All submitted manuscripts will undergo a pre-review process. Only those manuscripts that pass this stage will proceed to a double-blind peer-review process. Throughout the second process, the reviewers’ identity will remain unknown to the authors – the same case applies to the author’s identity to the reviewers.

Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Editors and editorial board members will not use unpublished information disclosed in a submitted manuscript for their research purposes without the authors’ explicit written consent. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors as a result of handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their personal advantage. Editors will recuse themselves from considering manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships/connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers; instead, they will ask another member of the editorial board to handle the manuscript.

The editors ensure that all submitted manuscripts being considered for publication undergo peer-review by at least two reviewers who are expert in the field. The Associate Editor-in-charge and the Editor-in-Chief are responsible for deciding which of the manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published, based on the validation of the work in question, its importance to researchers and readers, the reviewers’ comments, and such legal requirements as are currently in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.

Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review on a given timeline by the journal so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Any manuscripts received for review are confidential documents and must be treated as such; they must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the Associate Editor. This applies also to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.

Reviews should be conducted objectively and observations formulated clearly with supporting arguments so that authors can use them for improving the manuscript. Personal criticism of the authors is inappropriate.

Any invited referee who has conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions connected to the manuscript and the work described therein should immediately notify the editors to declare their conflicts of interest and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the authors. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for the reviewer’s personal advantage. This applies also to invited reviewers who decline the review invitation.

Authors should ensure that they have written and submit only entirely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited. Plagiarism is committed when one author uses another work without permission, credit, or acknowledgment. Plagiarism takes different forms, from literary copying to paraphrasing the work of another.

Only persons who meet these authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript as they must be able to take public responsibility for the content. The revision of the paper and authorship changes should have been permitted by all authors of the paper.

The JESEG requires authors to indicate the author’s contribution in the cover letter, outlining their contributions to the paper. The addition of authors is only allowed up to the final galley proof. After the authors have submitted their final corrections, no other changes to the list of authors will be accepted.

Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Hence, authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. A statement indicating that the submitted manuscript for review has not been submitted to another journal for publication should be indicated in the cover letter by the corresponding author.

All authors should disclose any conflict of interest that might be perceived to influence the authors’ objectivity. If there is no conflict of interest to declare, state it explicitly in the manuscript under the section Conflicts of Interest.

If the work involves the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect. The JESEG adheres to the regulations set by various Philippine laws and institutions such as the Republic Act 9147 “Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act”, Republic Act 8485 “The Animal Welfare Act of 1988”, and the Republic Act 11038 “Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018”. Permits and consents should be stated in the Methods section of the manuscript.

If there is any question about whether research results reported in a submitted article are original to the purported author or authors, the editorial board shall make inquiries of the authors and their institutions.

Anyone may reach the journal office through our Contact Us page on our website. Any complaint, appeal, or allegation towards the journal staff, authors, editors, or reviewers will be investigated thoroughly. The identity of the reporter will not be disclosed unless the individual gave consent. Every party involved in the reported case shall be contacted, and the journal will not make any public statement until the responses have been received. If, on investigation, the ethical concern is well-founded, a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other note as may be relevant, will be published in the journal.