Ecological Research: Guidelines for Data Articles [Revised on 22 July 2024]
GENERALThe Data Articles (formerly Data Papers) in Ecological Research aim to significantly contribute to thedevelopment of ecology by electronically archiving excellent research data and accompanying
metadata on any ecological process to make them available to the public.
Review Process
In the review process, a Data Article will be first evaluated on its ecological significance and overall
quality. Also, it will be examined technically to maintain the usability of the archive. The responsibility
for the technical review rests with the Data Article Editor. The acceptance criteria for all the Data
Articles are originality, the ecological significance of the data, sufficient description of the content, and suitability of the data format. The data should contribute to the development of
ecology and be suitable for reuse. Long-term and/or large-scale ecological studies are especiallywelcome.
Publication
The title, author(s), affiliation(s), contact address(es), abstract, keywords, metadata (description on thedataset), and URL(s) of the website where the data and metadata are available will be published in
Ecological Research. The abstract, keywords, and URL(s) will be freely accessed by the readers. The
general information of metadata and the data will also be published on the website managed by theJapanese Long-Term Ecological Research (JaLTER) Network. In the case that the authors want to use
another open-access depository (e.g., if the file size exceeds the JaLTER network limits), they should
contact the Editorial Office to consult with the Data Article Editor (see File size limitation,
APPENDIX 1). Prior to the publication of the Data Article (after acceptance), data should be archived.
Authors may also deposit the data before submission.
Data Policy
The data and metadata of all Data Articles should be made publicly available. The data and metadataarchived in the JaLTER Network will follow the policy of the JaLTER Network Data Policy.
http://www.jalter.org/en/datapolicy/

Data persistence
Ecological Research cannot attach a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to the data itself. The long-term
persistence of the data relies on the open-access depository where the data is archived, including the1JaLTER Network, and Ecological Research is not responsible for any troubles that may prevent dataaccess.
Copyright
The copyright for the Data Articles published in Ecological Research will be owned by the EcologicalSociety of Japan. However, authors retain the copyright to the data and metadata. Open Data licenses
suchasCreativeCommons

CC

BY

4.0

international(CCBY,CC

BY-SA)(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en) would be preferred for data licensing.

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS
Parts of the manuscript
A Data Article consists of three parts: (1) the abstract and keywords, (2) the metadata with referencesthat describe the content of the data, and (3) the electronic file(s) in which the research data are stored.
(1) Abstract and keywords
Provide an abstract (up to 250 words) and keywords (up to 5).
(2) Metadata
Metadata provides documentation of the content of the data. Metadata should be detailed enoughthat the secondary data user(s) can clearly understand the nature or character of the data. Pictures,figures, photographs (such as photographs of study sites), conceptual diagrams, or simple statisticalsummaries may be included in the metadata to explain the characteristics or outstanding features ofthe data. The authors are requested to assign continuous table and figure numbers. Metadata should
generally adhere to the Author Guidelines for Ecological Research.
The authors should make the metadata a structured document divided into sections. “A guide forthe recommended structure” can be referred to, but the structure would mainly depend on theproperties of the data. The basic construction of metadata is as follows.
- Introduction: Describes the background and the ecological significance of the data.
- Methods: Provides detailed information about how the data were collected and how the dataset
was created. Keep in mind that, for secondary data users, the design of the experiment(s),measurement procedures, names of chemicals and instruments, or methods to verify the qualityof the data is important information to understand the nature of the data.
- Data structure: The physical structure of a data file (e.g., description of data columns), units ofvalues, symbols indicating anomalies, outliers, or missing values, and any additional information
about the data should be described in detail. The International System of Units (SI) must be used.

