0.05, P < 0.05, P < 0.001) or as NS (for non-significant values).

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

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

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

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

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

Figures may be sized to fit approximately within the column(s) of the journal, but two-column wide figures are also acceptable. Authors are encouraged to consult back issues of Aquatic Invasions in order to get an indication of column and page widths. Number of figures is not limited, but authors are advised to include only those figures that are essential to the manuscript.

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

Important note: Distribution maps based on Google Maps technology are not acceptable.

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

Acknowledgements: please provide a brief paragraph recognizing the source of funding for the work and acknowledging the assistance of individuals or organizations not identified among the list of authors. Specifically, please acknowledge reviewers during revision of your manuscript. Acknowledgements should be placed in a separate section before the References section.

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

Please use the following style for the reference list:

1. Regular journal article
Stubbington R, Terrell-Nield C, Harding P (2008) The first occurrence of the Ponto-Caspian invader Hemimysis anomala G.O. Sars, 1907 (Mysidacea) in the U.K. Crustaceana 81: 43-55

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

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

3. Book, authored
Elton CS (1958) The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants. Methuen, London, England, 181 pp
Eales NB (1961) The Littoral Fauna of the British Isles, 3rd edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 306 pp

4. Book, edited
F. Gherardi (ed) (2007) Biological Invaders in Inland Waters: Profiles, Distribution and Threats. Invading Nature - Springer Series in Invasion Ecology, Volume 2. Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 733 pp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Web sites and online databases
REABIC (2009) Regional Euro-Asian Biological Invasions Centre (REABIC). http://www.reabic.net  (accessed 15 December 2008)

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

11. Computer programmes and databases
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (2007) Hydrographic database of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center. National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

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

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

Manuscript processing after submission

Reviewing process
Approximately two weeks after submission, the responsible Thematic editor may contact authors by e-mail, either in the case of any problems with a submitted manuscript, and/or to acknowledge successful submission and also notify authors regarding the start of the reviewing process. In case authors do not receive confirmation of initial submission after three weeks, they are kindly requested to contact the Managing Editor of the journal, Dr. Vadim Panov (ai_editor@reabic.net or vepanov@gmail.com).

Up to 20% of papers submitted to Aquatic Invasions are rejected without review. This reduces the burden on the refereeing community and enables authors to submit, without delay, to another journal. In some cases our editors may recommend re-submission of relevant manuscripts to other thematic REABIC journals, BioInvasions Records or Management of Biological Invasions .

Submitted manuscripts that pass the initial assessment will be assigned to one of our Associate Editors (the manuscript handling editor). The handling editor will contact at least 2 independent referees to review the manuscript and provide comments (referees will be selected from experts suggested by the authors and/or other relevant experts). Normally, selected reviewers are required to complete their reviews within 30 days, including evaluations, suggestions for improvements and recommendation for acceptance or rejection of manuscripts. For revisions, the responsible editor will send the corresponding author a decision letter along with detailed comments from referees.

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

Also, submission of high resolution figures in separate files also may be requested in some cases.
Revised manuscripts should be submitted electronically directly to the handling editor. Please make a note “Revised Version, Date“ in the first line of your revised manuscript, and label the “Subject” line of your e-mail message “submission of revised version of manuscript” when submitting it.

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

Paper proofs and publication
Paper proofs will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author soon after final publication decision, and authors are kindly requested to return as soon as possible the revised proofs electronically to ai_submissions@reabic.net, indicating “revised proof” in the “Subject” line of your e-mail message. Normally the paper will be placed on the Aquatic Invasions website soon after receipt of the revised proof (in around 1 week). The final version of paper (with journal volume, issue, page and DOI numbers assigned) will be released within 3 months of submission of corrected proofs.
Important note: Please do not contact scientific editors on any technical issues after final publication decision. Information on the situation with technical processing of accepted papers can be obtained from the Managing Editor of Aquatic Invasions, Dr. Vadim Panov (ai_editor@reabic.net, vepanov@gmail.com).


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

Selecting editors
Authors are advised that they may request a suitable Handling Editor from our Associate Editor list page.

Article Processing Charges

The Open Access policy of Aquatic Invasions means that authors retain the copyright of their articles, which can be copied, downloaded and freely distributed within society (for more information on editorial policy of Aquatic Invasions please see "Journal Information" page). This also ensures free web access to the results of research and maximum visibility for published papers. However it requires the author to pay the costs of the review and editing process, typesetting, web publication, long term archiving and inclusion in CrossRef (enabling electronic citation in other journals that are available electronically). Article processing charges (APCs) for authors (along with support from relevant funding institutions) represent the main funding source for Open Access journals. According to this funding model, papers selected for publication in Aquatic Invasions are subject to a article processing charge (APC) of €70 Euro ($80 USD) per printed journal page. A minimum APC of €840 Euro ($960 USD) is fixed for papers smaller than 12 printed journal pages (for size of printed journal page please read Types of manuscripts section above). 

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

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

Waivers and discounts for APCs are available only for submitting (corresponding) authors, members of the International Association for Open Knowledge on Invasive Alien Species (INVASIVESNET). Specifically, all Associate individual members of INVASIVESNET are eligible for 20% discounts, and up to 50% discounts are available for INVASIVESNET members from low income countries (“low income” - see this reference and “low middle income” - see this reference countries, as defined by the World Bank), students (only in case of payment from their personal funds), retired scientists (only in case of payment from their personal funds) and for members who actively participate in the editorial process of the journal.
Additional discounts can be offered in case of INVASIVESNET membership of co-authors.
Up to 100 % waivers will be also offered for Regular individual members (i.e. Regular organizational members of INVASIVESNET). You can find information on INVASIVESNET membership at​ https://www.invasivesnet.org

Additional information

Additional technical information on manuscript submissions can be obtained from the Managing Editor of Aquatic Invasions, Dr. Vadim Panov (ai_editor@reabic.net, vepanov@gmail.com).