Publication Charges

The Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS) follows a Diamond Open Access model, ensuring that all articles are freely accessible without any publication or processing charges for authors. See more on the Publication Policy page.

Article Types

JWLS accepts the following manuscript types:

Research Article

Full-length original research work that contributes to the existing knowledge in the field of wildlife science and conservation. The authors are suggested to follow a general structure that includes sections such as Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion.

Review Article

Comprehensive synthesis and analysis of existing literature in wildlife science, providing an overview of current knowledge, identifying research gaps, and suggesting future directions.

Monograph

A comprehensive, in-depth scholarly work that explores a single research topic or theme in wildlife science. Monographs provide extensive analysis and are generally longer than standard research articles, offering significant contributions to the field.

Methods Paper

Detailed descriptions of innovative or refined research methodologies, techniques or technologies relevant to wildlife science. These papers emphasise procedural clarity and reproducibility. Submissions on new software or technological tools are also encouraged.

Short Communication

Concise research articles with a narrower scope, such as studies with smaller sample sizes or single-objective research. These articles present impactful findings in a condensed format and may follow the structure of a research article without section headings.

Natural History Note

Reports of natural history observations providing valuable insights into wildlife behaviour, ecology, breeding etc. These articles should go beyond simple species checklists, presence reports, or distribution updates, and must contribute new knowledge discussing ecological importance or conservation implications supported by qualitative or quantitative rigour.

Short Note

Brief articles presenting viewpoints, opinions, hypotheses, or thought-provoking discussions in wildlife science. These contributions aim to stimulate scholarly debate and propose new perspectives.

Academic Practices in Wildlife Science

Articles focusing on professional aspects of wildlife science, including conservation and management practices, teaching methodologies, curriculum development, and academic training in the field.

Letter to the Editor

Formal communications providing critique, comments, or feedback on content published in JWLS. This section promotes post-publication discussion and scholarly exchange.

Reply (Invitation only)

Invited responses to critiques or comments on previously published content, allowing authors to address feedback and engage in scholarly debate.

Commentary (Invitation only)

Invited articles from eminent experts and scientists providing insights, reflections, or analyses on current topics in wildlife science and conservation, contributing to informed discussions within the academic community.

Editorial discretion: The journal’s editorial team reserves the right to reclassify submitted manuscripts into a more appropriate category during the peer-review process.

Peer-review process

The Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS) follows a double-blind, confidential peer-review process, ensuring that both the authors and reviewers remain anonymous to each other. This approach maintains fairness and minimises bias in manuscript evaluation.

JWLS follows a rigorous peer-review process to uphold the quality and credibility of published content. Editors and reviewers are required to maintain strict confidentiality and must not disclose any details of the manuscript or review to anyone outside the review system.

Except for editorials, all submitted articles undergo independent peer review. Research Articles, Review Articles, Monographs, Methods Papers, and Short Communications are reviewed by a minimum of two independent and external reviewers, while other short-form articles (Natural History Notes, Short Notes, Academic Practices in Wildlife Science, Letters to the Editor, Replies, and Commentaries) are reviewed by at least one independent and external reviewer. If only one external review is conducted, the handling academic editor is required to provide the second detailed review.

If an article is published with any deviation from this standard peer-review process, additional information will be provided in the article, detailing the differences in peer-review standards.

Authors are required to nominate a minimum of three suggested reviewers during submission. Additionally, they may request the exclusion of specific reviewers if necessary.

Please refer to the Peer-Review Process section on the Publication Policies page for further details on the peer-review and publication process at JWLS.

Authorship and Contributions

JWLS follows internationally recognised authorship guidelines to ensure fair credit and accountability in scholarly publishing. Authors must adhere to ethical standards, and any dispute will be handled according to established protocols

Authorship criteria

Authorship credit should be based on the following three conditions, all of which must be met:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the study, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
2. Drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
3. Final review and approval of the version to be published.

All contributors who do not meet these criteria should be listed under Acknowledgements. JWLS recommends referring to COPE guidelines and discussion document on authorship for further details on authorship ethics.

Authorship contributions

All submissions must include an author contribution statement, specifying the role of each author to ensure transparency. JWLS encourages the use of the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) framework, developed by the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), which defines 14 contribution roles:

Conceptualisation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

Individuals or institutions that contributed in any of these roles but do not meet the authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section.

Author information

Any additional author details should be provided using superscript markers in the author list. For example, if two or more authors share joint first authorship, a footnote should be added to the author list, e.g., “X and Y should be considered joint first authors.”

