Publishing

Instructions for authors

Version 1, February 2003

Systematics and Biodiversity

Aims and scope | Submission of manuscripts| Preparation of manuscripts | Preparation of text | Preparation of References | Editing and refereeing| Proofs | Copyright | Offprints

Aims and scope

Systematics and Biodiversity is devoted to whole-organism biology, initiated in 2002. It is a quarterly, international, peer-reviewed, life science journal, without page charges, which is published by Cambridge University Press for The Natural History Museum, London.

Systematics and Biodiversity documents the diversity of organisms in all natural Kingdoms, through taxonomic papers, while also addressing topical issues relating to biological collections, and the principles of systematics. It particularly emphasises the importance and multi-disciplinary significance of systematics, with contributions which address the implications of other fields for systematics, or which advance our understanding of other fields through taxonomic knowledge, especially in relation to the nature, origins and conservation of biodiversity, at all taxonomic levels.

Each issue contains a main section devoted to formal peer-reviewed original research papers, and a shorter, more informal 'Perspectives' section. As well as taxonomic discovery, description, revision and recording, the research section carries studies of adaptation, anatomy, biodiversity patterns in time and space (including response to environmental and human factors, and to global change), biogeography, coevolution, conservation biology, development, evolutionary biology, functional morphology, growth and form, molecular science, phylogenetics, speciation, and systematic ecology. State-of-knowledge reviews, and papers on the theory and practice of systematics are also welcome. There are no restrictions on length of contributions, the geographical location of authors, their material and study areas, or on the institutional locations of their studied collections. The 'Perspectives' section covers a similar range of subjects to the main section but gives scope for news, debate and comment, through editorials and guest-editorials, magazine-style articles, and reviews of books, CDs and websites.

For publishing and subscription details for Systematics and Biodiversity, please refer to the following URLs for The Natural History Museum, and Cambridge University Press, respectively:

www.nhm.ac.uk/services/publishing/det_journals.html
www.cambridge.org/journals/

In addition to the printed issues, Systematics and Biodiversity is available online as part of the Cambridge Journals Online (CJO) service at the Cambridge University Press site above, with free access to tables of contents and abstracts.

The following instructions apply to all submitted material, both formal papers and informal contributions for the 'Perspectives' section, unless otherwise stated. Authors should contact the Editor-in-Chief if they have matters arising from preparation of their manuscripts, in relation to these instructions.

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Please submit manuscripts electronically to the Editor-in-Chief, (sysbio@nhm.ac.uk) clearly marking messages with, 'Systematics and Biodiversity'. E-mail messages should include authors' names (shortened to 'Xxxxx and others.' if wished) and the title of the manuscript. If there is more than one author, please indicate clearly who is the Corresponding Author, giving contact details including e-mail address (see also 4: 'Authors and contact details').

The Editors do not accept serialised part-studies for publication, and titles of manuscripts should stand alone, and not contain part numbers.

The Editors will take submission of a manuscript to imply that its material is original and that the author(s) is not, or will not be, submitting a recognisably similar manuscript elsewhere.

Papers that report experimental work must comply with the standards and procedures set out by British national or equivalent legislation. We will not accept papers if they are evidently based on work involving cruelty to animals, or if the work has clearly put at risk endangered populations and species. If necessary, the Editors may seek further advice. For guidelines on animal studies, please refer to Animal Behaviour (1996) 51, 241-246.

Please do not send original illustrations until your paper has been accepted.

The electronic copy can be sent as an electronic attachment(s) via e-mail, or on a disk, suitable for either PC or Macintosh. We prefer text in Word and computer graphics in Freehand. Please indicate clearly on your disk(s), or in your covering message with the attachment(s): (1) author(s)' name(s) (shortened to 'Xxxx and others.' if wished), (2) shortened title of manuscript, (3) names of files with indication of content, and (4) computer operating system and version number used (5) software and version number used, (6) file format for illustrations (e.g. EPS, TIFF). Please supply electronically-prepared illustrations as EPS or TIFF files, or as native format files from your graphics software, and never as postscript files.

Authors should retain a copy (including, ideally, an electronic version) of their submitted manuscripts for reference, and as a precaution in the event of loss of their submitted copies in transit.

Original illustrations and other material will not be returned to authors unless requested.

