This repository is a clearinghouse that allows anyone in the Ecological Forecasting Initiative (EFI) community to see what manuscripts are in the process of ideation, analysis, text drafting, submission, revision, and acceptance for publication. It is for anyone in the community to express interest in participating on manuscripts that are open to collaboration.
There are three goals for this repository
- As the EFI Community continues to mature and new people join, we want to make sure to be open and welcoming of opportunities to contribute as co-authors on manuscripts
- We want to provide a mechanism to check for any overlooked co-authors as a manuscript is in preparation for submission
- There may be manuscripts for which EFI will provide funds for page charges. Eligible manuscripts must be listed in this repository. See details below about funding.
This repository is not set up to micromanage the project management of a project or manuscript. This is not the place to put notes or code for the listed manuscripts, but rather to track project status and participation.
One strength of the EFI Community is its ability to bring together individuals across multiple institutions and disciplines/fields to work on projects and produce manuscripts. You can see examples of EFI papers that have been published here, which are available in EFI’s Zotero Bibliography, and EFI’s Google Scholar.
In this ReadMe you will find information about
- What defines a manuscript as being an EFI manuscript
- Potential funding for page fees and how to request funding
- Color code and labels for types of manuscripts
- Register manuscript ideas, Access and express interest in posted manuscript ideas, Communications about manuscript ideas
- Acknowledgements
A manuscript may be considered for inclusion in the repository when any of the following apply:
- The Project can be attributed to EFI if
- The idea was generated by an EFI working group or international chapter
- The project uses EFI data/tools (e.g., Forecasting Challenge infrastructure)
- The idea came out of discussions at an EFI meeting or an EFI initiative
- The idea was presented to the EFI community (conference, working group/chapter, Slack, etc.) with an open invitation for additional participants
- EFI, grants to EFI (e.g., NSF Research Coordination Network), or grants from EFI are acknowledged in the publication
- EFI was leveraged to get funding for the work (e.g., the EFI Steering Committee approved and provided a letter of support)
- The Project is open to the EFI community to participate for a significant portion of the project timeline.
Simply put, anything you consider to be attributed to EFI could be part of the list. This process will facilitate project involvement and provide feedback to EFI regarding our scientific impact. In the spirit of inclusion and transparency, we hope that project leaders, coordinators, and members agree and choose to include their projects in this repository.
We hope that any collaborative EFI manuscript will be added to this GitHub repository, not just manuscripts that need funding. However, if there is a demonstrated need for funding manuscript publication costs, EFI does have some discretionary funds that can be used with approval by the EFI Steering Committee. EFI will only fund manuscripts that are listed in the repository. However, just because a manuscript is listed in the repository does not mean that it will be funded. For example, we expect that manuscripts related to the research programs of principal investigators will be paid through participating institutions. Manuscripts that are led entirely by students on an EFI project unrelated to work at individual institutions may be eligible to request support for page charges.
Project leads who anticipate the need to request discretionary funds need to email info@ecoforecast.org with
- A description of the project (including a link to the entry in the repository),
- Potential authorship,
- Target journal and estimate of cost,
- Estimated timeline and general idea of when funds would be needed. We understand that the writing and internal and external review process is variable and in some cases uncontrollable, so this can be a rough estimate.
- Reason for requesting the funds,
- How the project makes connections across the EFI community and any connections to working groups, EFI chapters, etc.
This information will be shared at the subsequent monthly EFI Steering Committee meeting for discussion and potential approval if funds are available. Requestors will be notified of the Committee meeting date, and the Steering Committee decision will be shared as soon as possible.
The projects listed in the Issues are color-coded by labels that reflect
- the different stages of manuscript preparation,
- the type of EFI activity the manuscript came out of or is being developed by, and
- any EFI funding that will be acknowledged.
Multiple codes can be selected for each manuscript, and many codes should change throughout the lifecycle of the project.
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$${\color{green}Green}$$ = manuscripts are at the beginning stages of development and open to collaboration- Gauging Interest/Brainstorming Ideas - there are initial ideas but, there isn’t a clearly articulated manuscript yet defined
- Seeking Collaborators - there is a manuscript idea, and authors are looking for individuals with a particular expertise to join
- Open to Collaborators - manuscript are in progress but, interested co-authors can still join
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$${\color{yellow}Yellow}$$ = manuscripts that are in the process of development but still open to the addition of co-authors- Manuscript Draft In Progress - the project group is actively developing the manuscript text
- Manuscript Drafted; Checking for overlooked co-authors - manuscript is drafted; checking for potentially overlooked co-authors to join
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$${\color{red}Red}$$ = manuscripts that are no longer accepting co-authors- No longer accepting other co-authors - the project is at a stage where co-authorship is set
- In Review - the manuscript has been submitted for review
- Accepted for publication - the manuscript has been accepted for publication
- Published - the DOI of the publication is now available; the Issue is closed.