JWLS supports ORCID iD as a persistent author identifier. Authors are requested to provide their ORCID iDs, if available, by the proof stage of publication. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring accurate and complete authorship information.

Authorship changes

Adding or Removing an Author During Peer Review: The corresponding author must send a request to the Editor-in-Chief (editorinchief@jwls.in; copy to info@jwls.in), providing a clear explanation for the change. The request must be signed by all the co-authors.

Author Name Change: Authors who wish to change their name during the review or publication process must email the Editorial Office (info@jwls.in) with the manuscript reference number. Any name change after publication will be handled as a formal correction and follow the Article Update Procedure (refer to Publication Policy page).

Authorship disputes

Authorship disputes should be resolved among the authors before submission. In unresolved cases, JWLS will refer the matter to the relevant authors’ institutions for resolution. The responsibility for settling authorship disputes lies with the institutions involved. Authors are encouraged to refer to COPE guidelines for best practices in handling authorship conflicts.

Copyrights of the published articles

All articles published in the Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS) are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited in accordance with accepted academic practice. Copyright is retained by the author(s).

However, cover page images are not subject to the Creative Commons license. All the rights for cover images remain with the respective photographers or illustrators, and they may only be used with explicit permission from the copyright owner.

For any other content where specific copyright terms apply, the designated copyright information will be explicitly mentioned alongside the content.

Ethical Policies for Authors

Originality and Plagiarism

Authors submitting to the Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS) must ensure that their work is original, has not been published elsewhere, and is not under consideration for publication in another journal. Authors must declare that their submission represents original research conducted by them and that no part of the research (including results, data, and figures) has been published elsewhere unless properly acknowledged and cited in the manuscript.

JWLS adheres to the University Grant Commission (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 to uphold academic integrity and prevent plagiarism.

As a participant in Similarity Check by CrossRef, JWLS screens all submissions using iThenticate to detect instances of overlapping or similar text, regardless of the peer-review outcome. Additionally, all published articles are contributed to the iThenticate database to strengthen global academic integrity efforts.

JWLS permits overlap with online archives in the form of non-peer-reviewed versions, theses, or reports authored by the submitting authors. However, if a manuscript exhibits high similarity (>15%), authors may be required to provide clarifications, make necessary revisions, or add additional declarations or the manuscript may be rejected. Authors have access to similarity check reports after the submission to take necessary corrective steps during the peer review.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest arises when an author has personal, financial, or professional relationships that could influence the objectivity, integrity, or interpretation of a submitted manuscript. JWLS is committed to ensuring transparency and impartiality in the publication process. Authors are advised to familiarise themselves with different types of conflicts of interest by referring to COPE guidelines.

Declaration of Conflicts: All authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to their submitted work, including but not limited to (A) financial ties (e.g., funding, grants, employment, stock ownership, consultancy, royalties, patents, honoraria), (B) personal or professional relationships with organisations, institutions, or individuals that may affect objectivity, (C) any non-financial competing interests (e.g., ideological, political, or academic influences) that could impact the research. Authors must not have any conflict of interest with any individual listed on the editorial board of JWLS. If such a conflict exists, it should be disclosed at the time of submission. The corresponding author is responsible for submitting a conflict-of-interest statement on behalf of all co-authors during the manuscript submission process.

Editorial Board Member Submissions: Papers submitted or authored by a member of the editorial board will be handled by an independent editor to ensure a fair review process. Editorial board members submitting papers to JWLS will only participate in the process as authors and will not be involved in any aspect of the peer review. A statement regarding the independent handling of the manuscript will be added to the conflict-of-interest section of the published article.

If no conflict of interest exists, authors must explicitly state: “The authors declare that they have no competing interests.”

Any disclosed conflicts of interest will be included in the final published article to maintain transparency and reader trust.

Failure to disclose conflicts of interest may lead to manuscript rejection or retraction if discovered post-publication.

Use of Generative AI

JWLS supports the ethical and responsible use of generative AI tools within a framework adapted from COPE’s position on authorship and AI tools, WAME recommendations on chatbots and generative artificial intelligence in relation to scholarly publications, and Elsevier Generative AI policies for journals. The following policy applies to authors to ensure integrity, transparency, and confidentiality in the use of AI-assisted technologies.

Authors must disclose any use of AI or AI-assisted technologies for writing assistance, language improvement, paraphrasing, data analysis, or any aspect of the research process in their manuscript.

