Draft for Animal Conservation with confidence. The template sets the correct structure, abstract, and references up front, so your manuscript clears editorial screening.
4.5
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 25 July, 2026
Submitting to Animal Conservation goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Animal Conservation guide for authors before peer review, so formatting, structure, and required statements should be right on the first draft rather than repaired during upload. This template sets that structure up for you.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Animal Conservation. It covers front matter, the abstract the journal expects, a body organized to the journal's article types, and a reference list in the journal's required style. Confirm current scope and article types on the Animal Conservation journal page before you draft.
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. Write the abstract to the journal's rule and word limit, organize the body to the article type, and apply the required reference style from the first citation. Complete every declaration (ethics, competing interests, funding, data availability) the Animal Conservation guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
The common failure modes are formatting or reference style that does not match the guide for authors, missing required statements, and an incomplete portal checklist. Clear all three against the Animal Conservation guide for authors before you submit.
The shell mirrors what editorial staff check first: article-type fit, the abstract rules, required declarations, and the journal's reference style. For more detail see the author resources. When your draft is ready, upload it through ScholarOne / Research Exchange.
| Element | AC requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured abstract of not more than 300 words which should list the main results and conclusions. The abstract should also explain the importance of the paper in a way that is accessible to non-specialists and should describe the novel aspects of the research and highlight the relevance of the findings to other taxa, conservation practice or policy, or general principles in conservation biology. For Research papers: Authors should highlight the relevance and implications of their research for conservation practice or policy in the Abstract. For Reviews: Prospective review authors should submit a 300-word abstract. Authors are also encouraged to provide graphical abstracts (<150 words) and translated abstracts in their first language or the language relevant to the country in which the research was conducted. |
| Main text | Section order and length per article type |
| Declarations | Ethics, competing interests, funding, data as required |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | A maximum of eight keywords may be suggested. |
| References | Author-date style. In the text, references must be arranged chronologically with the surname(s) of the author(s) followed by the date. Two authors: use both names and the year (do not use et al). Three authors: on first citation use all authors' names and the year, thereafter first author et al. and date. More than three authors: first author et al. and date. In the reference list, references must be arranged first alphabetically under author(s) name(s) and then in chronological order. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the Zoological Record Serial Sources. Full title of the paper must be given together with first and last pages. Book titles should be followed by place of publication and publisher. |
| Submission | authorservices.wiley.com |
Read the Animal Conservation guide for authors once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after results are stable. Set the reference style before adding citations. Keep a cover letter that states your contribution and fit to Animal Conservation in under a page.
Skim two or three recent AC papers to calibrate depth and figure style. Make the novelty clear in the first two pages. Deposit data and code when the policy on the Animal Conservation journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Animal Conservation guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through ScholarOne / Research Exchange.