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Preparation of manuscripts

Text

Text should be double-spaced in 12pt font on single sides of A4 pages with margins at least 2.5 cm wide. All pages are numbered in a single sequence throughout, starting with the title page, and including contents, abstract, references, tables, captions, and indexes. Tables and captions for illustrations are typed separately at the end of the manuscript. Please indicate (e.g. in the margins of hard copy text) your required positions of illustrations and tables. If you need to refer one part of your text to another, please use the relevant manuscript page number(s). (For further details of text preparation, see 4, below.)

Illustrations

Illustrations may consist of line drawings or photographs and all are numbered in a single sequence and referred to consecutively in the text as 'Fig. 1', 'Fig.2', etc. Component parts of figures should be labelled (a), (b), (c), etc. Each figure must be on a separate page.

For electronically-prepared figures, please restrict typefaces to Monotype, Adobe and Bit stream font libraries, and save them in EPS or TIFF format, or as native format files within the graphics software you have used to prepare them, at 400 d.p.i. (but never as Postscript files, or JPEG or PICT formats).

Line drawings should not be larger than twice the final printed size, and should not exceed 170 x 230 mm. Lines should be bold enough to withstand reduction to about 0.25-0.35 mm.

Please keep line drawings as simple as possible, since elaborate electronically produced figures may not reduce well (e.g. three-dimensional graphs with fine lines, gradations of stippling, and unusual symbols). If drawings reproduce poorly, we will have to ask the author(s) to redraw them.

When reduced to final published size, illustrations should fit neatly into either one (83 mm) or two (172 mm) columns, preferably the former.

Axes of graphs should be carefully chosen so as to make best use of the space available. Preferred symbols for drawings are open and filled circles, boxes and triangles, and these should be used consistently. Please provide scale bars with appropriate units (e.g. 2 cm), not magnifications or scale ratios. Lettering should be kept to a minimum and should be self-explanatory, unambiguous and of sufficiently high quality and size to be clearly visible after reduction to final published size. Lettering of all figures within the manuscript should be of uniform style in a sans serif typeface like Helvetica, using lower-case lettering.

Photographs should be the same size as their final intended appearance when published and should fit into either one (83 mm) or two (172 mm) columns. For microscopical preparations, please provide scale bars with appropriate units (e.g. 50 µm), not magnifications.

Cover images. We invite authors of accepted contributions to provide relevant, high quality, interesting images (with caption information), including those in colour, which might be suitable for the cover of the issue in which their paper will appear. (Each issue has a different cover image.)

Colour. We publish colour illustrations where this provides essential information not otherwise readily conveyed in any other way. Please explain your case for using colour to the Editors. Apart from cover images (above), authors will generally be charged for use of colour but some discretion may be shown.

Tables

Tables should be prepared to fit the page size (230 x 170 mm) without undue reduction. We cannot accept oversize tables. All tables are numbered in a single sequence and referred to consecutively in the text as 'Table 1', 'Table 2', etc., and any subsections as '(a)', '(b)', etc. Each figure must be on a separate page. Footnotes in tables are indicated by superscript a, b, etc.

Captions to illustrations

Please provide self-explanatory captions to illustrations, double-spaced, on a separate page(s). These should not contain details of results.

Supplementary data

The Editors may suggest that supplementary data and other information be excluded from the printed paper, but made available with the web-based version.

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Preparation of Text

Language

Submitted manuscripts must be in British English (spelling and grammar).

In these, and all other instances where a language other than English is used (usually in addresses, bibliographic references, place names, quotations), please respect the full conventions of that language with its diacritic marks, accents, etc. If the language concerned uses non-Roman characters, please follow standard transliteration practice for use of Roman characters.

Titles

Titles should be concise and include the name of the family or other higher taxon, where appropriate. Authors should also suggest a running title (maximum 10 words). Authorities for taxonomic names are not necessary unless essential for clarification. (See also below: Names of organisms')

Authors and contact details

Please give all authors' names in their preferred combination of full name(s) and initial(s), and consistent in style with those they have used in other scientific publications. Full addresses should be given, including e-mail addresses if wished. The Corresponding Author (if applicable) should be asterisked, and a footnote provided, worded 'Corresponding Author'.

Dates

The Corresponding Author and Editors should note dates of submission and acceptance of manuscripts. These will be recorded on the title page of all published contributions, together with the date of publication for each issue.

Abstracts

All formal papers are accompanied by abstracts, preferably less than 300 words in length. Abstracts should provide a proper summary of the paper's contents, and should be intelligible without reference to the main text. Abstracts for informal contributions are optional, subject to Editors' suggestion.

