Bulletin Manuscript Preparation
The Florida Museum of Natural History is Florida's state museum of natural history, dedicated to understanding, preserving, and interpreting biological diversity and cultural heritage.
The Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History publishes the results of original research in zoology, botany, paleontology, archaeology and museum science conducted by our faculty, staff, students, and research associates. We also encourage appropriate, fully funded manuscripts from external researchers. Manuscripts concerning natural history or systematic problems involving the southeastern United States or the Neotropics are especially welcome, although we will also consider research from other parts of the world. Priority is given to specimen-based research. We consider thirty-five double-spaced pages (excluding figures and tables) as the minimum length for manuscripts, although there can be exceptions as determined by the Managing Editor. Address all inquiries to the Managing Editor of the Bulletin.
Instructions For Authors
Format - The Bulletin uses the format described below. We suggest authors consult recent numbers (2003 and forward) of the Bulletin if there are questions about format and style. All taxonomic papers must adhere to the rules published in the appropriate international code of systematic nomenclature.
Manuscript text, tables, and figures must be submitted in electronic form either as email attachments or on a CD, plus three printed copies. Text, appendices, tables, and figure captions must be in Microsoft Word format saved in a single file. Each figure should be saved as its own file (in TIFF or PhotoShop format, see below). The CD should be formatted for use on Windows/PC computers and the names of all files should end in the correct three letter extension (e.g., *.doc; *.tif). If there is a reason the manuscript cannot be submitted in this manner, the author must obtain the managing editor's permission to use an alternate format prior to submitting the manuscript.
Specific instructions follow for formatting general layout, text, figures and tables, references and literature cited:
- The manuscript must be formatted for pages measuring 8½ inches (21.59 cm) by 11 inches (27.94 cm).
- All margins should be at least 1-inch (25 mm) wide and right margin not justified.
- Except as noted below, printed copies of manuscripts must be formatted in Times New Roman font and 12 point size. All text is doubled spaced throughout the manuscript, including tables and figure captions.
- Page numbers must be inserted at the top right of all pages.
- Figures and tables should be numbered appropriately as they are cited in the text. Each figure and table must be specifically identified.
- Measurements should be in metric units. In rare cases when English or local equivalent units are needed, they must appear in parentheses after the metric value, e.g., 3.3 cm (1.3 inches).
- Standard spelling is American English.
In most cases the parts of the manuscript should be as follows:
a. Title Page - A separate page with the title, name(s) and complete mailing address(es) of author(s). E-mail address(es) should be set off in brackets (e.g., <fiction@flmnh.ufl.edu>). Numeric footnotes linking authors' names and addresses should be in superscript. Title of the paper and names of authors should be in all capitals.
b. Abstract - A separate page with 200 words or less summarizing the paper. A list of five key words or short phrases should follow the abstract. All new taxonomic names must be listed in the abstract, with n. sp. or n. gen. or other appropriate abbreviation following the name.
c. Body - The first mention in the text of a binomial species name or trinomial subspecies name may include the taxonomic authority and the year of publication [e.g.,Tapirus veroensis Sellard 1918, or Notogillia wetherbyi (Dall 1865) with author name and date in parentheses if species was originally described in a different genus]. The rule applies only in fields of study which traditionally use the author and publication date after species and subspecies, such as malacology or invertebrate paleontology, and is optional in all other fields of study, such as vertebrate paleontology. A reference need not be cited when author and date are given only as authority for a taxonomic name. Indent the first line of each paragraph by the same distance, between 0.3 and 0.5 inches.
In all works, the full generic name and species epithet must be written out each time the name first appears in a paragraph. The generic name may be abbreviated in the remainder of that paragraph as follows: N. wetherbyi. In addition, the first use of a new taxonomic name should be in bold, and, if the name of a genus, species, subspecies, in italics (e.g. Sphaerodactylus fantasticus ligniservulus, n. ssp.). Formal names of genera, subgenera, species, and subspecies must be in italics (not underlined). All figures and tables must be specifically cited at least once in the text, or in the caption of another figure or table. The word "Figure" is spelled out when used as part of the sentence, but abbreviated to "Fig." or "Figs." when used with parenthesis (e.g., Figs. 1-2 or Fig. 3C). The first sentence in each paragraph is indented. References in the text should give the name of the author(s) followed immediately by the date of publication and not separated with a comma: for one author (Smith 1999), for two authors (Schultz & Whitacre 1999), and for more than two (Britt et al. 1999). When a literature citation is used as part of a sentence, use "and" instead of the ampersand symbol (&), e.g., "Schultz and Whitacre (1999) stated that..." If several publications of the same author are cited, commas should appear between the dates (King 1992, 1994a, 1994b). If different authors are cited, they should be separated by semi-colons (Brown 2002; Clench 2003) and listed in chronologic order. For a reference to a specific page or pages in published work, use the form (Smith 1998:3-4) with no space between the colon and page number(s). For reference to a specific figure, table, or appendix in a published work, use the format (Jones 1990:fig. 2; Jones et al. 1995:table 3).
- Primary headings are to be centered on page and set in all caps, not in bold or italics (MATERIALS AND METHODS).
- Secondary headings are left justified and set in large and small caps, not in bold or italics (VERTEBRAL OSTEOLOGY). If necessary, secondary subheadings are to be left justified, and formatted as the first words in the paragraph that follows, but set off in italics and followed with a period (e.g. Geography: The Great Hungarian Plain.).
