Publication Process Overview: Ecology, Ecological Applications, & Ecological Monographs

The outline below explains the production steps for publication of an accepted manuscript in ESA’s hybrid journals (“hybrid” journals are subscription-based publications that include both open access and subscription-only content). These steps are immutable. At each stage papers are handled in the order in which they reach the stage.

ESA partners with John Wiley & Sons for production and publication.

• Questions for processes handled by ESA may be directed to ESA’s production staff.
• Questions for processes handled by Wiley should be directed to Wiley, but only after the files are conveyed to them for handling. Please use the following journal-specific Wiley email address: Ecology, ECY@nullwiley.com; Ecological Applications, EAP@nullwiley.com; Ecological Monographs, ECM@nullwiley.com

For an outline of the steps at Ecosphere, please visit https://www.esa.org/publications/production-overview-ecs/

• ESA emails the Subject-matter Editor’s acceptance letter to the contact author
• ESA emails a publicity overview to the contact author
• ESA emails the contact author requesting finalized material for the production and publication process, providing a checklist of final items for author review

• Author completes any data/code archiving necessary for ESA Open Research policy
• Author prepares final submission and provides final files and data/code archiving details to ESA in ScholarOne via “Manuscripts Accepted for First Look” step

• ESA checks final submission in ScholarOne for minimum production requirements
  • When approved, files are conveyed to the publisher (John Wiley & Sons) and the contact author is notified
  • If adjustments are needed, these are requested from the contact author, and this step may be repeated until meeting the minimum production requirements

• John Wiley & Sons (the publisher) receives the final materials from ESA and assigns a DOI to the paper
• John Wiley & Sons contacts the corresponding author with license agreement options

• Author completes a license agreement in Wiley Author Services
• Authors choosing Open Access can make payment arrangements with Wiley Author Services, with discount codes available to ESA members in the role of corresponding author; current discount codes are available to ESA members when logged into the membership portal on ESA.org
• Authors whose payments are covered through an institutional or funder agreement with John Wiley & Sons can complete those arrangements at this stage

• John Wiley & Sons arranges for and oversees copyediting of the main manuscript (Supporting Information is not copy edited nor typeset)
• John Wiley & Sons arranges for and oversees typesetting of the main manuscript in HTML and PDF formats in preparation for proofing and publication and provides proofs to authors

• Author reviews proofs in both HTML and PDF format via the publisher’s online proofing platform
• Author completes a final billing agreement (provided with proofs) if the paper is not published Open Access, naming a single billing contact to receive the invoice for any final charges due
• Author may complete the ESA Page Charge Grant application for ESA members, provided with page proofs, if needing to use that service

 

• John Wiley & Sons finalizes the paper following receipt of the author’s proof corrections
• John Wiley & Sons posts the Early View release (the fully edited, typeset, and corrected Version of Record prior to final issue placement)
• John Wiley & Sons issues the final invoice (if any) to the named billing contact via email (timing varies)

• Authors, journalists, and press officers may issue publicity at any time after the paper’s online release

• ESA generates issue line-ups early- to mid-month in month prior to issue release
• ESA finalizes cover photo selections early- to mid-month in month prior to issue release, notifying the author selected for the cover

• John Wiley & Sons releases the finalized, completed issue (publication is online only)
• John Wiley & Sons continues to convey final invoices to the named billing contact via email, if necessary (timing varies)

 

OR: INTERIM STEPS FOR PAPERS PUBLISHED IN EARLY VIEW AFTER 2024 ISSUES WERE COMPLETED

• John Wiley & Sons finalizes the paper following receipt of the author’s proof corrections
• John Wiley & Sons posts the Early View release (the fully edited, typeset, and corrected Version of Record prior to final issue placement)
• John Wiley & Sons issues the final invoice (if any) to the named billing contact via email (timing varies)

• Authors, journalists, and press officers may issue publicity at any time after the paper’s online release

• These articles will be placed in the first issue in 2025 for their respective journals under a new workflow
• John Wiley & Sons continues to convey final invoices to the named billing contact via email, if necessary (timing varies)

 

OR: STEPS 8–10 FOR PAPERS FINALIZED FOR PUBLICATION IN 2025 AND ISSUE RELEASES BEGINNING IN 2025

• John Wiley & Sons finalizes the paper following receipt of the author’s proof corrections
• John Wiley & Sons publishes the paper in the current issue release
  • ESA finalizes cover photo selection prior to each new issue release using a paper from the previous month’s issue and notifies the author selected for the cover
  • John Wiley & Sons begins the current issue at the start of each month in which that journal releases an issue, with the completed journal cover, and publishes papers to that current issue
  • John Wiley & Sons closes the issue at the end of the issue period (Ecology publishes monthly; Ecological Applications publishes 8 issues per year; Ecological Monographs publishes 4 issues per year)
  • Publication is online only

• Authors, journalists, and press officers may issue publicity at any time after the paper’s online release

• If the paper was not published Open Access and payment is due, John Wiley & Sons provides the invoice to the named billing contact via email (timing varies)