Key Words

All formal papers are accompanied by a set of five to ten key words or short phrases, for all formal papers. This is optional for informal contributions, subject to Editors' suggestion.

Contents and Indexes

Please prepare a list of contents and, for papers containing formal taxonomy, a systematic index. Contents will not be necessary for very short contributions and those with very few headings. Indexes should differentiate new taxa (in bold Roman), accepted taxa (Roman), and junior synonyms (Italics). Actual page numbers are added at proof stage. If authors are uncertain about whether to provide Contents and Indexes, Editors will advise.

Heading hierarchy

Up to three levels of heading can be used, and a fourth heading may be added for formal taxonomic descriptions. Headings should not be numbered.

Conventional sequence of text

As far as possible, formal papers should follow the usual sequence of: title, author(s)' details, abstract, key words, contents, introductory and background, matter, study area details, material examined, methods, observations / results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgements, references, tables, figure captions, figures. Formal taxonomic descriptions usually follow all other kinds of text. This sequence however will not necessarily suit all papers, in which case, authors should use a rational scheme that suits their particular purpose. Please ensure however that factual and observational matter is clearly distinguished from interpretation.

Style

With a wide range of subject matter and broad readership in Systematics and Biodiversity, contributions should be written in a style that can be understood by the general reader, especially in the introductory matter and conclusions.

It is easier to read and understand text written in the active rather than passive voice, and also, where appropriate, in the first or third person (e.g. 'I/We/[named person] observed . . . . ', rather than, 'It was observed that . . . .').

British conventions of spelling and grammar should followed, except in quotations of non-British text, titles of referenced works, etc.

Intemperate language, and content that is likely to give offence, will not be accepted. Pejorative, contentious or non-equalitarian terms should be avoided, both for people and place names (see also below: 'Place names').

Footnotes

Please make minimal use of footnotes in the text, but they can be used to add information below the body of a table (see also 3. 'Tables').

Introductory material

In view of the aims and scope of Systematics and Biodiversity, we expect authors to convey the context and perceived importance of their work (e.g. new discoveries, economic relevance, previously unresolved rival hypotheses, topicality, previously unknown relationships, conservation urgency, information from new locations, medical importance, much-needed synthesis or revision of existing knowledge). This can also include historical background.

Place names

"Locating a place is often easier than spelling its name." (Foreword in The Times Atlas of the World). In general, authors should use the latest comprehensive edition of The Times Atlas of the World for the versions and spellings of place names, or for Britain they should use the maps and gazetteers of the Ordnance Survey. The conventions and approach adopted by The Times Atlas are explained in its Foreword. Generally, the local version of a place name (transliterated into Roman letters where necessary) precedes an anglicised rendering, where one exists and where space allows. However, even within a single region or country, there may be current alternatives for a single place name, for reasons of history, politics, and multi-lingual factors. Some may be contentious or unresolved officially. Other names may have been changed officially through time.

For all these reasons, locality data in a paper, including information on specimen labels, may be based on names which are not in current use, or which are not preferred by the current author(s). Authors should therefore use dual names, at least for when they first use a place name in the text, (e.g. 'Firenze (Florence)' or'Florence (Firenze)'), and thereafter adopt a consistent preference for using one or both, throughout the remaining text. Earlier out-of-date names should be given in square brackets (e.g. St.Petersburg [Leningrad]) after the current name. In papers where there are many place names, a list of equivalents can be provided, with explanations and relevant citations of sources as necessary.

For the most precise location of study and collecting sites, authors should supplement place names with coordinates of latitude and longitude, or use references to a publicly available cartographic grid system.

(Please also refer to 'Language', above.)

Morphological terms

A list of morphological and anatomical terms used throughout the text and illustrations, together with any abbreviations used for them, should precede the text in which they are first used.

Symbols, units, and numerical presentation

Whole numbers, one to nine, are spelt in full, except where precise measurements are being reported (e.g. in tables, diagrams and text dealing with results, and in bibliographic citations). Avoid numerals at the beginning of sentences. From 10 onwards, numerals are used.

Equations should be centred on the page with the equation number in parentheses, aligned to the right.

