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Royal Society of New Zealand Journals

Quality research journals of particular importance to Australasia, the Pacific Basin, and Antarctica, with relevance to researchers worldwide.

Publishing policy for all journals

General information for journal authors about the Royal Society of New Zealand's publishing policy.

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Publishing policy for Royal Society of New Zealand Journals

Version 4.0 – Jan 2013

This document draws on ethical guidelines prepared by a number of scientific societies. The following sources were used in its preparation:

 Committee on Publication Ethics, Resources http://publicationethics.org/resources (Accessed 13 Nov 2012)

Council of Science Editors http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3331 (Accessed 14 Nov 2012)

The Geological Society of America’s ethical guidelines for publication http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/ethics.htm (Accessed 14 Nov 2012)

Royal Society of London, publishing ethics and other policies http://royalsocietypublishing.org/site/authors/policy.xhtml (accessed 14 Nov 2012)

Pre-referee screening

All manuscripts are screened by the editorial office to assess their match to a particular journal’s aims and scope. Those deemed to be unsuitable for a particular journal may be rejected without being sent for review or, if they are suitable for a different RSNZ journal from that to which they have been submitted, the author will be asked if they wish the editorial office to transfer to a more appropriate journal.

English language

All manuscripts must be presented in native standard English. Authors for whom English is a second language are encouraged to seek assistance in writing from a native speaker. Manuscripts written in poor English will not be sent for review.

Multiple submissions

It is not acceptable practice for authors to submit their work to more than one journal at a time. Work which is published and which is later found to be a duplication of work already published by the same author will incur consequences. The publisher of the initial work will be notified and authors may be prohibited from publishing work by one or both publishers in future. The author’s institution may also be notified.

Authorship

Authors are encouraged to refrain from excessive fragmentation of work to maximise the number of publications from one study.
All authors listed are expected to have provided some input into the concept, design, execution or interpretation of the work submitted. To eliminate any doubt as to the contribution of any named author, all authors may be asked to provide a written, signed statement indicating their eligibility for authorship on the work. The corresponding author will be responsible for obtaining these statements, if requested. The corresponding author is responsible for informing the co-authors of the manuscript’s status throughout the publishing process.
Professional writers who participated only in drafting of the manuscript and did not have a role in the design or conduct of the study or the interpretation of results should be identified in the acknowledgements section and should not be listed as authors. Any payment for such services should be disclosed.
Agreement for change in authorship must be signed by all authors.
Journal style is for authors to be listed on the table of contents using initials and last name only but authors may request their full name to appear on the title page only of their published paper on acceptance of their manuscript.

Copyright and permissions

It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that they have the necessary permission to reuse copyrighted material in their work. Any costs incurred for permission to reuse work must be paid by the author.
Authors assign full copyright in their articles to the Royal Society of New Zealand. Taylor & Francis administer copyright protection and rights on behalf of Royal Society of New Zealand journals.

Misconduct

Unauthorised and unattributed use of the work of others is not permissible. The journals use iThenticate software on randomly selected manuscripts to analyse text. Authors may not use their own, previously published work without appropriate citation.
Authors suspected of misconduct of any form at any time during the publication process will be alerted and given the opportunity to provide a satisfactory answer. If an author is not able to provide a satisfactory answer their manuscript will be withdrawn and their institution may be notified of the accusation. They may also be prohibited from publishing future work in the journal for a period of time.

Taxonomic work and online publication

The journals publish work of a taxonomic nature and adhere to the requirements of both the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN)(Melbourne Code) and the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).

Authors of works of a taxonomic nature are required to indicate whether they wish their article to be published online, ahead of print, on submission.
Papers published in their electronic, online ahead of print, formats are identical to the printed version, with the exception of final pagination numbers, and form the version of scholarly record.The date of publication is given in the electronic version of the paper as the ‘version of record first published’ date. This same date is also displayed on the title page when the paper is assigned to an issue.

Ethical use of non-human subjects in research

The journals endorse the ANZCCART(NZ) policy for the responsible use of animals in science. To this end research must be undertaken in accordance with the institutional and legal requirements and/or follow published guidelines such as the New Zealand code of recommendations and minimum standards for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes. Authors from countries other than New Zealand must follow all applicable laws and regulations of the country in which they conduct research.

Pre-publication

Prior publication of an abstract or short summary of the work does not preclude publication in full in the journals. Please contact the editorial office prior to submission, if in any doubt.

Refereeing

All Royal Society of New Zealand Journals operate a single blind peer-review system , with the exception of Kotuitui which operates a double blind peer-review system. Referees will be sourced from both domestic and overseas institutions. All manuscripts are normally refereed by two experts but where there is disparity regarding the merits of the work, an additional review may also be requested or one of the journal’s editors may give an evaluation. Supplementary material is subject to editorial oversight and is made available to reviewers.

Open access

The journals offer Taylor & Francis’ open select option for gold open access publication.

Proofs

Turnaround time for proofs is typically short and it is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that all co-authors have agreed to any changes requested. Please keep changes to a minimum as trivial changes, changes to improve prose style, adding new material or deleting cannot be accommodated. Adding new, unrefereed, content is not acceptable.

Conflicts of interest

Editors and reviewers are required to disclose any conflict of interest relating to a manuscript. These include, but are not limited to, past (within the last 5 years) or current collaboration, personal friend or family member, institutional relationship, someone with whom the editor or reviewer has had a past or present scientific controversy or where the reviewer/editor stands to gain financially by publication or rejection of the manuscript.
Work submitted by editors on the journal will be delegated to other editors and the submitting editor will be masked from access to records pertaining to their manuscript within the journal’s ScholarOne™ site.

Correspondence and enquiries

Enquiries should be addressed to the editorial office publish@royalsociety.org.nz

Post publication corrections

Errors in published articles require a published erratum or corrigendum. Any such published corrections will be linked to the original article. For further information please read the Taylor and Francis statement on corrections to published articles.

Embargos

Authors should not generally allow their findings to be reported in the press prior to article acceptance or publication. Authors should liaise with the editorial office to coordinate any required media activity related to their article. Any press releases should reflect only the work carried out and should not go beyond actual research findings.