JOURNAL POLICIES

1)     Nature of journal

Metamorphosis is a scholarly journal which publishes articles (see sections 5 and 6 below) of any length containing valid scientific data and analysis concerning any aspect of the study of African Lepidoptera, at the discretion of the Editor.

2)     Ownership

Metamorphosis is owned by the members of the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), a Non Profit Company registered in South Africa.

3)     Copyright & Usage licence

Copyright for contributions published in this journal belongs to LepSoc Africa and the individual author(s), who retain(s) the right to fully use or republish the content of the article, provided that the original publisher is acknowledged.

The following notice appears at the bottom of the first page of every publication:

“This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license visit: http://creative commons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/”.

This licence requires that the work must be attributed to the source, may not be used for commercial purposes, and may not be altered, transformed, or built upon.

Third parties may only use extracts from the work with the prior, written permission of the Metamorphosis Editor and (as a minimum) the senior author. The journal name, volume, number and date of publication must be acknowledged by the third party together with the author(s) and title of the article.

4)     Objectives

The objectives of Metamorphosis are: 

1. To encourage scientific research into African Lepidoptera.

2. To increase the visibility of the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa) and Metamorphosis to the world scientific and conservation communities.

3. To operate a dedicated Open Access Metamorphosis website making all previously published and current Metamorphosis articles available as PDFs to both LepSoc Africa members and the general public.

4. To eliminate page fees for articles of 10 pages or less for LepSoc Africa authors.

5. To continuously improve the quality of published articles and the scientific reputation of Metamorphosis.

6. To achieve the above by increasing the quantity and quality of the Metamorphosis peer reviewers.

7. To achieve and maintain the Society’s position as the primary source of scientific information on African Lepidoptera.

8. To make the encyclopaedia "Afrotropical Butterflies" freely available on the Metamorphosis website.

9. To separately produce an annual printed version of Metamorphosis, including all articles published for the calendar year, available free to Sponsor and Honorary Life Members of LepSoc Africa, and also to paying subscribers from both inside and outside the Society.

5)       Scope of articles

Articles of any length written in English containing valid scientific data concerning any aspect of the study of African Lepidoptera will be considered for publication. The content of such articles may include but will not be limited to:

1. Taxonomic hypotheses, reviews, systematics and descriptions of new taxa.

2. Life history descriptions, behavioural studies and ecological research including habitat descriptions.

3. Behavioural and ecological hypotheses supported by field and laboratory observations and datasets

4. Phylogenetic and evolutionary hypotheses based on molecular analyses and other characters.

5. Descriptions of the lepidopteran fauna of specific areas, with checklists, photographs and notes.

6. Lepidoptera distribution, atlassing and biogeographical analysis.

7. Lepidopteran conservation biology and management including IUCN assessments.

8. Reviews of fields of research and methods applied in studying lepidopterology.

6)    Types of articles 

Metamorphosis publishes the following types of articles:

1. Full Articles (no limitation in principle to the length of such articles) will conform to the standard layout and content of scientific articles, and will be peer reviewed, with at least two peer reviewers.

2. Notes which comprise articles of three pages or shorter. Such articles do not have to conform to the layout of full articles and are not necessarily peer reviewed. The Editor will exercise judgement as to what layout and content is most appropriate, and may assist inexperienced authors to achieve a scientifically sound end product. Such Notes do not appear in the printed version of the journal and are separately listed on the website.

3. Letters to the Editor in principle do not have to conform to any format, but may not include any profanities, personal attacks or defamatory remarks. The length of such letters may be abridged by the Editor.

4. Book Reviews will normally be less than one page, and should be succinct and informative.

7)    Responsibility for articles

The factual accuracy of articles and any opinions expressed are the responsibility of the author(s). The Editor of Metamorphosis and the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc) assume no responsibility for these articles or opinions. The editor in his/ her absolute discretion reserves the right to reject any articles not conforming to the instructions to authors given below, or which do not comply with scientific conventions.

8)     Metamorphosis website – Open Access

Articles are published as PDF documents on the Metamorphosis website www.metamorphosis.org.za as soon as the review process and editing has been completed. Nearly all publications on the  Metamorphosis website, both current and archived,  are available Open Access to the public.

9)     African Journals on Line (AJOL)

Metamorphosis has become affiliated with AJOL, which provides the journal’s articles with DOIs, improving the visibility of the journal and ease of access to the articles by the global scientific community.

All articles from Volume 30 to Volume 33 have DOIs and Volumes 30 to 33 have been (or are being) published on the AJOL website.

10)   Accreditation

Metamorphosis is applying for accreditation with the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Primary objectives of DOAJ are to improve the publishing standards and visibility of their journals, and to increase their impact rating and reputation. DOAJ’s Principles of transparency and best practice are summarised here https://doaj.org/apply/transparency

Acceptance to join DOAJ leads to automatic accreditation by the Department of Higher Education and Training within South Africa for articles published in a South African journal to receive National Research Fund (NRF) subsidies.

11)   Peer review

All full articles published in Metamorphosis have been peer reviewed using a single blind peer review process, described fully under the “Peer review” tab.

12)   Ethics

Metamorphosis subscribes to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) https://publicationethics.org/:

1. Authors, reviewers and editors must divulge any conflicts of interest including the competing interests of others working in the same field.

2. Submissions from the editorial team will generally not be considered for publication except for special circumstances, as determined by the Editor in Chief.

3. Authors have to make funding disclosures and disclaimers.

4. Multiple submissions by the same author on the same subject are discouraged.

5. Post-publication corrections such as errata & redactions will be published.

6. Reasons must be given for rejection of manuscripts.

7. Should an author or other person wish to appeal a decision made by Metamorphosis (other than a decision whether or not to publish an article) it can be referred to the Council of LepSoc Africa.

8. Authors must comply with all environmental laws in the countries in which they such as NEMBA, CITES, TOPS, and the Nagoya protocol.

9. Voucher specimens (including types) must be deposited in suitable institutions, preferably in the country where the specimens were obtained.