At the 2015 Eco-Stats Conference at the University of New South Wales there was a Q&A panel discussion of tips for authors publishing methods papers. The panel was chaired by Methods in Ecology and Evolution Associate Editor David Warton. It included Jane Elith (winner of the Methods Recognition of Achievement award), Associate Editor Matt Schofield and former Associate Editor Shinichi Nakagawa. There was also a late appearance, straight off a long haul flight from China, by Doug Yu (another current Associate Editor).

As mentioned in the Q&A, Methods will consider for publication manuscripts that have been posted in a recognized preprint archive (such as arXiv and PeerJ PrePrints). For manuscripts that have been placed in pre-print archives, authors must be able to grant the BES an exclusive licence to publish the article, or agree to the terms of an OnlineOpen agreement and pay the associated fee, upon acceptance of their article for publication.

Our Application articles describe new software, equipment, or other practical tools, with the intention of promoting and maximising the uptake of these new approaches. In order to disseminate the newest advances as broadly as possible, we are pleased to be able to offer free access to all Application papers that we publish.

If you’re interested in submitting to the journal, you can find our full Author Guidelines on our website.