For Author

Journal of Wildlife and Parks (JWP) serves the wildlife research profession and society at large in many ways, among them by publishing articles which represent the findings of current scientific wildlife research. Every editor of JWP has the responsibility to establish and maintain guidelines for selecting and accepting papers submitted to JWP.

1. Code of Ethics for Authors

1.1 Originality

Any manuscript submitted by an author must be the original work of the author. Such manuscripts must not cover, in whole or in part, any paper that has been earlier published or currently reviewed from publication by JWP or any other journal. It is also inappropriate for an author to submit a manuscript describing the same research to more than one place of publication, unless it is a resubmission of a rejected manuscript or withdrawn from publication. Thus, an author may not submit to JWP a work that is in whole or in part under review elsewhere, nor submit to another journal or publication outlet a manuscript that is in whole or in part under review at JWP.

Authors must openly cite their own previous work and ideas, even when the work or ideas are not quoted verbatim or paraphrased in the manuscript. If exact sentences or paragraphs that appear in another work by the author are included in the manuscript, the material should be put in quotation marks and properly cited in a way that does not compromise the double blind review process.

The manuscript should recognise the origin, and novelty, of any copyrighted, non-standard datasets used in the paper, for example, a primary dataset created by the author using a survey. If the copyrighted dataset has been used elsewhere by this or another author, the manuscript should cite these other works, whether published or not. While self-citation is encouraged, authors should avoid overly citing their earlier works in order to increase their number of citation. If self-identifying information is necessary, the author should acknowledge the information in the manuscript's Acknowledgements section (which are not forwarded to the Reviewers) and also inform the JWP Managing Editor.

1.2 Plagiarism and Self-plagiarism

All work in the manuscript should be free of any plagiarism, falsification, fabrications, or omission of significant material. Authors should openly cite others' work and ideas, even if the work or ideas are not quoted verbatim or paraphrased. This standard applies whether the previous work is published, unpublished, or electronically available.

Redundancy or “self-plagiarism” is unacceptable and occur in at least two ways: (1) authors reuse portions of their previous works by using identical or similar sentences or paragraphs without quoting or acknowledging; or (2) authors produce multiple manuscripts that are slightly dissimilar from each other, which are submitted for publication in different journals but without acknowledgement of the other papers. Authors can and often do develop different aspects of an argument in more than one manuscript. However, manuscripts that differ largely in appearance, but are presented as separate and distinct research without acknowledging other related work, constitute attempts (whether unintentional or deliberate) to deceive reviewers and readers by overinflating the intellectual contribution of the manuscript. Since publication decisions are influenced by the novelty and innovativeness of manuscripts, such deception is inappropriate and unethical.

Authors should reduce their recycling of previous writings. If recycling is unavoidable, the author should inform the Editor at the time of submission and reference the previous writings in the manuscript. Such self-referencing should be worded prudently so as to avoid compromising the double-blind review process. If exact sentences or paragraphs that appear in another work by the author are included in the manuscript, the material must be put in quotation marks and appropriately cited.

In cases the Editor deems as “major” redundancy (e.g., multiple overlapping paragraphs), the paper will be rejected and authors may be barred from submitting to JWP for a period of time. In cases of “minor” redundancy (e.g., a single duplicate paragraph describing the research methods), the authors would be asked to rephrase the duplicate sentences. JWP reserves the right to evaluate issues of plagiarism and redundancy on a case-by-case basis.

1.3 Multiple Submissions

JWP does not allow or approve duplicate or concurrent submissions of a paper to more than one peer reviewed journal. An author must not submit the same manuscripts for simultaneous consideration by two or more journals. If a manuscript is rejected by one journal, only then the author may submit it to another journal. JWP’s journal guidelines state clearly that “papers should describe the original work of the authors that has not been previously published in a refereed journal and is not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.” Multiple submission abuses the resources of all affected journals, including the valuable time of editors, reviewers, and staff, and is unprofessional and unacceptable. In addition, JWP does not accept any submission of manuscripts that have been published in full in a conference proceeding.

1.4 Conflicts of Interest

Authors should avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of conflicts of interest throughout the research process. A conflict of interest is some fact known to a participant in the publication process that if revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived (or an Author, Reviewer, or Editor feel defensive). Conflicts of interest may influence the judgment of Authors, Reviewers, and Editors. Possible conflicts often are not immediately apparent to others. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial.

All authors should include a statement disclosing any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that may be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

There are many professional activities of researchers that have the potential for a conflict of interest. Any professional relationship or action that may result in a conflict of interest must be fully disclosed. When objectivity and effectiveness cannot be maintained, the activity should be avoided or discontinued.

1.6 Authorship Policies

1.6.1 Authorship
Authorship is reserved to those who make major contributions to the research. Credit is assigned to those who have contributed to a publication in proportion to their professional contributions. Major contributions of a professional character made by several persons to a common project are recognized by joint authorship, with the individual who made the principal contribution listed first.

All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The corresponding author ensures that all contributing co-authors and no uninvolved persons are included in the author list. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication. If and when the manuscript is accepted for publication, the author(s) still hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without restrictions. For the new invention, authors are suggested to manage its patent before published.

1.6.2 Change of Authorship
JWP’s policy on authorship does not support adding or removing of names once the research paper or article has been submitted to JWP. However, a request for a change to the authorship can be considered by the Chief Executive Editor if the Corresponding author of the manuscript state their reason.

1.6.3 Authors’ Affiliation
The primary affiliation for each author should be institution where the majority of their work was done. If the author move to other institution, the current address may also be stated.

1.6.4 Co-Authorship
All Co-Authors of papers should have made significant contributions to the work and share accountability for the results. Authorship and credit should be shared in proportion to the various parties' contributions. Authors should take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed or to which they have contributed. Other contributions should be cited in the manuscript's
Acknowledgements or an endnote. The Corresponding Author who submits a manuscript to JWP should have sent all living Co-Authors a draft and obtained their assent to submission and publication.

1.7 Copyright Law
Authors should check their manuscripts for possible breaches of copyright law (e.g., where permissions are needed for quotations or tables taken from other publications) and secure the necessary permissions before submission. Authors should avoid anything in the text of the manuscript that might be actionable, such as defamation. Authors should avoid using sexist and biased language that could be interpreted as denigrating to ethnic or other groups; for example, plural rather than single pronouns ("they" rather than "he") are recommended.

1.8 Manuscript Withdrawal
Author may write to the Chief Executive Editor in requesting for the withdrawal of a manuscript that has been previously submitted for intended publication in JWP. However, for manuscript withdrawal is on permitted within two weeks from the initial manuscript submission date to JWP.

1.9 Timeliness
Authors should be prompt with their manuscript revisions. If an Author cannot meet the deadline given, the Author should contact the JWP Managing Editor as soon as possible to determine whether a longer time period or withdrawal from the review process should be chosen.