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- Author's Checklist -

PDF Version

A Covering Letter is to be made upon submission/resubmission of a manuscript, as well as when sending a revision.

• The name of the Covering Letter file consists of the first author’s surname followed by ‘_cover’ (e.g. Janssens_cover.doc).
• The Covering letter states that the submission is not under consideration or published elsewhere, and that all authors are aware of the submission.
• The Covering Letter is formatted in MS Word (file type .doc or .docx) or in Rich Text Format (file type .rtf).
• The letter includes contact details of the corresponding author, the title and authorship of the paper, and states if the paper is a first submission, revision or a resubmission. The manuscript reference number is given if the paper is a  revision or resubmission.
• If the paper is a first submission, two to four potential reviewers are listed with contact details (e-mail addresses and affiliations).
• If the paper is a revised or resubmitted manuscript, the letter explains what changes have been made to the manuscript and where and why changes requested by the Editor and referees have not been carried out.

- Manuscript Text -

• The name of the Text File consists of the first author’s surname followed by ‘_text’ (e.g. Janssens_text.doc).
• The Text File is formatted in MS Word (file type .doc or .docx) or in Rich Text Format (file type .rtf).
• Text is typed using size 12 Times New Roman, single-spaced throughout and with a 25 mm margin. All pages are numbered sequentially. Each line of the text is numbered throughout the document using the line numbering option from Page Setup.
• The Text File includes figure captions (at the end of the manuscript) but excludes tables and figures – these should be submitted separately (see checklists for figures and tables).
• The first page of the Text File contains:
• A running title of not more than 75 characters, including spaces.
• The full title which is informative and concise. Nomenclatural authorities are omitted. A higher rank (family, order…) is indicated if the title includes generic or specific names.
• The full names (first name, eventual initial of middle name, and surname) of all authors: for papers with more than one author, the corresponding author’s name is followed by a superscript asterisk (*). For papers with authors from more than one institute: each name is followed by an identifying superscript number (^{1, 2, 3} etc.) associated with the appropriate institutional address to be entered further down the page.
• The institutional address(es) of each author; each address is preceded by the relevant superscript number where appropriate (^{1, 2, 3} …). For addresses within Europe, ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for this country, followed by a hyphen, should be added before the postal code (please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2).
• E-mail address of the corresponding author.
• The second page of the Text File contains:
• A structured Abstract not exceeding 300 words made up with headings (e.g. Background and aims / Methods / Key results / Conclusions).
• A list of maximum ten Key words including key words from the title.
• For articles in French, an English translation of Title, Abstract and Key words.
• The body of the paper is well structured (preferred structure: Introduction, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments and References).
• Results are presented in a concise way and data are not repeated in both graphical and tabular form.
• The Discussion section avoids extensive repetition of the Results.  
• All tables and figures are cited in the text. Use ‘Figure’ or ‘Table’ only to start a sentence; otherwise, use ‘fig.’ or ‘figs’ (e.g. fig. 1, figs 2 & 3, figs 3--5 & 8, fig. 3A & B, fig. 5A--D) or ‘table’ or ‘tables’ (e.g. tables 4 & 7).
• No more than three levels of headings are used: Main headings are in regular CAPITAL letters and centered on one line (e.g. MATERIALS AND METHODS). Second level headings are in bold, aligned to the left and only first word capitalized (e.g. Molecular analyses, not Molecular Analyses). Third level headings are in bold, followed by two hyphens (--), only first word capitalized and immediately followed by the text (e.g. Morphological characters -- ...).
• Abbreviations are used for units of measurement, molecular terminology (e.g. bp, SDS), common statistical terms (e.g. ANOVA, t-test and r^{2), names of chemicals (e.g. ATP, Mes, Hepes, NaCl, O₂), and procedures (e.g. PCR, PAGE, RFLP). Other abbreviations are spelled out at first mention and all terms are written out in full when used to start a sentence. SI-units are used throughout the manuscript. Abbreviations of units are not be followed by a period. Spaces are left between numerals followed by a unit.}
• A double hyphen (--) is placed where a n-dash (–) is needed, e.g. for all measurement ranges, altitudinal ranges, and page number ranges (e.g. 2.7--18.0 mm).
• Names of plants are written out in full (Genus, species) in the abstract and again in the main text for every organism at first mention (but the genus is only needed for the first species in a list within the same genus, e.g. Lolium annuum, L. arenarium. Only names at genus level and below are put in italics. The author (e.g. L., Benth., H.P.Linder) is given at first mention of the name or (preferably) the authors are provided elsewhere in the paper in a table or appendix,  or by reference to a standard work. Authors follow the authorships format of IPNI (http://www.ipni.org), without using a space after initials.
• Underlining is only used to indicate the major organs in a plant description in a taxonomic treatment.
• For specialized equipment mentioned in Materials and methods details of the model and manufacturer are given.
• Round numbers that require one word (e.g. up to sixteen, twenty, thirty, etc.) are written out unless they are measurements. All other numbers are in figures except at the beginning of a sentence. Dates are in the form of 10 Jan. 1999.
• Novel sequences for proteins or nucleotides are deposited with one of the principal databases (e.g. EMBL Nucleotide Sequence Database, GenBank), and accession numbers are included in the paper.
• Sequence matrices are preferably provided as an electronic appendix; this is obligatory when alignment information is critical to the message of the paper.
• Gene abbreviations are in italics.
• Footnotes should be avoided.
• References appear as follows in the text: Dupont (1978: 487) or (Dupont & Dupont 1978), or when there are more than two authors (Dupont et al. 1978). In cases where more than one reference is cited, references are listed in chronological order and separated by commas (Cremer 1977, Dupont 1978, Dupont & Dupont 1979). Reference to work in press is only used when the paper has been accepted for publication in a named journal, otherwise the terms ‘unpubl. res.’, giving the initials and location of the person concerned is given (e.g. S. Black, University of Oxford, U.K., unpubl. res.) or ‘pers. comm.’ (e.g. T. White, Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands, pers. comm.).
• The References section is organized as follows:
• All references cited in text (also when exclusively used in the bibliographies of taxa in a taxonomic treatment) are provided in the References section and vice versa.  
• The references are arranged alphabetically based on the last name of the first or sole author. Where the same sole author or same first author has two or more papers listed, these papers are grouped chronologically. Where such an author has more than one paperin the same year, these are ordered with single authored papers first followed by two-author papers (ordered first alphabetically based on the second author’s surname, then by year), and then any three-or-more-author papers (in year order only). Letters ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’, etc., are added to the date of papers with the same authorship and year.
• Authors are strongly encouraged to provide Digital Object Identifiers when they list their references. They can use at this effect the free DOI lookup tool of CrossRef (http://www.crossref.org/guestquery/).
• References conform to one of the following styles according to the type of publication:

• Printed article:

  Daniel P., Umamaheswari P. (1999) Did Willdenow validly publish the name Trianthema triquetra (Aizoaceae)? Indian Journal of Forestry 22: 409--410.

• Printed article with Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

  Felsenstein J. (1985) Confidence limits on phylogenies: an approach using the bootstrap. Evolution 39: 783--791. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2408678
  Parmentier I., Hardy O.J. (2009) The impact of ecological differentiation and dispersal limitation on species turnover and phylogenetic structure of inselberg’s plant communities. Ecography 32: 613--622. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.2008.05697.x

• Article only available online with Digital Objet Identifier (DOI):

  Hejda M. (2012) What is the impact of Impatiens parviflora on diversity and composition of herbal layer communities of temperate forests? PLoS ONE 7: e39571. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039571

• Thesis:

  Ntore S. (2004) Contribution à la connaissance systématique du genre afrotropical Pauridiantha (Rubiaceae). PhD thesis, K.U.Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

• Chapter in book:

  Barrett S.C.H., Pannell J.R. (1999) Metapopulation dynamics and mating-system evolution in plants. In: Hollingworth P.M., Bateman R.M., Gornall R.J. (eds) Molecular systematics and plant evolution: 74--100. London, Taylor & Francis.

• Book:

  Weberling F. (1992) Morphology of flowers and inflorescences. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Book in a series:

  Seidenfaden G. (1992) The Orchids of Indochina. Opera Botanica 114.

• Website citation:

  Quinion M.B. (1998) Citing online sources: advice on online citation formats [online]. Available from www.worldwidewords.org/articles/citation.htm [accessed 20 Oct. 2005].

• Software:

  Swofford D.L. (2000) PAUP* Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (* and other methods), version 4. Sunderland, Sinauer Associates.

• The Literature cited section is followed by the Figure captions, starting at a new page. The legends are typed in paragraph form. Figures composed of several smaller figures are treated as one figure and the subfigures are labeled with capital letters (A, B, C, D, etc.). Scientific names in captions are not followed by authors. The captions adhere to the following examples:
• Figure 5 -- Location of Sengwa Wildlife Research Area and a simplified vegetation map showing patches (A--H) of miombo. Simplified after Dupont (1997).
• Figure 12 -- Pollen of Malagasy Imaginaria species, characterized by flowers with both anthers and style/stigma long exserted from the corolla tube: A, B, E, Imaginaria alba; C, F--H, Imaginaria rubra; D, Imaginaria nigrescens; I, Imaginaria aurantiaca. A--C, polar view; D, E, mesocolpia; F, ectoapertu­re; G, H, shaped endoaperture; H, I, pollen grain walls. A, B & E from DuPuy et al. 802 (MO); C, F--H from Malcomber et al. 1180 (MO); D from Humbert 22706; (P) I from  Richard s.n. (P).
• Figure 10 -- Number of species < 1 cm diameter at ground level per 4 m2 in the five and ten 2 m × 2 m plots in the centre zone and in the five plots and 26 plots in the edge zone on the 1922 and 1959 lava flow respectively, as sampled in 1995 (mean and SE).
• Figure 14 -- Carbon concentrations (mg.g^-1) during full leaf expansion. Means followed by the same letter not significantly different at the 0.05 level using Tukey’s HSD test. F = 1.198 NS. A, Fagus orientalis; B, Rhododendrum luteum; C, Hypericum androsaemum; D, Vaccinium arctostaphylos; E, Daphne pontica.

- Checklist for Taxonomic Treatments -

• Nomenclature follows the rules of the last edition of the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. For nomenclatural matters (i.e. synonymy, typification) homotypic synonyms are kept in one paragraph. Heterotypic names are in separate paragraphs. Within a paragraph, names are separated by a double hyphen.
• Authorships follow the list in IPNI (http://www.ipni.org), without using a space after initials.
• References cited in taxonomic treatments are included in Literature cited. Citation is as follows:

Leplaea mayombensis (Pellegr.) Stan er (Staner 1941: 204); Staner & Gilbert (1958: 212). -- Guarea mayombensis Pellegr. (Pellegrin 1921: 449, 1924: 54, 1939: 152); T.D. Pennington & Styles (1975: 495); Styles & White (1991: 43). -- Type: Gabon, Tchibanga, 18 Jan. 1915, Le Testu 1990 (holo-: P, iso-: BM, BR, E, K, WAG).
Leplaea coalescens Vermoesen (Vermoesen 1921: B64); Harms (1940: 137). -- Guarea mayombensis Pellegr. var. coalescens (Vermoesen) Pellegr. (Pellegrin 1939: 152). -- Leplaea mayombensis (Pellegr.) