English is the language of science communication and of the SSAR. Ironically, however, most of the animals that we study come from countries where English is not the first language. In order to promote the publication of research on amphibians and reptiles from those countries, the SSAR has started an editorial assistance program for herpetologists who do not speak or write English as their first language.
The following members of the SSAR community have offered to read and edit up to three English language manuscripts per year within their specific area of herpetological expertise. This is a free service provided to herpetologists whose first language is not English, but who are striving to publish their findings in peer reviewed English language journals.
If you would like to partake of this service, feel free to contact by email any of the following people. Please, though, keep these points in mind:
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- Have a clear idea about where you want to submit your paper and have worked hard to format your paper according to your selected journal’s “Direction for Authors.”
- Tell the person to whom you are approaching for editorial assistance a bit about the focus of your paper and its size, before sending them your manuscript.
- Provide that person the option of receiving your paper as either hard copy by mail or as an electronic file appended to email. You should similarly give them the choice of either emailing you comments or mailing the marked up manuscript back to you.
- Allow the reviewer at least three weeks to get their comments back to you.
- The people on this list may decline your invitation for a variety of reasons; e.g., currently heavy teaching load, field work, high number of manuscripts already edited during the year etc. Please accept their declining to edit your paper on face value. Do not interpret a refusal from anyone on this list as a disinterest in either you or your work.
- The people who are volunteering to edit manuscripts are not formally working for the SSAR and their assistance is no guarantee that your paper will be accepted in the English language press.
| Aaron M. Bauer | Lizard systematics, squamate morphology, biogeography |
| David Cundall | Snake systematics/functional morphology |
| Raul E. Diaz | Amphibian and squamate development/morphology |
| Chris Distel | Amphibian ecology and conservation; ecotoxicology; invasive species |
| Patrick Gregory | Snake ecology (feeding, thermoregulation, population ecology) |
| John Matter | Squamate reproductive anatomy/seasonality |
| Ann Paterson | Behavioral & ecology, especially in lizards |
| Marion Preest | Physiological ecology of amphibians & reptiles (osmoregulation, energetics) |
| Sharon Wise | Behavioral ecology, especially in amphibians |
| Christopher Thawley | Behavioral ecology, especially in lizards |
| Ben Halliwell | Behavioral and evolutionary ecology of reptiles; social mating systems |
| Bradley Carlson | Tadpole ecology and behavior; behavioral ecology |
| Chris Banks | Captive management & breeding; development of conservation programs |
| Tracy Langkilde | Lizard behavioral ecology, stress physiology, and invasive species |
| Matthew Vickers | Lizard thermal biology; behavioral thermoregulation. |
| Debbie Bower | Ecology; population biology; demography; spatial ecology; community ecology. |
| James Menzies | Frog biology |
If English is your primary language and you would like to volunteer
to provide editorial assistance to our colleagues, please follow these guidelines.
If you feel confident in your ability to write English and offer good critical feedback to others, please consider signing up to help with this program. SSAR welcomes the participation of its graduate student members in this project. You can have your name added to the above list by sending us a note through our contact form.
Review Guidelines
Please be narrow and specific in the areas of expertise that you list. For example, if you work in “snake systematics” or “snake thermal ecology,” it would be better to say that than “snake biology.” By keeping your area narrow, you are assuring yourself that any manuscripts that come your way will be in your area of greatest interest. This will make it both easier for you to follow the manuscript and to offer good counsel to the authors.