Focus and Scope

Ethnobotany Research and Applications is an electronic, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary and multi-lingual journal devoted to the rapid dissemination of current research. Manuscript submission, peer review, and publication are all handled on the Internet. The journal is published by the Department of Ethnobotany, Institute of Botany, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. The journal seeks manuscripts that are novel, integrative and written in ways that are accessible to a wide audience. This includes an array of disciplines (Biological and Social Sciences) concerned particularly with theoretical questions that lead to practical applications. Articles can also be based on the perspectives of cultural practitioners and others with insights into plants, people and applied research. Database papers, Ethnobiological inventories, Ethnobotanical notes (including Photo essays and invited interviews), Methodology reviews, Education studies and Theoretical discussions are also published.

Primarily agronomic or horticultural papers and those concerned mainly with analytical data on the chemical constituents of plants, or bioassays should be submitted elsewhere.

While we encourage manuscripts in the language of the country research has been conducted in, and also in indigenous languages, in order to comply with Web of Science and Scopus standards, regular manuscripts must be in English. Thus starting with issue 22/2021, ERA can only accept English language manuscripts for its main sections. We encourage authors to submit their original manuscript in English, and after acceptance to submit a local language version to the "Repatriation of Ethnobotanical Studies" section.

The journal publishes original research that is described in indigenous languages and languages other than English in its "repatriation" section only. This section also allows authors to repatriate papers published elsewhere to the respective local community in local language. Please note that the Repatriation section is not indexed in Scopus.

Editorial Board Policies

There is an attempt to keep Editorial Board Policies to a minimum. 

Comments on these policies are appreciated and reviewed annually by the Editorial Board.

• The purpose of the journal is to publish original work in the area of ethnobiology. This may be research, cultural expressions, curriculum development or studies, applied experiences, and commentaries on ethnobiology including editorials. 
• The journal will not publish:
• simple reviews of literature that lack theoretical or metadata analysis.
• previously published articles.
• materials lacking a "cultural" element (e.g., work that is actually phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmacognosy, horticulture, biogeography) that is often represented by original content from members of some particular culture.
• manuscripts focusing on bio-assays

• All published content will be reviewed by appropriate peers selected by the editors. However, authors are encouraged to provide recommendations for reviewers in order to assist the editors.

• The journal will publish in any media.

• The journal will publish current scientific nomenclature and not propagate old terminology. This means that in some cases scientific names submitted by authors will be updated to currently accepted names even though these are not the names being used in their particular regional floras. This is true for binomials, families, etc.
   
• The Angiosperm Phylogeny Working Group will serve as the basis for plant family decisions(see Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. [A.P.G.] 2009. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161:105-121. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x.)
• Constantly updated on-line internationally accessible databases will serve as the primary source of reference to primary literature, e.g., Tropicos: www.tropicos.org; The Plant List: www.theplantlist.org.

In order to be considered for publication as original research a manuscript must meet the following requirements:

• Work must have a purpose (driving hypothesis, objective, community goal, etc.)
• Methods used must be clearly cited and reproducible.
• All plants that are cited as part of original research must be represented by voucher specimens that were collected as part of the research itself and are deposited in an internationally recognized herbarium. If plant information was collected from informants then it is reasonable to expect that the voucher specimens were specifically identified by the informants.
• Graphic content may not be used from any other source without explicit permission (e.g., maps, photos, and other figures) from the copyright holder (author/publisher).
• The work must comply with the stipulations of the Protocol of Nagoya on access and Benefit Sharing.

The editorial board meets periodically when one or more issues need to be discussed. Meetings are either electronic or in person at a scientific meeting that the board members are attending.

Ethics approval

Research involving primary and secondary data on human participants, must have obtained prior approval from a relevant human research ethics committee if so required by national legislation. All research must obtain permission / consent from local authorities 7 community administration and must obtain prior informed consent (see below, either verbally or written) from each participant before interviews are conducted. should have been conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and the Code of Ethics of the International Society of Ethnobiology. All articles should carry a statement mentioning the respective ethics committee and the reference/ permit number. Manuscripts that do not provide adequate information on ethical approval will be rejected. The Editor reserve the right to contact the respective editorial boards, to seek further information or clarification.

Prior informed consent

For all research involving human participants, authors must have obtained informed prior informed consent to participate in the study from participants (verbally or written, or their parent/ legal guardian if the participant is a child less than 18 years of age). For research involving indigenous communities, authors must have consulted their appropriate customary laws and permits should be secured from relevant customary authorities (example: Tribal chief, head of a longhouse, etc.). Authors must include a statement about this in the manuscript. For manuscripts reporting studies involving vulnerable ethnic groups, decisions on manuscripts will be at the editor’s discretion.

