Code of Conduct & Publication Ethics

At Biogeography, we are committed to the highest standards of scientific publishing because it supports the integrity and health of the scientific community and all that science contributes to informed decisions and policy and public well-being. Members of the editorial team at Biogeography co-developed the Publishing for an Ethical and Equitable Environment in Research (PEEER) Joint Editors’ Statement on #BetterPublishing, which the journal has adopted. We are therefore delighted to be partnering with Stanford University Press, a member of the Association of University Presses (AUP), which is an associate member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). SUP promotes and adheres to the guidance set forth by COPE in all matters relating to the integrity, transparency, and rigor of the scholarly work of its journals as set out in SUP’s Publications Ethics for Journals https://www.sup.org/journals/publication-ethics. 

Responsibilities of Editors and Authors: As the principal arbiters working regularly at the interface between the generation and dissemination of scientific information, editors must show leadership in maintaining the integrity and quality of scholarly publications. Thus, as editors we reject any direct or indirect interference in editorial and peer review processes and are committed to evaluating and protecting a rigorous scientific process. Likewise, we expect authors also engage in ethical practices in their research and submissions, providing truthful data, and declaring conflicts of interest at submission and in publications. 

Confidentiality and Fairness in Review Processes: Biogeography respects the confidentiality of authors and reviewers, and seeks processes that support all researchers, including promoting equity, early career support, and the inclusion of geographically underrepresented researchers producing work on understudied systems. Single-blind peer-review is standard for the journal, though we will consider requests for double-blind review despite mixed evidence of its popularity (BES 2017) or benefits (APS 2015); in such cases, it will be the authors’ responsibility to comprehensively anonymize all submitted materials that will be sent for peer-review. 

Integrity and Transparency: The editorial board of Biogeography is committed to enhancing integrity by encouraging transparency in relationships and operations. The journal will be transparent in its processes. Editors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest and strive to resolve them ethically if alternate editors are unavailable. Decisions will be based on clearly identified criteria and reviews. For data, we adopt the FAIR - open data principles.

Corrections and Retractions: Post publication amendments to articles will follow the procedures outlined by SUP at https://www.sup.org/journals/publication-ethics. 

Equity, Inclusion, and Respectful Discourse: A full understanding of Biogeography is possible only with inclusion of scholars studying the full biological and geographic diversity of the planet. We value diverse perspectives and encourage constructive discussions among authors, editors, reviewers, and readers. Our commitment extends to ensuring that the journal environment is free from discrimination, harassment, and hostility, promoting respectful discourse that reflects the best of academic standards. We aim to follow the CARE principles for indigenous data governance.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights: We respect and protect the intellectual property rights of authors by adopting Creative Commons licensing of published work (default is CC-BY-NC). Data and code accompanying the published work will be shared under an open license that is conformant with the Open Definition project of the Open Knowledge Foundation. Suggested licenses include, but are not restricted to, Open Data Commons Attribution (ODC-By-1.0) for data and any license approved by the Open Source Initiative (e.g., Apache 2.0, MIT license) for code.

Professional Conduct: The editorial board embraces SUP’s Code of Conduct that serves the PEEER goals to foster a culture in which authors, editors, and reviewers choose a healthy scientific and research community. If issues arise, members of the community may raise a concern with the Chief Editor or report a breach of these principles to CoC@www.sup.org. All correspondence will be treated confidentially.

Artificial IntelIigence (AI): Use of AI must always be stated. Acceptable uses include: Implementation in softwares for methodological/analytical steps; code completion/refactoring; grammar and spelling checking; and style and formatting checking. Unacceptable uses include: Idea generation; automated correction/copy-editing of original text; manuscript drafting or editing to the extent normally done by co-authors; data generation or any other use that would be considered undesirable or fraudulent by reasonable members of the community