AI tools must not be used for conceptualisation, AI-led data analyses, drawing inferences and generating opinion-based arguments. Use of Generative AI or AI-assisted tools to develop or alter figures and images in submitted manuscripts is strictly prohibited unless it is an essential part of the research question and the authors have explicitly stated the purpose and methodology of AI use.

Authors are advised to review the privacy policies of the AI tools they use and ensure compliance with institutional and national regulations on AI usage.

Generative AI must not be listed as an author or co-author or cited as an author. The accountability of authorship can only be attributed to humans and authors are responsible for the content quality of the manuscript.

Declaration of the use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies:

“The author(s) used [NAME TOOL / SERVICE with Model Version] for [PURPOSE] in the preparation of this manuscript. The author(s) thoroughly reviewed and edited the content generated and take(s) full responsibility for the content of the publication.”

Use of licensed software

All open-source or proprietary software used for analyses, data processing, visualisation or preparing result outputs must be properly cited and attributed in the manuscript. If non-free or proprietary software was used, authors must provide details of the license that permits its use in their research and manuscript preparation.

Data Sharing, Availability, and Archiving

The Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS) is committed to promoting research transparency and reproducibility. Authors are required to provide all relevant data, metadata, and codes upon submission for review by editors and reviewers. Upon acceptance, authors must formally archive their data in publicly accessible data repositories or clearly state where the data are deposited during submission. Manuscripts must include a Data Availability Statement, specifying how and where the data can be accessed. During submission, authors are asked to select the most appropriate data availability statement from the following options:

1. No data was used in this research.
2. The data used in this research are confidential and cannot be shared.
3. The authors do not have permission to share the data.
4. Data and codes are available from the corresponding author on request.
5. The data and codes are available through an online repository, and details/links are provided in the manuscript or separately.

Research involving humans

JWLS expects authors to uphold high ethical standards when conducting research involving human participants. Authors must ensure that all the participants consented to participate in the study, and a statement confirming informed consent must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript. If applicable, consent must also be obtained for publication of identifiable information, including images or personal details.

Research involving human subjects must be reviewed and approved by an appropriate institutional ethics review committee. Authors must provide the name of the ethics committee that approved the study, along with any relevant approval reference number. If no ethics review committee was available, authors must include a statement explaining how the research adhered to appropriate ethical guidelines.

Research involving animal handling and invasive sampling

JWLS requires all research involving animals to adhere to strict ethical guidelines to ensure animal welfare and the conservation of wildlife. Protocols and procedures for all studies involving animal handling, invasive sampling, or in vivo experiments must be reviewed and approved by an appropriate institutional ethics review committee before the commencement of research. The name of the ethics committee and approval reference number must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript. If ethical approval was not required, authors must provide a clear justification in the manuscript, describing how the study adhered to ethical research standards.

Research involving species protected under local laws requires explicit permissions from relevant government agencies or regulatory bodies. Authors are also expected to comply with the Convention on Biological Diversity (http://www.cbd.int/convention/) and the CITES (http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/text.php) for studies on species of global conservation importance.

Authors conducting in vivo experiments on animals must review the Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) 2.0 guidelines and are expected to adhere to the ARRIVE Essential 10 checklist as a minimum standard for reporting.

Research in protected and restricted areas
Authors conducting research in protected or restricted areas must comply with local laws and regulations governing access, research activities, and data collection within such areas. Proper permissions must be obtained from relevant government agencies, wildlife authorities, or regulatory bodies before conducting the research. Any restrictions or conditions imposed by the granting agencies that led to modification in the research plan should be clearly stated in the Methods section of the manuscript. The names of the agency/agencies granting permission must be listed in the Acknowledgements section of the manuscript.

Inappropriate image manipulation
The Journal of Wildlife Science (JWLS) requires that all the graphics, figures, maps and images are submitted in the original version and are not manipulated in ways that mislead readers. While minor adjustments using image software and annotations for better clarity and readability are permitted, such modifications must be applied uniformly across the entire image. Any modifications must not alter the scientific meaning of the image. Authors must cite the software with the version used. JWLS follows COPE guidelines and other academic publishing standards to ensure research integrity. The Editorial Team may conduct randomised checks on submitted images, and any suspected improper manipulation will be investigated.

Use of copyrighted material and intellectual property

Authors must ensure that all content included in their manuscripts—such as images, text, tables, figures, or any other intellectual property—complies with copyright laws and academic publishing standards. If any copyrighted material is used, explicit permission must be obtained from the copyright holder and provided to the journal during submission. Proper attribution must be given, and any license restrictions must be clearly stated in the manuscript.