2

- Acknowledgments: These should be as brief as possible. The grants that require
acknowledgment can be mentioned. The names of funding organizations should be written in full.
Note that the detailed information of research projects that support the data (i.e., project titles andpersonnel), including joint international research, should be described in the Project section (see“A guide for the recommended structure”).
- References: Information about literature related to the dataset may be helpful for the secondary
data users. If other datasets related to the submitted dataset exist (e.g., data collected in the samelocation by a different type of observations), they should be cited.
(3) Electronic data file(s)Author(s) must confirm the accuracy and authenticity of the data prior to submission. The data
should be readable, and the meaning clear for the secondary data users. If anomalies, outliers, ormissing values are included in the data, a distinctive number or symbol should be used to clearly
identify those values. Data should be logically and consistently formatted and tabular data should
try to be tidy data that meets the following conditions:- Each cell should contain a single value,- Each column should represent a single item,- Each row should represent a single subject,- Each table should represent a single observation unit.
Tabular data should be prepared in a text file format (such as .txt or .csv), which uses commas, tabs,
or spaces to separate values, with the UTF-8 encoding. For example, Microsoft Excel allows you togenerate files in the CSV UTF-8 comma-delimited format. Digital geospatial data should besubmitted in formats readable by common GIS software (QGIS [https://qgis.org], for example).
Before submitting other types of data, please contact the Editorial Office to consult with the Data
Article Editor. Multiple files should be named individually with concise and informative filenames(up to 30 characters each).
File size limitation
Author(s) use the JaLTER Network depository to archive data. However, the JaLTER Network
depository has a size limitation of 1 GB per dataset, and 512 MB per file. Therefore, authors who wantto publish data exceeding such limits should consider other open-access depositories (see APPENDIX1).
Technical AdviceTechnical questions about Data Articles should be addressed to the Editorial Office.

3SUBMISSION
Prepare title page (title, author(s), affiliation(s), abstract, and keywords) and metadata (datadescription) in a Word file for submission. Data files must be uploaded to Ecological Research
ScholarOne Manuscript as “Supporting Information for review and online publication only”. The
ScholarOne Manuscript submission system allows single files up to 300 MB. Therefore, authors
should submit download links (e.g., from personal cloud storage) to access large files for review. The
download links should be submitted in a separate Supporting Information file, and authors should
clearly state in the cover letter that they are providing download links to access such large data files
for the reviewing process.

AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Accessible URL for the data
If the paper is accepted for publication, authors will be requested to insert, at the end of the abstractand in the main text, the URL of the website where the data and general information of metadata areavailable. If authors already have archived the same data in other open-access depositories (seeAPPENDIX 1), it is recommended to insert the URL as well to promote mutual use of depositories.
Example text at the end of the abstract:
The complete dataset for this abstract published in the Data Article section of the journal is available
in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://sample_URL.org/. The dataset itself is alsoavailable on the GBIF website at http://sample_URL.org/.
Preparation of the post-print file upon manuscript acceptancePost-print files of accepted manuscripts may be deposited at the website managed by JaLTER(MetaCat) as Data descriptors (detailed metadata). The Editorial Office strongly recommends theauthor(s) to submit the post-print file. Since Data Articles in Ecological Research are basically nonopen access, if the author(s) deposit the post-print file on a JaLTER website, other potential data users
could freely access not only the electronic data file(s) or the general information of the metadata but
also the detailed description written in the final version of the paper.
UpdatesPublished materials in Wiley (i.e., published Data Article) will not be updated. On the other hand, theaccepted version of data files, Data descriptors (detailed metadata), and the general information ofmetadata will be accessible on the JaLTER website. Please inform the Editorial Office when theauthors’ contact information should be changed, or when there are necessary updates in the data files

4and/or metadata. Data files and metadata on the JaLTER website can be updated upon request at anytime. However, in order to ensure consistency with the published Data Article, the accepted versionsof data files and Data descriptors cannot be replaced. Author(s) can only add their updated files withnamesthatareclearly

distinguishable“X_DB_published_in_ER_on_mmyyyy.csv”

from

theon

accepted

theversion;

acceptedforversion

example,and“X_DB_updated_on_mmyyyy.csv” on the updated version. The Ecological Society of Japan andJaLTER provide long-term maintenance of a publicly accessible archival copy on the JaLTER
Database. For data stored in other depositories rather than JaLTER (APPENDIX 1), data updates are
the authors’ responsibility and should be made concurrently with change to the metadata.

APPENDIX 1
The list of public depositories for data archiving authorized by the Data Article Editor (as of 07 August2020).
- Dryad (https://datadryad.org/)- Figshare (https://figshare.com/)- GBIF (for biodiversity data only) (https://www.gbif.org/)
If authors want to publish data in the global network of GBIF, authors should contact the node of GBIF
in their own countries or regions (in Japan, GBIF Japan = JBIF).
https://www.gbif.jp/v2/en/
Ecological Research does not cover the cost of uploading data to such public archives unless otherwise
indicated.
Ecological Research Editorial Office E-mail: ecores@esj.ne.jp5