Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript Categories

• Research Article – 5,000–8,000 words, reporting original research findings.
• Review Article – 8,000–10,000 words, synthesizing existing literature on a topic (editorial approval recommended before submission).
• Short Communication – 2,000–3,000 words, reporting focused or preliminary findings.
• Case Study – 4,000–6,000 words, documenting a specific conservation intervention or site-based study.
• Technical Note – 2,000–3,500 words, describing new methods, tools, or techniques.

Formatting Requirements

Manuscripts should be prepared in English, with double line spacing throughout, using a standard 12 pt font (e.g. Times New Roman), 2.5 cm margins, left-aligned (not justified) text, and consecutive page and line numbering. SI units should be used throughout. Figures should be at least 300 dpi resolution and must be cited and numbered sequentially in the text.

Manuscript Structure: Section-by-Section Guide

Manuscripts should be organized in the order below. Not every section applies to every article type (for example, Short Communications and Technical Notes may combine Results and Discussion), but the overall sequence should be preserved.

1. Title Page

• A concise, informative title (maximum 15 words) that reflects the content of the study without abbreviations or unnecessary jargon;
• Full names of all authors, in the order agreed by all contributors, with affiliations (department, institution, city, country) linked to each author by superscript numbers;
• ORCID iD for each author, where available;
• The corresponding author's name, postal address, email address, and telephone number;
• A running title (short title) of no more than 60 characters, for use as a page header.

2. Abstract and Keywords

A structured or unstructured abstract of 150–250 words, written as a single paragraph that summarizes the objective, methods, key results (with quantitative data where relevant), and main conclusion of the study. The abstract should be understandable without reference to the full text and should not contain citations, undefined abbreviations, or footnotes. This should be followed by 5–8 keywords, listed alphabetically and separated by semicolons, chosen to maximize discoverability in indexing databases.

3. Introduction

The Introduction should provide sufficient background and context for a reader outside the immediate sub-field to understand the study's motivation. It should briefly review the relevant literature, clearly identify the knowledge gap or problem being addressed, and end with an explicit statement of the study's objectives or hypotheses. Extensive literature review belongs in a Review Article, not in the Introduction of a Research Article.

4. Materials and Methods

This section must provide sufficient detail for another researcher to replicate the study, including:

• Study area and period: geographic location (with coordinates where appropriate, subject to the journal's Data Availability policy on sensitive locations), habitat type, and dates of data collection;
• Study design and sampling: sampling strategy, sample size and justification, and inclusion/exclusion criteria;
• Materials, instruments, and reagents: manufacturer name and location for specialized equipment or software (including version numbers);
• Statistical analysis: the specific statistical tests used, software and version, significance thresholds, and how missing data or outliers were handled;
• Ethical and permit approvals: name of the approving ethics committee, institutional review board, or wildlife/collection permitting authority, together with the approval or permit reference number (see Publication Ethics).

5. Results (can be merged as Results and Discussion)

Results should be presented clearly and objectively, in a logical sequence, using text, tables, and figures as appropriate. Findings should be reported without interpretation or discussion of their significance — that belongs in the Discussion. Avoid duplicating the same data in both a table and a figure; choose whichever format communicates the result most effectively.

6. Discussion

The Discussion should interpret the results in the context of the study's objectives and the existing literature, explain their significance for conservation science or practice, acknowledge the study's limitations, and, where relevant, suggest directions for future research. Avoid simply restating the Results.

7. Conclusions

A brief, standalone section (may be combined with the Discussion in short-format articles) summarizing the principal findings and their broader implications, particularly for conservation policy or management where applicable.

8. Acknowledgements

Recognition of funding sources (with grant numbers), technical assistance, fieldwork support, or contributions that do not meet the journal's authorship criteria. Individuals named in the Acknowledgements should have given permission to be named.

9. Author Contributions

A brief statement describing each author's specific contribution (for example, using standard CRediT roles such as conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing – original draft, writing – review & editing, supervision, funding acquisition).

10. Competing Interests, Data Availability, and Ethics Statements

Mandatory statements as described in the journal's Conflict of Interest and Data Availability policies, together with a statement confirming ethical approval where applicable.

11. References

A complete reference list in APA 7th edition format (see Citation Style below), including only sources cited in the text, listed alphabetically by first author surname.

Figures, Tables, and Equations

Figures

• Figures must be cited in numerical order in the text (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.) and submitted as separate, high-resolution files rather than embedded only within the manuscript text;
• Minimum resolution: 300 dpi for photographs and halftone images, 600 dpi for line drawings and maps, at the intended final print size;
• Accepted formats: TIFF, PNG, or EPS for final production; JPEG is acceptable for initial review only;
• Each figure requires a concise, self-explanatory legend (placed together on a separate page, not embedded in the image file) that allows the figure to be understood without reference to the main text;
• Maps must include a scale bar, north arrow, and coordinate reference system, and should avoid disclosing precise locations of sensitive or protected species (see Data Availability);
• Colour figures are published free of charge online; authors should ensure figures remain interpretable if printed in greyscale;
• Composite figures (multi-panel images) must clearly label each panel (a, b, c, …) and explain each panel in the legend.

Tables

• Tables must be cited in numerical order in the text (Table 1, Table 2, etc.) and each must have a brief, descriptive title placed above the table;
• Tables should be submitted as editable text (e.g., Word table or spreadsheet), not as an inserted image;
• Explanatory material, statistical significance markers, and abbreviations should be given as footnotes below the table, not in the title;
• Avoid vertical rules; use horizontal rules sparingly to separate the header from the body and to mark the bottom of the table;
• Large datasets are better presented as Supplementary Material or deposited in a data repository (see Data Availability) rather than as an oversized in-text table.

Equations

• Equations should be produced using a standard equation editor (e.g., MathType or the Word/LaTeX equation editor), not inserted as images;
• Number equations consecutively in parentheses, right-aligned, e.g., (1), (2), and refer to them by number in the text (e.g., "as shown in Equation 1");
• Define every variable and symbol at first use, including units of measurement;
• For manuscripts prepared in LaTeX, authors may submit the .tex source together with a compiled PDF.

Image and Data Integrity

The Proceedings of Science and Nature Research requires that all images and data presented in a manuscript are an accurate representation of the original data and the experiment or observation performed. This applies to photographs, camera-trap images, gel images, microscopy images, remote-sensing imagery, and any other visual data.

Permitted Adjustments

Minor adjustments to brightness, contrast, or colour balance are acceptable only if they are applied to the entire image uniformly and do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information present in the original, unprocessed image.

Prohibited Practices

• Selectively enhancing, moving, removing, or introducing a specific feature within an image;
• Combining images, or parts of images, from different sources or different points in time without clearly indicating this in the figure and its legend (e.g., use of dividing lines between panels from different gels or camera-trap events);
• Fabricating or duplicating an image, or reusing an image from a different experiment or specimen, to represent different experimental conditions;
• Any manipulation of underlying numerical data, spreadsheets, or statistical outputs that misrepresents the results actually obtained.

Retention of Original Data

Authors must retain unprocessed, original versions of all images and raw data underlying a submission and must provide them to the editor promptly upon request during review, production, or after publication. Editors may request original files at any stage if image integrity concerns are raised, consistent with COPE guidance on image manipulation. Where manipulation contrary to this policy is identified, the journal will act in accordance with its Publication Ethics and Corrections & Retractions policies, which may include correction or retraction of the article.

Citation Style

The Proceedings of Science and Nature Research uses APA 7th edition style for in-text citations and the reference list. Authors are encouraged to use reference management software (e.g. Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote) to ensure consistency, and to include DOIs in references where available.

Authorship

Authorship must conform to the ICMJE authorship criteria described in the journal's Publication Ethics policy. All listed authors must have approved the final manuscript and agree to be accountable for its content.

Ethical and Legal Requirements

Studies involving human participants, animals, or the collection of protected or endangered species require documented approval from an appropriate ethics committee or permitting authority, including the approving body's name and reference number. See the journal's Publication Ethics policy for further detail.

Submission Checklist

Before submitting, please ensure that:

• The manuscript is original, has not been published previously, and is not under consideration elsewhere;
• Methods, data, and references are accurate, complete, and properly cited;
• A completed Competing Interests statement and Data Availability statement are included;
• The manuscript conforms to the formatting requirements described above;
• Permission has been obtained for the use of any third-party material (e.g., photographs, maps, datasets).

Similarity Screening

All submissions are screened for textual similarity using iThenticate prior to peer review. See the journal's Plagiarism Policy for details.

Review Process and Timeline

PSNR uses single-blind peer review. Initial editorial screening typically takes 1–2 weeks, peer review 4–8 weeks, and the editorial decision a further 1–2 weeks. See the journal's Peer Review Policy for full details.

Publication and Copyright

All accepted articles are published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. Authors retain copyright of their work. See the journal's Copyright Policy and Open Access & Licensing pages for full details, including the journal's Article Processing Charge (APC) policy, which takes effect from 2027.