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$${\color{grey}Grey}$$ = Manuscripts that had at one point been listed as one of the green or yellow options but are no longer active- Inactive manuscript - the manuscript is no longer being worked on. Either the original team, or new teams, are welcome to revive/recycle the idea.
- EFI Student & Early Career Association - manuscript led by the EFI Student & Early Career Association
- EFI working group or chapter - manuscript led by an EFI working group or international chapter (CEFI, EEFI, OEFI, AEFI)
- EFI meeting - Manuscript idea originated at an EFI meeting or conference
- Other group - any other group type
- NSF RCN - manuscript related to activities that are part of the NSF-funded EFI Research Coordination Network
- Sloan - manuscript related to activities that are part of the EFI Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funding
- Other tags - will be added as needed
The following section provides instructions for
- How to access the list of manuscripts and sign up to receive notifications about new manuscript listings
- How to register a manuscript as a GitHub Issue
- How to express interest in participating on a manuscript or project
- How new projects or manuscripts will be communicated to the EFI community
Anyone can view this repository at any time to see what manuscripts are in progress. However, if you would like to receive notifications when new activity takes place or new manuscript ideas are listed, or if you would like to list a manuscript idea, you will need to create a GitHub account if you don’t already have one.
The guidelines in this ReadMe are a work in progress. If you have suggestions for changes (e.g., proposing new labels, etc), email info@ecoforecast.org or submit your suggestions as a new issue in GitHub.
Click on the “Watch” button in the upper right of this repository, and select the level of notifications you would like to receive.
Click on the “Issues” tab to the upper left of this repository to view all projects, and click on the project you want to follow. On the project page, click on the “Subscribe” button, which is under Notifications towards the bottom of the right-hand column (you may need to scroll down). From there, you should select the type of notifications you want to receive.
Make sure you are signed in to your GitHub account. Once you are in the Project repository (eco4cast/efi-projects in GitHub), click on “Issues” at the top to add your manuscript ideas. Alternatively, you can go directly to the Issues page to add a manuscript. Click on the green “New Issue” button to add a manuscript idea. Once you have created a new issue, then provide the following details about the manuscript (note that you can change these at any time, so preliminary or draft information is fine):
- Title of the Manuscript Project
- Short overview paragraph,
- Email contact information for the project lead,
- Participant list,
- Estimated timeline,
- Co-authorship guidelines that list ways people can participate. If you are looking for guidance on how to define co-authorship guidelines, see examples below from how others in EFI have attributed authorship. EFI does not endorse or require that any specific guidelines be used, but we do ask that guidelines are clearly defined by the project lead and that they are included in the manuscript project description.
- Any other details that are important to share with potential co-authors
Here is a Google Doc template with the topics listed above that can be used to draft before adding a new manuscript Issue.
If you are interested in participating on a project, click on the “Issues” tab of the repository or go directly to the Issues page. Click on the Issue with the manuscript idea of interest.
- If you have a GitHub account: Add a comment expressing your interest
- If you do not have a GitHub account: Reach out directly to the manuscript lead via their contact information
After a new project or manuscript idea gets posted as an Issue, the EFI administrators will share it on the EFI Slack group and it will also be included in the newsletter issue released after the manuscript is posted. EFI Newsletters come out every 4-6 weeks.
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14 contributor roles listed by Credit Taxonomy: https://credit.niso.org/
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The following list of ways to contribute was modified from the “Predicting Spring Phenology in Deciduous Broadleaf Forests: NEON Phenology Forecasting Community Challenge” paper led by Kathryn Wheeler
- Design Team
- Contributed Model
- Contributed Analyses
- Contributed Text
- Provided Edits
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The following are contribution categories developed by the EFI Theory working group as they were starting to work on “The power of forecasts to advance ecological theory” paper.
Examples of Concept and Design Contributions
- Conceived or contributed to the conception of a manuscript idea such that input helped define the fundamental contribution of the manuscript
- Developed or fundamentally contributed to formulating research questions
- Designed/outlined the manuscript
- Contributed to the conceptual/theoretical framework for the manuscript
Examples of Research Contributions
- Collected data
- Compiled or synthesized data
- Led quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) of data
- Developed or calibrated models or a part of a model
- Analyzed or contributed to analyzing observed data or model output data
- Interpreted results
Examples of Writing Contributions
- Wrote sections of text, even if the text was not retained in the final manuscript version
- Designed figures and tables
- Performed critical reviews or substantial re-working of manuscript
These guidelines for sharing and expressing interest in EFI community-developed manuscripts was inspired by the processes used by the Global Lakes Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) and Zarr-Python for managing their projects.