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eLetters submission guide

Introduction

These guidelines apply to the use of the Royal Society Publishing website located at any of the following domains:

  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsbl
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsbm
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsif
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsnr
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsob
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspa
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsta
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rstb
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsfs
  • royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos

General guidelines

eLetters are responses to journal articles. You can submit an eLetter through the ‘eLetters’ tab on an article.

We aim to post as soon as possible, all responses that contribute substantially to the topic; however, it is at our absolute discretion whether we publish. We will not publish responses, for example, that in our view are, obscene, defamatory, in some other way illegal (for example, inciting racial hatred), incomprehensible, gratuitously rude, commercial promotion or advertising, or are sent by someone who does not provide adequate and accurate personal details or who does not respond to email inquiries.

When you submit an eLetter, you agree to the following, which may be amended from time to time:

  • Your name, position and address will be published with your response
  • All responses are eligible for publication in the print Royal Society journals, in all cases in any present or future medium
  • We reserve the right to edit responses before and after publication
  • Your response must be original and not infringe any third party's intellectual property rights
  • Once a response has been published on the website, you will not have the right to have it removed or edited. The Royal Society shall, however, be able to remove any article at its absolute discretion
  • Declare any competing financial interests or conflict of interest

See our publishing ethics policy for further details.

Good practice

  • Please keep to the discussion topic
  • Unsupported assertions or statements should be avoided
  • When previously published studies are cited, please reference these accurately
  • Discussions should be confined to the demonstrable content of articles and should avoid speculation about the motivations or prejudices of authors

Copyright

In posting a contribution via this service, you warrant to the Royal Society that it is your original work and has not been copied from elsewhere. You retain copyright in relation to the content of your contribution, but you also agree to grant the Royal Society a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive right throughout the world to edit, adapt, translate, publish, reproduce, distribute and display your contribution in any medium or format.

Disclaimer

The Royal Society assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors. Views expressed are those of the contributors and should not be attributed to the Royal Society.