Article Types

Research Articles - Research Articles present original, analytical results in any area of paleobiology. These should be timely, relevant, and of broad interest.  Research Articles typically do not exceed about 20-25 printed pages. Submissions up to 8500 words and 15 figures and tables.

Review Articles - Review Articles are summaries of knowledge in any area of paleobiology. Review Articles should aim to advance the field by providing in-depth, up-to-date, and accessible summaries of topics that are timely and of broad interest. Submissions from ca. 6500-8500 words and 10-15 figures and tables.

Methodological Advances - Methodological Advances describe new analytical methods that are broadly relevant to the field of paleobiology, or significant developments to existing, widely used methods. In general, such methodological advances should be presented within the context of an in-depth application to a specific paleobiological problem, and submitted as a Research Article. In some cases, however, it may be appropriate to describe a methodological advance without a detailed case study using the method; in this case, the relevance to paleobiology must be emphasized. Methodological Advances typically do not exceed about 20-25 printed pages. Submissions up to 8500 words and 15 figures and tables.

Rapid Communications - Rapid Communications are short research contributions (typically about 7-8 printed pages) that represent major research advancements of broad interdisciplinary interest and that meet the highest standards in terms of scientific methodology, data quality, up-to-date referencing, and technical writing. Rapid Communications can cover any aspect of paleobiology and should have a broad message for the readership. Manuscripts submitted in this category may be recommended for a Research Article. Submissions ca. 2,500-3,500 words and up to 2 figures or tables. 

On the Record - On the Record manuscripts are a short review or synthesis of an important research area in paleobiology, or a commentary or perspective on a scientific issue of broad interest to the field (typically 5-7 printed pages). Submissions ca. 2,500-3,500 words and up to 2 figures or tables.

Comment/Reply - Paleobiology welcomes comments and replies on papers published in the journal. Comments and Replies must be of general interest and advance scientific discussion on a topic. Overly critical comments will not be published. If you wish to write a comment, please contact the editors at [email protected] for an initial assessment of the content and scope.

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Please note Paleobiology does not publish book reviews or comments on previously published papers.

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Pre-submission Inquiry

If you are unsure if your manuscript is suitable for consideration in Paleobiology, you are welcome to submit a pre-submission inquiry consisting of a title page and an abstract. Please submit such inquiries to [email protected]. 

Preparing Your Materials

All submissions must include a cover letter, main document, all figures and tables individually uploaded, and any supplemental material mentioned in the text. Please see the below documents for concise and specific requirements for each file type at each stage of submission.

• Original File Requirements
• Revised File Requirements
• Accepted File Requirements

The editors reserve the right to edit final versions of manuscripts to conform to standard journal style and format. Manuscripts deemed deficient in these aspects upon submission may be returned to the submitting author for changes prior to review or transfer to Production. For in-depth requirements on journal style, abstracts, figures, etc., please see the following guides and resources. 

Guides 

• Accepted Style Guide
• Figure Guide

Author Language Services

Paleobiology requires that manuscripts adhere to American English spelling and grammar, and recommend that authors have their manuscripts checked by a native English-language speaker before submission. This ensures that submissions are assessed during peer review exclusively on academic merit. For authors seeking a language service, Cambridge University Press recommends its affiliate, American Journal Experts. Use of third party language services, including American Journal Experts, is at the author's own expense.

Permission for Reuse of Copyrighted Material

Permission for all copyrighted material must be obtained before submission and appropriate acknowledgment given to the original source in the manuscript.

For permission to reuse copyrighted material from a published Paleobiology paper, please see our Request Permissions page.

Declaration of Competing Interests

All authors must include a competing interest declaration in their main manuscript file. This declaration will be subject to editorial review and may be published in the article. 

Competing interests are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on the content or publication of an author’s work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations. 

If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting must include competing interest declarations relevant to all contributing authors. 

Example wording for a declaration is as follows: “Competing interests: Author 1 is employed at organisation A, Author 2 is on the Board of company B and is a member of organisation C. Author 3 has received grants from company D.” If no competing interests exist, the declaration should state “Competing interests: The author(s) declare none”.

Open Access Policies

Gold Open Access. Authors or their institution may purchase Gold OA for their article by paying an Article Processing Fee (APC) of $2,000 ($1,000 for Society members). This option allows authors to post and distribute the article (high-resolution e-book pdf reprint) freely once the article processing charge (APC) is paid in full and a final PDF of the article is available. In addition, articles with Gold Access will be free to anyone for download on all affiliated Paleontological Society Web Sites (currently Paleontological Society publications can be accessed by members from web pages at Cambridge Core plus BioOne, and GSW). Gold Open Access articles will be published under the terms of the CC-BY- NC 3.0 license by default or CC-BY 3.0 license upon request.

Green Open Access. Authors of all articles published in Paleobiology may freely post (e.g., to personal and institutional web sites) and distribute freely the final accepted manuscript file (not the pdf of the published article) under Green Open Access, 6 months after its publication. Postings must include a link to the relevant article abstract online at www.cambridge.org. Green Access fulfills the requirement of most funding agencies to make published results and data available to the public after a 6 month embargo period, but not before the 6 month embargo period has ended. Under no circumstances may the publisher's final version (online PDF or article) be posted or distributed under the terms of Green Open Access. All regular copyrights will apply.

Please see our Green Open Access page for more information.

Last Updated 11th of May, 2023.