About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Tropical Lepidoptera Research is a full-color journal published twice a year by the Association for Tropical Lepidoptera. The journal publishes original research on the systematics, biology and conservation of tropical and subtropical moths and butterflies. The journal also publishes shorter Scientific Notes to report new observations, in addition to Book Reviews. Articles may be written in English, Spanish or Portuguese, but non-English articles must contain a version of the Abstract in English.

Peer Review Process

Manuscripts submitted to the journal are examined by at least two reviewers qualified to comment on the the research. Shorter Scientific Notes may be assigned to a single reviewer. Reviewers are selected by the Editors, but suggestions from authors are also welcome. Reviewers are asked to assess the novelty and scientific quality of the research, and, where appropriate, comment on the style and clarity of the manuscript. The time taken for review will depend on the length and complexity of the manuscript, and typically ranges from one to three months. Revised manuscripts may be returned to reviewers to confirm that major comments have been addressed.

Conflict/Competing of Interest Statement 

Conflict of interest exists when a participant in the peer review and publication process as an author, reviewer, or editor has ties to activities that could inappropriately influence their judgment about the validity of submissions. Therefore, Tropical Lepidoptera Research requires all authors and reviewers to declare any conflicts of interest that may be inherent in their submissions. For example, financial relationships with industry through employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, expert testimony, either directly or through immediate family, are usually considered to be conflicts of interest. However, conflicts can occur for other reasons, such as personal relationships, academic competition, and intellectual passion. Public trust in the peer review process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how well conflict of interest is handled during writing, peer review, and editorial decision making. Bias can often be identified and mitigated by careful attention to the methods and conclusions of the work. Financial relationships and their effects are less easily detected than other conflicts of interest. Participants in peer review and publication should disclose their competing interests, and the information should be made available so that others can judge their potential effects for themselves. 

  • Authors: Upon submission, authors are responsible for recognizing and disclosing financial and other conflicts of interest that might bias their work, or lack thereof. They should acknowledge in the manuscript all financial support for the work and other financial or personal connections to the work. They should also provide a list of potential reviewers for which there is a likely conflict, so editors are able to avoid inappropriate review requests.  
  • Reviewers: External peer reviewers should disclose to editors any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the submission, and they should disqualify themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if they believe it appropriate. Additionally, reviewers are forbidden from using knowledge of the work, before its publication, to further their own interests.  

Accessibility

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. All content is freely available without charge to the user or their institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author for non-commercial purposes. Nonetheless, reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein requires credit to the original publication source with a link to both the article and the license. This open access policy is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative's (BOAI) definition of open access.

All published articles are distributed in PDF format under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), via the journal's website (https://journals.flvc.org/troplep) and Zenodo (https://zenodo.org). Copies are archived by the Institutional Repository at the University of Florida (https://ufdc.ufl.edu/ufir). Content is also preserved in the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) and CLOCKSS. The journal is abstracted and indexed by Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost), BIOSIS Citation Index, CAB Abstracts, and Zoological Record.

Journal History

The journal commenced publication in 1990.