Associate Editor's Note.

[摘要] The review process was uneventful. The manuscript was accepted after the third version, except for final polishing. Near the end of the review process the authors informed Dufty that they would like to add co-authors to the paper, individuals who had contributed feathers used in the analyses. Dufty recognized the names of the additional authors as those from the Oecologia paper, at which point he contacted the Editor and informed him of the situation. He volunteered to recuse himself, to pass the paper on to a different associate editor, and to have the review process begin anew. Editor Sealy determined the paper had received fair and unbiased reviews and that Dufty's recommendations based on these reviews were appropriate. The review process ended shortly thereafter and the paper was published with the expanded list of authors. After carefully reviewing the scientific qualifications of the four individuals who reviewed either the original manuscript or the following letter and rebuttal, I can state that these individuals were qualified to provide meaningful and constructive reviews and that the content of their reviews was faithfully transferred to Smith et al. for consideration. In addition, I can confirm that none of the four reviewers violated COI with respect to either set of authors.

[学科分类] 动物科学