The metric system must be used, and all scientific units should be in SI format, as far as possible. Abbreviations for units usually do not need a full stop (e.g. '6 mm'). Use scientific notation for large values, e.g. '4.3 x 10⁶'

Format for radiocarbon dates: ‘3000 yr BP C14’ or ‘3000 yr BP ¹⁴C’, where ‘BP’ means ‘before present’. Formats for geological/evolutionary time are: ’20.5 Ma’ for absolute age (i.e. before present) and ‘5 Myr’ for absolute time duration. Similarly, if required, ‘100 ka’, and ‘50 kyr’, respectively.

For further details see Baron, D.N, (1988). Units, symbols and abbreviations. Fifth Edition. Royal Society of Medicine Series, London.

Names of organisms

If a name of an organism is used in the title and/or abstract an indication of its taxonomic position must be given.

Use of italics

Authors should use italics for formal generic and species names (but see under 'Contents and Indexes' above), Latin names of anatomical parts, phrases borrowed from other languages (e.g. in situ). They should be retained when used in direct quotations from another author, and where italics have been used in publication titles. (See also 5.)

Use of square brackets

In addition to any requirements of formal taxonomic procedure, square brackets should be used to indicate an older version of a name, word or phrase, and for an author(s) own interjected comments or inferences within quotations from another source, including specimen documentation.

Use of quotation marks

Double quotation marks should be used for direct quotations from letters, specimen labels, other publications, but in all other instances, single quotation marks should be used.

Abbreviations and contractions

No full point is needed for contractions (e.g. Dr, Mr, St). Common abbreviations should be in Roman except c (for 'circa', or 'approximately'. (See also 'Symbols etc.' above, and 5.) Follow standard procedure for use of Botanical abbreviations.

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Preparation of References

Reference to other publications within the text are in short form (see below), and full details of these are given in a reference list (see below) which should be at the end of the text proper. If an extended bibliography is required to additional works which are not actually referred to in the text, this should be headed separately. Accuracy of references is the responsibility of the author(s).

References cited in the reference list as in 'in press' are acceptable, but not 'in preparation' or 'submitted'. The latter can be used within the text, or this and other unpublished information can be indicated within the text as 'personal communication' with further details as required.

Details of formatting and other check points are:

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Editing and Refereeing

Following submission of a manuscript, the Editor-in-Chief will assign the manuscript to an Associate Editor, who assign the manuscript to referees and assist with the editing. Occasionally, we will invite a member of the Editorial Board to assist with this process.

All formal scientific papers will be refereed by at least two specialists in the same or closely-related field as the paper. A third referee may be used in the event of strongly conflicting referees' reports.

We invite authors to suggest referees, but the Editors reserve the right to make their own choice and will generally insist on this for at least one referee.

We assume anonymity of referees unless it is acceptable and helpful to all parties concerned to reveal a referee's name.

We ask referees to recommend (a) publication, with major or minor revisions as applicable, or (b) rejection. The Editors will inform authors of referees' suggestions for revisions and improvement to manuscripts. The Editors will make the final decision on acceptance / rejection, basing this on the referees' recommendations and the author(s)' response to recommended revisions. The Editor-in-Chief, or an Associate Editor on the Editor-in-Chief's behalf, will communicate the final decision to the Corresponding Author.

Subject to the Editors' discretion, material for the 'Perspectives' section will not usually be formally refereed. We recommend however that authors have their articles checked by a colleague in the same field before they submit it, or authors may suggest names of possible readers to the Editors.

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Proofs

PDFs of proofs will be sent to the author. Corrections should be made on the marked proof, which should be returned to the Editor-in-Chief or if corrections are minor they may be communicated by Email. The Editors will return proofs to the publisher. For further information, please refer to the sheet accompanying your proofs. We will not normally send revised proofs to the author(s).

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Copyright

We request authors to complete and hand-sign the copyright form that will accompany our formal Letter of Acceptance, and return it to Cambridge University Press, as instructed. (If you receive the form electronically, please reply using a printed-out version.) We ask you to assign copyright to The Natural History Museum. Any third party must then obtain permission from the Museum to reproduce the material. This ensures that reproduction requests are handled efficiently and consistently.

In assigning copyright, authors may use their own material in their own subsequent publications, provided that Systematics and Biodiversity is acknowledged as the original place of publication, and the instructions for re-use, as indicated on the copyright form, are followed.

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Offprints

On publication of all contributions, twenty-five free offprints of each contribution will be forwarded to the Corresponding Author. Further offprints may be ordered at extra cost at proof stage. Please return offprint order forms to Cambridge University Press as instructed.

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