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African Invertebrates
A journal of biodiversity
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| Instructions to Authors |
General
African Invertebrates covers the taxonomy, systematics, biogeography, biology, ecology, conservation and palaeontology of Afrotropical invertebrates, whether terrestrial, freshwater or marine. All contributions are published in English (British Standard). It is understood that manuscripts submitted to African Invertebrates have not been offered to any other journal for prior or simultaneous publication. The length of manuscripts generally should not exceed 50 printed pages. Exceptions can be negotiated in advance with the Editor-in-Chief.
Preparation of manuscript
The manuscript should be in 12pt font and 1.5 line-spaced, with a 2.5 cm margin on all sides. Number manuscript pages consecutively beginning with the title page.
Give full details of the title of the manuscript, name(s) of author(s), postal address and e-mail address if available, each on a separate line. The title of the paper should be informative but concise. Where appropriate, they should contain names of higher taxa to which the invertebrates under study belong, typically the order and family. A short running title should be provided.
The abstract should not normally exceed 30 type-written lines. Adopt standard scientific nomenclature and avoid abbreviations and references. Abstracts of taxonomic papers should mention all nomenclatural acts and list newly proposed nominal taxa. Key words: Select a set of up to 12 key words or phrases (index terms).
The suggested order of sections for original papers is: Introduction, Material and Methods, Results (Taxonomy), Discussion and Conclusions (the last two sections may be combined), Acknowledgements, References, *Footnotes, *Tables, *Figure captions. Begin the asterisked sections on new pages. Use footnotes sparingly, and number them consecutively throughout the text. Use up to three heading levels.
Authors of taxonomic papers must adhere to all requirements of the current International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Recommendations of the Code should also be followed. All newly described taxa, new synonyms and new combinations should be explicitly designated as such with the following abbreviations: gen. n., sp. n., syn. n., comb. n.
The suggested order of sections within a species treatment is: Etymology, Diagnosis (optional), Description, Variation (optional), Comparison (optional), Holotype (for new species descriptions), Paratypes, Other material examined (this section includes information about non-type material), Distribution, Biology, other comments if appropriate. Descriptions should be written in telegraphic style. Each genus- and species-group name mentioned should appear at least once in connection with its original author and date, but do not quote the author on each occasion, particularly in non-taxonomic papers. Interpret specimen labels and geographical data consistently throughout the paper, using current English spelling of geographical names. Use British Standard for spelling and transliteration of characters. Male symbol should be typed as *M, and female symbol as *F.
Example:
SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal: 4*M 1*F, Pietermaritzburg, Hilton (29º32'30"S:30º18'18"E), alt. 1131 m, 14.x?12.xi.2003, Malaise trap, M. Mostovski (NMSA).
Latin names of genus- and species-group taxa should be italicised throughout the text, including the references, but should appear in bold in taxonomic keys and in level 2 headers when new taxa are described.
References:
(a) within the text: (Martin 1968, 1970; Palmer 1997); Palmer (1997); Artigas and Papavero (1988); (Artigas & Papavero 1988a, b); Herbert et al. (2003). Reference to a page number is cited as follows: (Crow 1997: 517). All publications referred to in the text (including synonymical lists of taxonomic papers) must be cited in full in the list of references.
(b) under References: Cite all authors and full title. If an author or authors are listed more than once (new combinations of authors excepted) then their names should be replaced with 10 hyphens in the second and subsequent references. Give names of periodicals in full. Titles of papers published in languages other than Romano-Germanic should be replaced by an English translation, with an explanatory note at the end, e.g. (in Russian, English abstr.). Conference proceedings should be cited as books (i.e., with publisher and place), not as periodicals. Names of periodicals and titles of books should be in italics.
Examples:
Brues, C.T. 1910. A peculiar type of Phoridae from Natal. Psyche 17: 33-36.
Oldroyd, H. 1980. Family Asilidae. In: Crosskey, R.W., ed., Catalogue of the Diptera of the Afrotropical Region. London: British Museum (Natural History), pp. 334-373. |
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Ponomarenko, A.G. 1969. Historical development of Coleoptera Archostemata. Transactions of the Paleontological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences [Trudy Paleontologicheskogo instituta Akademii Nauk SSSR] 125: 1-239. (in Russian)
Skaife, S.H. 1979. African Insect Life. Cape Town: C. Struik.
Illustrations and tables:
When preparing illustrations and tables, consider the journal's page size, which is 127x192 mm. Illustrations (including graphs) and their captions or legends should form a separate, self-explanatory unit. Explain abbreviations in the captions, or (if too numerous) collect them elsewhere in a list (preferably under Material and Methods). For line art, use good-quality black Indian ink and do not use very fine lines or dots in drawings that are to be significantly reduced. Laser printed copies are also acceptable. Use pre-printed lettering of sufficient size to permit reduction. Multipart figures should be labelled as A, B etc. Use sans serif font for labels if possible. Photographs are best submitted at the actual size of reproduction. If the editor is to insert the final lettering, provide an overlay showing your requirements. Morphological illustrations (if not schematic) must include a scale bar. Tables should include headings and explanations, and should be numbered consecutively. Approximate positions of figures and tables should be indicated in the margin of the printed copy. References in the text to illustrations and tables: Fig. 1; Figs 1-3; Table 1 (Note: Do not capitalise fig., figs, table, pl., pls, when referring to items reproduced in someone else's work). The format for figure legends is:
Figs 19-21. Margdalops angustus sp. n., female paratype (S. Africa): (19) postabdomen, dorsal view; (20) spermatheca; (21) internal sclerites, ventral view. Scale bar = 0.1 mm.
Initial Submission
Ideally, one printed copy of the manuscript and an electronic version should be submitted to the editor. The electronic manuscript should be a combination of a Rich Text Format (.RTF) file for text and tables and JPEG (.JPG) or TIFF (.TIF) file(s) for figures. Graphics must not be embedded in the Rich Text Format file, and may be of reduced quality sufficient for evaluation by the reviewers. Manuscripts submitted in unsuitable formats will not be processed. Initial submission of only a hard copy may slow down the review process. In the latter case, send the printed version in triplicate and illustrations in duplicate (authors should keep the originals until the paper is accepted).
Final submission
The final text accepted for print must be supplied in an editable electronic format. Easily intertransferable formats such as Rich Text Format (.RTF) are preferred. Users of Apple computers should submit the text either in a format directly transferable to PC, or as a plain text file. Original artwork will always be required for best printing quality. Graphics may also be provided in an electronic form as .TIFF (.TIF) or .EPS files; always enclose a high-quality printed copy. Vector graphic files (e.g., .CDR) are not acceptable. Never import graphics into a word processor format (e.g., as .DOC files). Authors should refrain from mixing drawings and half tone/colour illustrations. Required modes and minimum resolutions for graphic files: colour in 24-bit RGB mode, 300 dpi at print size; halftones in 8-bit grayscale mode, 300 dpi at print size; line art in 1-bit black-and-white mode, at least 600 dpi at print size. However, it is advisable to submit figures prepared with higher resolution.
Proofs and page charges
The proof will be sent as a PDF file to the corresponding author for correction. Authors may be charged for excessive changes made by them to the proofs, excluding typesetting errors. Authors are expected to cover the costs of colour plates; alternatively, colour plates may be placed in PDF files at no charge. Twenty-five reprints and a PDF file are supplied free of charge. Manuscripts and originals of illustrations will not be returned, unless requested.
Consult full version before submission.
All correspondence should be addressed to:
The Editor-in-Chief, African Invertebrates
editor@nmsa.org.za
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