Consent for publication

For all manuscripts that include identifiable personal particulars (details, images, or videos) of individuals or associations, written informed consent for the publication of these details must be obtained from that person/ relevant body (verbally or written, or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 18). In the case of deceased individuals, authors should obtain consent for publication from their next of kin. A statement on this should be included in the manuscript.

Research involving plants and animals

ERA does not publish experimental research on plants and animals. For field studies on plants or animals (both cultivated/domesticated or wild), including the collection of plant material, must comply with appropriate institutional, national, and international guidelines and legislation. Manuscripts must carry a statement on the relevant permissions and/or licenses obtained for collection/ inventorying of plant/ animals or their specimens. Authors should consult the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora for guidelines on access and collections. Any manuscript must include a statement referring to its compliance with the Protocol of Nagoya on Access and Benefit Sharing if appropriate.

Voucher specimens for all wild plants described in a manuscript must be deposited in a public herbarium or other suitable collection that provides access to the material. Information on the voucher specimen and who identified it must be included in the manuscript. Appropriate credits should be given to the Taxonomist who identifies the specimens.

 

Availability of data and materials

Submission of a manuscript to ERA implies that all relevant data that forms the basis of the article, will be freely available to any researcher/ community member wanting to access and use them for non-commercial purposes (complying to participant confidentiality). Elaborate datasets that could not be included in the article should have been deposited in public repositories, and a statement on this should be included in the article.

Statistical methods

Authors should provide complete information on the statistical methods employed in their research and justify their choice of the respective methods. Reviewers are required to check the validity and rigor of statistical methods, and results. If the reviewer(s) are unable to check the same, articles may be sent to a specialist statistical reviewer for review.

Integrity of photographs/ digital images

Authors should not modify original photographs. Wherever modifications (ex: making aesthetic enhancements), such changes should be specified along with the software used. Likewise, software used to generate digital images/ art/ illustration should also be mentioned.

Editor(s) at their sole discretion may request submit original, unprocessed images from the authors, and failure to provide them will result in rejection of the article.

Algal, fungal, and botanical names

Binomials of algae, fungi and plants should follow the guidelines of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. ERA recommends World Flora Online Database for updating plant binomials.

Zoological names

Articles containing animal names should follow the guidelines of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.

Competing interests

Authors should declare all competing interests related to their work and the submitted manuscript. Manuscripts should have a Conflict of Interests statement. Ethnobotany Research & Applications policy requires all authors to state whether they or any of their co-authors have financial or other conflicts of interest that might be construed as influencing the results or interpretation of the study. Editors and reviewers are also required to declare any competing interests and in cases where such competing interests exist, they must request to be excluded from the peer review process.

Editorial Board Members and Editors

Editorial Board Members and Editors are required to declare any competing interests and may be excluded from the peer review process if a competing interest exists.

Editorial Board Members and Editors should exclude themselves from handling manuscripts in cases where there is a competing interest. This may include – but is not limited to – having previously published with one or more of the authors and sharing the same institution as one or more of the authors.

Where an Editor or Editorial Board Member is on the author another Editor or member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review. Editorial Board Members are welcome to submit papers to the journal. These submissions are not given any priority over other manuscripts, and Editorial Board Member status has no bearing on editorial consideration.

Authorship

Authorship help in identifying the individuals responsible for the work and also provides credit for the contributions they make to the field of enquiry. ERA authors should fulfil the criteria outlined in the following publication:

McNutt, Marcia K et al. “Transparency in authors' contributions and responsibilities to promote integrity in scientific publication.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America vol. 115,11 (2018): 2557-2560. doi:10.1073/pnas.1715374115

Acknowledgements

Contributors who have supported the research, but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the ‘Acknowledgements’ section. As a responsible journal, ERA recognizes the importance of taxonomic identification of flora and fauna. Taxonomists who provide identification services should be listed as co-authors, not just merely in the acknowledgements.

 

Third party submissions

All manuscripts must be submitted by one of the authors who identify as the corresponding author.  Third party submissions will not be accepted.

Citations

Articles must cite only relevant literature. Excessive self-citation, coordinated efforts among networking authors to inflate citations through self-citation, gift citations, showing nationality/ ethnicity preferences in choosing articles for citation and any other form of citation manipulation is unacceptable, and such articles will be rejected. Authors should not cite articles they have not read themselves.

Duplicate publication

All manuscripts submitted to a ERA must be original and the manuscript, or significant parts of it, must not be under consideration by any other publisher. In cases where there are related manuscripts under consideration in another publisher should be disclosed, including the scope of the manuscripts. Authors should disclose all overlapping publications during submission. Published articles that overlap ins cope should be cited and the scope of works explained.

