INSTRUCTIONS FOR PEER REVIEWERS

Urban Habitats is a peer-reviewed, open-access electronic journal on the biology of urban areas. Articles are welcomed from scientists, scholars, and practitioners in urban habitat restoration, conservation biology, urban botany, landscape architecture and design, and other fields concerning urban ecology.

Review Procedure

The editor(s) determine whether or not the submission is of interest. If so, the article is sent to two reviewers with expertise in the paper's subject along with the guidelines and checklist below. The reviewers return the manuscript and checklist to the editor within a mutually agreed time with their comments and recommendations. The editor(s) forward the reviewers' marked-up manuscripts to the author for revisions or corrections.

Reviewers' Checklist

In your review, which will be sent to the author(s), please focus on the paper's content, accuracy, and clarity. Please rate the paper on a scale of four (excellent) to one (poor) for each of the following standards. Please circle the appropriate number and return a copy of the checklist to the editor(s) with the manuscript.

  • Are the title and the abstract clear and concise as to the purpose of the paper?
           4     3     2     1
  • Are the observations original, significant, or important for the field of study?
           4     3     2     1
  • Are conclusions reached using clear, logical methods and supported by adequate data?
           4     3     2     1
  • Are the data presented in a clear, accurate fashion?
           4     3     2     1
  • Are citations accurate and consistent?
           4     3     2     1
  • Is the prose clear and concise?
           4     3     2     1
  • Is arcane jargon kept to a minimum and defined for lay readers when unavoidable?
           4     3     2     1
  • Are illustrations, photographs, and visual aids pertinent to the topic and adequate in quality and number?
           4     3     2     1

Please feel free to mark up the manuscript with constructive comments, queries, and suggestions. Please do not include on manuscript notes recommendations regarding acceptance or rejection of the paper.

Conflict of Interest Policy

To avoid potential bias in the case where a paper is funded by a private interest, Urban Habitats will not accept a review of said paper from a referee who receives funding from the same private source as the author(s).