Procedure for appeal

Authors should direct all correspondence related to their submissions to the Editorial Office at info@jwls.in. If an author wishes to appeal a decision or report concerns related to editorial mishandling, misconduct, or ethical oversight, they may escalate the issue by contacting the Editor-in-Chief at editorinchief@jwls.in, with a copy sent to the Editorial Office for due action.

If the matter remains unresolved for more than a month, authors may contact the Dean (dean@wii.gov.in) and Director (dwii@wii.gov.in) of the Wildlife Institute of India, the publisher of the journal.

JWLS follows COPE guidelines for handling appeals and complaints

Manuscript Preparation

Formatting guidelines

JWLS does not impose a specific journal style at the submission stage. However, authors must ensure a clear, readable layout in a single-column format with proper spacing and alignment. Line and page numbers must be included for reviewer convenience. There are no word count restrictions, but authors must provide the word count for shorter articles such as Short Communication and Letter to the Editor.

JWLS accepts .pdf, .doc, .docx, .rtf, .odt, .xls, and .xlsx file formats. Manuscripts may be prepared using MS Office, LaTeX, or Markdown.

Language

Manuscripts must be written in clear and concise English. JWLS accepts different variations of English (American, British, Indian, etc.), but authors must maintain consistency throughout the manuscript. The authors should check the text for grammatical correctness before submission.

Metric System

JWLS follows the SI metric system for all measurements, weights, and distances. Temperatures must be reported in degrees Celsius (°C).

Mathematical Expressions

Complex mathematical equations should be formatted using Microsoft Word’s Math Input tool, LaTeX, or provided as a clear, high-resolution image.

References

JWLS does not enforce a specific reference style at submission. However, references must be complete and accurate. The Harvard (Author-Year citation) format is suggested, or any style where journal names are not abbreviated and all details are included. Citations must match the references listed. JWLS prefers Author-Year citations (e.g., Singh et al., 2002; Wilson & Hölldobler, 2005) instead of numbered references. Authors must ensure that the enlisted references match their citations within the text. All references should follow a uniform format style throughout the manuscript.

Research articles must include a DOI wherever available. References to web pages should include the access date.

Tables

All tables must be cited in the text in the order they appear. Tables may be submitted as separate files or placed at the end of the manuscript. If included in the manuscript, each table must be on a separate page after the reference list.

Figures

Figures must be cited in the text in sequential order. Figures should be clear and readable in print during the initial submission for a comfortable review reading. High-resolution figures (minimum 300 dpi) will be required at the production stage and should be prepared. Figures may be included at the end of the manuscript (each on a separate page after references) or submitted as separate files. Photograph, figure and map files can be submitted in a general format such as .pdf, .jpeg, .jpg, .tiff, .png, .gif, .svg, .bmp. Authors are suggested to use colour-blind-friendly palettes.

Maps

JWLS remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims in maps. Maps must include standard georeferencing (inset map, coordinates, scale, and direction). If using copyrighted maps (e.g., Google Maps), permissions and citations must be provided. Maps depicting India’s boundaries and coastlines must follow National Map Policy 2005 and subsequent guidelines (2016, 2017 and 2021) issued by the Govt. of India.

Cover Images

JWLS encourages authors to submit high-resolution images (minimum 300 dpi) of study species, ecosystem or habitat. These may be used for the journal cover or promotional materials. Copyrights of these images remain with the authors.

Submission Checklist

– Cover letter
A concise cover letter outlining how the manuscript fits in the scope of the journal, and highlighting the significance of the study should be submitted as a separate file (optional but recommended). The cover letter should also include statements and declarations about originality to state that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere, confirmation of approval from all authors for submission, and potential conflict of interest.

– Title page
The title page should include the full manuscript title, author names, affiliations, contact details (including email and ORCID IDs), and corresponding author details. Additional authorship details such as multiple corresponding authors or joint first authorship should be mentioned here. Acknowledgements, Funding details, Conflict of Interest statements, and Author Contribution statements should be placed at the end of the title page or attached separately.

– Manuscript file
The manuscript should contain the full title, abstract, keywords, main text, and references. Full-length articles should be preferably structured under standard sections such as Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion. Shorter article types may not require section divisions. Each page should be numbered and continuous line numbers should be added for use in the peer review process. To maintain a double-blind peer review, author names, affiliations, contributions, acknowledgements, and any other identifying details must be removed from the manuscript file.