All manuscripts submitted to ERA should be original and not plagiarized (including self-plagiarism/ text-recycling).

Peer review

All research articles, undergo peer review. Usually, the manuscript is reviewed by at least two independent peer reviewers. In rare cases, where there are difficulties in finding a reviewer, under the discretion of the editor, an article may be reviewed by one reviewer and an editor. In such cases, the handling editor will ensure that the editorial review would be of superior quality.

Peer review policy

Submissions are assessed by an Editor, who then decides to forward it for review, or reject it on the basis of merit. Where an Editor or Editorial Board Member is on the author another Editor or member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to assume responsibility for overseeing peer review. Editorial Board Members are welcome to submit papers to the journal. These submissions are not given any priority over other manuscripts, and Editorial Board Member status has no bearing on editorial consideration.

Editors may choose to decline the manuscript if they find flaws that had gone unnoticed by the reviewer.

Reviewers are confidential (closed review).

ERA requires authors to suggest potential reviewers. However, choosing the reviewer is at the discretion of the editor. Authors should not suggest colleagues from the same institution, or collaborators (including current and former students) with whom they have collaborated in the last three years.

Portability of peer review

Articles that have been peer reviewed and rejected by other journals may be submitted for ERA’s consideration along with the peer review reports. Authors, in the cover letter, should clearly state how the new version has addressed the editorial/ reviewer feedback. The editor may or may not choose to accept these reports at their own discretion.  

Confidentiality

All manuscripts submitted will be treated in confidence. Editors and reviewers should not disclose details of the manuscripts handled/ reviewed to any third parties.

Misconduct

ERA follows the COPE guidelines in dealing with cases of suspected misconduct. In cases of suspected research or publication misconduct, the Editor may take necessary steps to check the allegations. Such steps may include contacting and sharing manuscripts with third parties such as authors’ institutions, ethics committees, and community representatives.

Data falsification and fabrication

Fabrication of research data and images is academic misconduct and unacceptable. Editors and reviewers should pay close attention to this. Instances where such misconduct is noted should be brought to the notice of the editor who would scrutinize the data, seek explanation/ additional information from authors (if needed). If claims of data manipulation/ fabrication are found to be true, the articles will be retracted.

Corrections and retractions

In rare cases ERA would publish corrections to, or retractions of, articles for maintaining academic integrity/ standard of the article.

Corrections to, or retractions of, published articles will be made in the form of a short note explaining the correction/ grounds of retraction. Such notes will be bidirectionally linked to the original article.

Appeal against a rejection

Authors seeking reconsideration of an editor’s decision should write to the Editor-in-chief explaining the grounds in which they consider the editor’s decision inappropriate. If found satisfactory, the Editor-in-chief may choose to overrule the Editor’s decision.

Author Responsibilities

1. Authors must certify that their manuscripts are their original work, that they do not plagiarize (as the COPE discussion defines plagiarism), and that they truthfully present data.
2. Authors must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere.
3. Authors must certify that the maunscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.
4. Authors must certify that all relevant ethical safeguards have been met and all relevant permissions were obtained.
5. Authors must report of any conflicts of interest.
6. Authors must report all sources of funding.
7. Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript.
8. Authors must report any errors they discover in their manuscript.

Reviewer Responsibilities

1. Reviewers must notify the Ethnobotany Research and Applications of any conflicts of interest.
2. Reviewers must keep information pertaining to the manuscript confidential.
3. Reviewers must bring to the attention of the Editors any information that may be reason to reject publication of a manuscript.
4. Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts only for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Editorial Board Responsibilities

1. The Editors and/or Editorial Board must keep information pertaining to submitted manuscripts confidential.
2. The Editors and/or Editorial Board must disclose any conflicts of interest.
3. The Editors and/or Editorial Board must evaluate manuscripts only for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
4. The Editors and/or Editorial Board are responsible for making publication decisions for submitted manuscripts.
5. The Editors and Editorial Board will review suspected incidents of plagiarism following the COPE Code of Conduct and, should the board conclude that plagiarism has occurred, the editors will follow the COPE workflow to respond to the violation.

Special Issues

ON special occasions ERA rarely accepts proposals for special issues, which are assessed by the editorial board. All manuscripts submitted to any issue of ERA are assessed according to the journal’s regular editorial criteria. All submissions that meet the journal’s criteria are subject to the journal’s standard peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors of regular or Special Issues have competing interests will be handled by another Editor, who has no competing interests, to ensure the evaluation of these submissions is objective.

Ethnobotany Research and Applications (ISSN 1547-3465) is owned and published online by Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
All articles are copyrighted by the author(s) and are published online by a license from the author(s).