- Tertiary headings should normally only be used in systematic descriptions,
for sections such as referred specimens, type locality, and diagnosis. They
should appear in the same font as the paragraph that follows, with only the
first letter of nouns and adjectives capitalized, indented the same distance
as the first lines of other paragraphs, and followed with a period and a 2-em
dash. For example,
Type Locality.— Gainesville, 3.7 km SW of...
Acknowledgments are placed before Literature Cited.
d. Literature Cited - Start this section on a new page. Authors' names that are repeated in subsequent cited publications must be listed in full and may not be indicated by a line or series of dashes. Only papers cited in the text are listed in the Literature Cited section. All authors' last names must be given in full. Initials are used for first and middle names. When listing publications with multiple authors in the literature cited, use an ampersand (&) rather than 'and'. Book titles and journal names are not italicized. Non-English titles and names should be listed in the original language if it uses the Roman alphabet and should not be translated; transliterate using standard methods titles and names in non-Roman languages such as Russian or Chinese. Each citation must be complete, with all journal titles and publishers' names unabbreviated, and in the following hanging indent formats:
Periodicals:
north-central Venezuela. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of
Natural History, 42 (3):115-160.
Terrestrial mammals of the Palmetto Fauna (early Pliocene,
latest Hemphillian) from the Central Florida Phosphate Mining
District. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science
Series.
paleontology of the Love Bone Bed from the late Miocene
of Florida. American Journal of Science, 281:513-544.
Books:
W. H. Freeman and Company, New York, 698 p.
Composite Works:
and D. M. Reeder, eds. Mammal Species of the World.
Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1206 p.
Dissertations:
paleoecology of gopher tortoises. Ph. D. dissertation.
University of California, Berkeley. 341 p.
Technical Reports:
column samples. Pp.158-196 in M. Schwadron, ed.
Archaeological Investigation of De Soto National Memorial.
SEAC Technical Reports No. 8, National Park Service
Publication Series, National Park Service, Southeast
Archaeological Center, Tallahassee, Florida, 300 p.
Citations are listed in alphabetical order by the name of the first author, then by the names of other authors (if any), and then by date. For example, a citation by Smith, J. L. is placed before those by Smith, S. R., and Smith, J. L. 1999 precedes Smith, J. L. 2003. It is the author's responsibility to make sure listed dates and page numbers are correct.
"In press" citations should be included in the list and cited in the body of the text only if they have been formally accepted by the editor of the journal or volume in which they will be published. Manuscripts "under review" or "in preparation" can not be cited; use personal communication instead. Published abstracts can be cited.
e. Appendix or Appendices - If used, should be placed after the Literature Cited section, and started on new page. Appendices can be in text or table format.
f. Tables - Each table must start on separate page and be numbered with Arabic numerals. Each table should be headed by a brief legend placed at the top of the table. Avoid vertical lines or rules in the tables. Text in table is in 12 point. Extend large tables onto additional pages when necessary rather than shrinking the font size.
g. Figure Captions - Captions should be placed on separate page(s), following the tables. Figures are identified with Arabic numerals. Individual components of a multi-part figure are identified with capital letters (A, B, C, etc.). Abbreviations used in figures should be defined in the captions of the first figure in which they occur. Their use in later figures can be satisfied by referring to the figure in which they first appeared. For example, in the caption of Figure 7, there may be the line "Abbreviations as in Figure 5" which then refers the reader to where the abbreviations are defined.
h. Figures - All graphic images, illustrations, photographs, and half-tones are referred to as figures. Figures will be in black and white or grayscale. Publication of color illustrations will be an extra cost to the author(s). All figures must be supplied as TIFF or PhotoShop formatted files at 300 dots per inch (dpi) or higher resolution. It is suggested that black-and-white graphics or line art with fine lines or where detail is desired should be created and saved at very high resolutions, e.g., 1200 dpi. All half-tone figures (photographs) must be available in high-resolution copies for each of the required three paper review copies of the manuscript.
A scale bar should be in the figure if size is important; otherwise, the figure legend should give the size. If the background of a photograph is not desired, the background should be masked or made transparent, especially those of specimens.
Graphics and line art should be formatted as black on a white background. All text in the image must be in Arial or a similar sans serif font in medium weight (bold for small type that prints white on a black background or black on a white background). Lettering must be not less than 2 mm high in the figure at printed scale. Images should be submitted at publication size in either one column (3.3 inches or 8.25 cm) or full page (7 inches or 17.75 cm) width. Maximum height possible is 9 inches (22.86 cm). Figures that are too wide for a single column and not wide enough for two columns must be resized.
Proofs - Page proofs will be sent to the first or corresponding author to check for errors and must be returned to the managing editor within 3 working days.
Page charges - Publication necessitates page charges to the author(s). The author(s) are responsible for charges incurred for all alterations made on page proofs, other than correcting errors introduced in the typesetting. The Florida Museum will send an invoice to the first or designated corresponding author for all charges upon acceptance of the final proofs. Color illustrations will be published at extra cost to the author(s).
Reprints - Order forms are sent to the first or designated corresponding author with the page proofs. He/she is responsible for placing all orders for reprints.
Questions regarding manuscript preparation may be directed to:
Managing Editor
Bulletin of the FLMNH
University of Florida
P.O. Box 117800
Gainesville FL 32611-7800, U.S.A.
Fax: (352) 846-0287
E-mail: bulletin@flmnh.ufl.edu