– Abstract
Abstracts should not exceed 250 words and must include 4–6 keywords that do not repeat words from the title. Abstracts must be included in both the manuscript file and submission metadata.

– Tables and Figures
All tables and figures must be numbered and cited in the text. Tables and figures may be submitted as separate files or included at the end of the manuscript. If included, each must be on a separate page after the references.

–Table and Figure legends
All legends could be provided as a separate file, with the figure and table titles as captions or placed at the end of the manuscript file.

– List of suggested reviewers
Authors must suggest at least three potential reviewers, preferably not from the same institution as the authors or leading to any conflict of interest. The submission process required the authors to fill in the full name, email, and institutional affiliation of each of the suggested reviewers.

– Data sharing statement
Authors must select an appropriate data availability statement during submission. If data are deposited in a repository, the repository name and link must be provided. If data cannot be shared, a justification must be provided.

– Conflict of Interest statement
Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest. If none exist, authors should state: “The authors declare no competing interests.”

– Author Contribution statement
The contribution of each author should be mentioned in detail. Authors may refer to CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) to specify each author’s contribution.

– Acknowledgements
Individuals and institutions that contributed to the study but do not qualify for authorship should be listed in the Acknowledgments section. Funding details and research permissions should also be included. Acknowledgements should be placed at the end of the title page or submitted separately. It should never be part of your main manuscript file.

– Ethics statement
Authors need to submit an ethics statement for the studies involving human participants, animal handling, invasive sampling or in vivo experiments on animals citing the approval from the institutional ethics review committee. If such a review committee was not available, the authors must explain how the research met the ethical standards in the statement.

– Use of Generative AI statement
If AI tools were used for language, paraphrasing, analysis, or any other research assistance, authors must disclose their use.

– Originality statement
Authors must confirm that the submitted work is their original research work without duplication from other studies, the published work of the authors or that it is not a salami-slicing paper from other major work by the author. An additional statement may be requested at any stage of the peer review process if the plagiarism check similarity exceeds 15%.

– Supplementary Files (If Any)
Supplementary materials include important ancillary information, which mainly consists of tables, datasets, photos, and figures and is relevant to the submitted article, but it is not part of the main manuscript file. Authors must provide supporting information in its final format, which will be available for review before publication. Supplementary materials (e.g., datasets, images) must be labelled as Table S1, Figure S1, etc. and must be provided in their final format upon acceptance for online publication.

– Manuscript in track change mode (For Revisions Only)
A copy of the revised manuscripts must be submitted with tracked changes for reviewers to find the changes. The file should be submitted as additional supplementary material.

– Submission metadata
Authors are required to identify the files with appropriate identification from the dropdown box as “Cover letter”, “Manuscript”, “Table”, “Figure”, “Supplementary material”, and “Acknowledgements” during the upload of a PDF or Word document. Authors are asked to fill in metadata information at the final stage of the submission process, which includes full title, short title (optional), abstract, keywords, author details (names, emails, and ORCID IDs), country of origin of the work, and classification of the manuscript under journal themes (optional).

Author Proofs

Once a manuscript is accepted, it undergoes copyediting and typesetting, which may take a few days. The Author’s Proof is then sent to the authors for final review. Authors must carefully check the proof for accuracy and correctness and specify any necessary changes. Key areas of review are title, author names and details (e.g. ORCID IDs), citation and reference consistency, text changes, figures resolution and captions, spellings of scientific names and technical terms and content of the supplementary files. The proof must be returned within 48 hours to avoid publication delays. Once approved, no further changes can be made. Authors must not submit a revised manuscript file but instead mark corrections on the proof, list them in a reply email, or provide them in a separate document.

Post-publication critiques

JWLS encourages constructive post-publication discussions to foster academic discourse. To facilitate this, JWLS provides avenues for formal and informal critiques of published articles. Readers can submit Letters to the Editor expressing critical evaluations or discussions related to a published article. Authors of the original article are invited to submit a Reply to address these critiques. JWLS actively engages with the academic community through platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), enabling real-time time discussions on published research. JWLS is also in the process of setting up PUBPEER to allow for in-depth, formal critiques and discussions on published materials.

Article Updates and Retraction

Refer to the Publication Policy page

Privacy/Data Protection

The publication and the publisher of JWLS recognise the importance of protecting the personal information collected from users and ensure that steps are taken to maintain the security, integrity, and privacy of the personal data collected and processed. Check the details of the privacy policy at JWLS.