Submit a Manuscript

To submit a manuscript for publication in one of the five ESA journals, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Environmental Entomology, Journal of Economic Entomology, Journal of Medical Entomology, or Journal of Integrated Pest Management please see below.

To submit manuscript for publication in American Entomologist, Arthropod Management Tests, or the Thomas Say books, please refer to the specific submission requirements noted on each publication's home page.

Journal Submissions

The four journals published by ESA primarily contain research articles, all of which are peer reviewed before being accepted for publication. The manuscript review process is described in the "Publishing Policies and Procedures" section. In addition to scientific research articles, all four journals publish letters to the editor, interpretive or evaluative articles that appear in a Forum section, and book and media reviews. Manuscripts that describe entomological techniques and computer software programs generally are not considered for publication in the journals, although software programs can be covered in the book and media reviews section.

Forum Submissions. Papers that are published in the Forum section are authored by acknowledged leaders in the field. Forum articles are reviews of a research area that include a stimulating, thought-provoking discussion and that focus on important, and sometimes controversial, issues. They should provide an innovative approach to current thought and speculate about future research directions. Forum articles may also be written by invitation of the journal editor-in-chief.

Letter to the Editor Submissions and Policy. Each journal will entertain submissions in the form of a Letter to the Editor in which the author or authors express their viewpoint on scientific issues. Appropriate content can include comments or criticisms in reference to a published paper, whether or not in an ESA journal, or comments and opinions unrelated to a specific published paper. A Letter will be limited to 2,000 words, 10 references, and one table or figure. The Editor-in-Chief (EIC) will judge whether a submitted Letter merits consideration for potential publication based on relevance, inherent interest, and coherence of the submission, but with a view to allowing a range of opinions to be expressed. If the EIC considers the submission to be suitable in principle, he/she will send it to at least one anonymous reviewer for comments, and will edit it for style and appropriate language before returning it to the corresponding author for revisions.

In the case of a Letter which criticizes a published paper, the latter can be from an ESA journal or any peer-reviewed journal, including papers published in final form online before appearing in the hardcopy issue. The paper being addressed in the Letter must be cited in full, including complete volume and page information, or DOI information if in electronic form. The EIC will require resubmission of a Letter to the Editor that is dated or received before the official publication date of the paper in question. A submitted Letter criticizing an unpublished paper can be considered only if written permission has been received from the corresponding author of that paper, regardless of how the authors of the Letter came into possession of the unpublished material. The EIC will arrange with at least one anonymous reviewer to return comments within one week. The Letter writer(s) shall have at least one week to make revisions and resubmit.

After revisions by the authors, if necessary, and acceptance by the EIC, the corresponding author of the paper being criticized will be contacted by the EIC, provided with the Letter which has been accepted (and which is therefore no longer eligible for author-initiated changes beyond minor typographical errors in proof stage), and given at least two weeks to submit a Response. The same format and word limitations apply to the Response as described above for the Letter to the Editor. The EIC will arrange for at least one anonymous peer review of the Response within one week, and edit the Response for style and appropriate language. The authors will be given at least one week to make revisions and to resubmit. If the authors of the Response meet these timelines, they will be guaranteed to have their Response published in tandem with the original Letter to the Editor in the earliest possible issue as dictated by the journal production schedule. If the authors of the Response fail to meet these timelines, they may still submit a Response, but forfeit the right to have it published in the same issue as the Letter to the Editor. The authors of the Letter to the Editor will not be allowed to see the Response before publication, unless the authors of the Response request in writing to the EIC that it be shared. For both the Letter to the Editor and the Response, the EIC will edit the submissions to remove discourteous language or personal attacks of any kind. Ad hominem arguments are not allowed in either the Letter or the Response, and are grounds for rejection. Page charges shall be waived for Letters to the Editor and Response letters.

Where to Submit

All articles should be submitted electronically using the ESA web-based Rapid Review system. Go to http://www.rapidreview.com and select the "Author Log On" button next to the ESA journal titles. All authors using Rapid Review are required to set up an account by filling in their contact information and determining their user name and password. Once a paper is submitted through the system, the author can log on subsequently and see the status of his or her manuscript.

General Submission Instructions

All manuscripts submitted to the Entomological Society of America should be written with clarity and readability in mind. Manuscripts are subject to editing to ensure conformity to editorial standards and journal style. Consult the Council of Biology Editors' style manual, Scientific Style and Format Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 6th ed., along with recent issues of the journal for style and format. Follow the requirements shown below when preparing manuscripts and refer to specific ESA editorial standards as noted in the ESA Style Guide.

For authors who are interested in using a commercial editing service before submitting a manuscript, click here to view a list of several service providers.

• Submit manuscript as an MS Word, WordPerfect, or RTF file with a page size of Letter, 8.5 x 11".

• Use continuous line numbering on all pages of your manuscript.
  For instructions on how to insert line numbers, click here.

• Type all as double-spaced, with 1-inch margins, and do not right justify text.

• Use the font Times (New) Roman with a size of 12 point.

• Left-justify the title, author line, affiliation lines, subheadings, text, and References Cited.

• Insert tabs, not spaces, for paragraph indents.

• Use italicization only to indicate scientific names (including viruses), symbols or variables, and words that are defined.

• Use quotation marks for quoted material only.

• Use American English spelling throughout and follow Merriam-Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., for guidance on spelling.

• Number pages consecutively, beginning with the title page.

• Begin each of the following on a separate page and arrange in the following order: title page, abstract and key words (three to six words), text, acknowledgments, references cited, footnotes, tables, figure legends, and figures.

• Type all captions on a separate page and put each figure and table on a separate page.

Refer to the Figures section of the ESA Style Guide for information on how to submit figures.

Refer to the ESA Style Guide for additional information.