Instructions to Authors


Instructions to authors are similar to those of the companion journal Amphibia-Reptilia. Papers should be written in Microsoft Word and submitted in electronic form by e-mail. Use of single line spacing, line numbers, and page numbers is preferred. See the specimen paper as an example of the format. There are no page charges. All correspondence should be sent to the Managing Editor. The review process may be accelerated if authors send the contact details (e-mail) of up to three persons who would be suitable as referees. Authors unsure whether a paper is within the scope of the journal may pre-submit the text to the Managing Editor Adrian.Hailey@sta.uwi.edu.

Copyright

It is a fundamental condition that submitted manuscripts have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. By submitting a manuscript, the authors agree that the copyright for their article is transferred to the publisher (as far as copyright may be transferable) if and when the article is accepted for publication. The use of general descriptive names, trade marks, etc., even if these are not specifically identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations, and may accordingly be used freely by anyone.

Types of papers

Manuscripts may be submitted as experimental or review articles or as short notes to the Managing Editor. Invasive Species Distributions Notes should be submitted directly to the section editor, Dr G. Perry. Notes describe completed studies of limited scope, rather than incomplete or preliminary work, and should be prepared without dividing the text into sections, apart from a short abstract (of a few sentences) and key words. Articles should have an abstract not exceeding 3% of the total length. Spelling may be either British or American English, as long as this is consistent throughout the paper. The title page should include a short title (maximum 6 words), and a list of 5-10 key words or short phrases, in alphabetical order and uncapitalised except for the first word and for genus or proper names. Manuscripts reporting work which appears to contravene accepted principles of conservation or ethical standards may, in addition to normal review, be referred to members of the Editorial Board. For guidelines refer to Animal Behaviour 51: 241-246 (1996). Genus and species names (only) should be italicised. The International System of Units should be used; other units may be given in parentheses when they first appear in the text. Literature citations should be in chronological order as follows: Boulenger (1880) or (Boulenger, 1880; Mertens and Wermuth, 1960; Arnold, 1973). Where there are more than two authors, only the first should be named, followed by "et al." (not italicised).

References

References should be listed in alphabetical order under the first author's name and should refer only to publications cited in the text. World Wide Web sites may be included in the references if they are stable and complement published sources; they are recommended for publications that are otherwise difficult to obtain. Other web sites are treated as equivalent to personal communications or unpublished data, and should be given in the text only, in parentheses; for example "tortoises were studied at the Centro Carapax, Italy (http://www.carapax.org)". Use "hanging" paragraph formatting, by 8 mm (0.3 inches). Standard abbreviations should be used for journal titles, such as Herpetol. (not Herp.) for Herpetology - if in doubt check the list of the Web of Science, available at http://images.isiknowledge.com/help/WOS/0-9_abrvjt.html. The format for books, articles from journals and non-serial collective publications, reports and associated web sites is shown by the following examples:

Gittins, S.P. (1983): Population dynamics of the common toad (Bufo bufo) at a lake in mid-Wales. J. Anim. Ecol. 52: 981-988.

McCullagh, P., Nelder, J.A. (1983): Generalized Linear Models. New York, Chapman and Hall.

NRA (1996): NRA Special Review of Glyphosate. NRA Special Review Series 96.1. Canberra, Chemical Review Section, National Registration Authority for Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals. (http://www.nra.gov.au/chemrev/glyphosate.shtml).

Semlitsch, R.D., Scott, D.E., Pechmann, J.H.K., Gibbons, J.W. (1996): Structure and dynamics of an amphibian community: Evidence from a 16-year study of a natural pond. In: Long-term Studies of Vertebrate Communities, p. 217-248. Cody, M.L., Smallwood, J.A., Eds, San Diego, Academic Press.

Tables

Tables should be numbered consecutively with arabic numbers, and referred to in lower case in the text (table 1). Footnotes should be indicated by lower-case suffix letters, beginning with an "a" in each table. Do not use footnotes in the text of a paper.

Illustrations

Illustrations, whether photographs, maps or diagrams, should be numbered consecutively and inserted on separate pages within the text file. Higher quality figures may be submitted on acceptance of the paper if necessary, as separate image files. Colour reproductions cannot be published unless the author(s) agree to bear the costs. If dimensions are important a scale line should be included. After reduction, all the lettering and numbering should be larger than 2 mm. Captions should be listed on a separate page. Figures should be referred to in lower case in the text, for example (fig. 1).

Common errors

Please use the correct format for these points:
  1. Title is in "sentence mode" - Lower case except for first word and proper names: And after colon.
  2. Authors' names on title page are separated by commas only (not and or &); this also applies in the references list.
  3. Key words: Alphabetic order; first word only capitalised; separated by semi-colons; Latin names italicised; period/full stop at end.
  4. First paragraph in each section is not indented. Subsequent paragraphs follow on directly (without a blank line between), and have their first lines indented (by two spaces).
  5. Do not use the & symbol.
  6. Italicise symbols (such as n, P, F), but not abbreviations (such as df, SD). Use a space either side of mathematical symbols (such as = , < ).
  7. Use lower case for fig., figure and table in the text. Captions begin with Figure or Table in bold.
  8. Do not italicise et al. in the text, or journal names in the references.
  9. Titles of papers and book chapters in the references list are in "sentence mode".
  10. Titles of books and reports in the references list are in "title mode" - All Important Words Begin With a Capital Letter.
  11. Main Headings Bold, in Title Mode.
  12. Sub-headings italicised, in sentence mode. Latin names within sub-headings revert to regular font.
  13. Minor headings. A third layer of headings is discouraged. If necessary, these will be in bold type (sentence mode) with the paragraph text run on immediately afterwards.

Proofs

Proofs will be sent to the corresponding author only once. Corrections should be limited to typographical errors. The costs of any other changes, involving time-consuming and expensive work, will be charged to author(s). If absolutely necessary, additions may be made at the end of the paper in a "Note added in proof". The editors reserve the right to publish manuscripts in any order they think fit (normally chronological).

Authors' copies

A pdf file of each article will be sent to the corresponding author free of charge.

Book reviews

Applied Herpetology will also publish book reviews, in the same format as short notes. Reprints will not be provided, and the editorial board reserves the right to publish such reviews online if shortage of space does not allow a printed version. The title should give details in the format below; the reviewer's name and location (institution or city) will appear after the text. Books for review should be sent to the managing editor. Prospective reviewers or others may send suggestions for books to review (including the publisher's URL where possible) to Adrian.Hailey@sta.uwi.edu.

The Sonoran Desert Tortoise: Natural History, Biology, and Conservation
Thomas R. Van Devender (editor)
The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, USA, 2002, 390 pp, 29 half tones.
ISBN 0-8165-2191-3; US$70.00 (hardback: cloth).

Updated: 13 October 2008

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