Editorial Policy
Arxius de Miscel·lània Zoològica is an open-access journal published annually, free for authors, driven by a fast-paced editorial process that includes assessment by experts. It publishes articles on taxonomy, morphological variability, spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of zoological organisms. It facilitates the dissemination of unpublished data in formats suitable for consultation and reuse.
Peer review process
Articles under consideration by the Editorial Committee are first reviewed by the Executive Editor who determines their suitability for the Journal. Reasons for initial rejection may be that the subject matter is not relevant to the journal’s scope, or that attention to guidelines is poor. After clearing the initial screening, management of the peer-review process is undertaken by an Editor. The quality of the paper is assessed and compliance with the Journal’s open data access policy is revised.
Manuscripts will be evaluated by two external reviewers in a single-blind review system. In the rare case that the paper concerns a highly specialised niche field, a single reviewer may be accepted due to the difficulties to get more experts in the referred matter. In case of conflicting opinions, a third referee may be consulted. Associate Editors may play this role. The peer review process is confidential and identities of reviewers are not revealed, unless a reviewer allows this for the author’s knowledge.
Reviewers’ comments are summarized by the Editor who decides the next step: accepted, accepted with major or minor changes, or rejected. The Editor sends the report with conclusion and comments to the corresponding author who will respond to the comments and suggestions. Authors will have 2 months to return the corrected version of the paper. Resubmissions may be reviewed by the same experts that examined the original version if they voluntarily offer to do so.
The Editor and Executive Editor will make the final decision together and notify the corresponding author.
Publication terms
Accepted articles will be published electronically immediately upon acceptance. They will be stored electronically on the Journal’s database. Simultaneously they will be deposited in the RACO repository that provides the possibility of long-term storage using PKP (Public Knowledge Project) system.
Authors will receive notification on the same day. Annual volumes of the journal will be compiled over the year as articles are accepted. Contributions will be identified by consecutive numbering of pages in the order they are published and corresponding to the PDF file text length.
Articles published online are open access and no fees are charged for editing and publishing papers. Authors will receive a copy of the corresponding files of their articles in PDF format.
Copyrights
All rights are reserved by the authors, who authorise the journal to publish the article. Papers are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: no part of the published paper may be reproduced or reused unless the source is cited.
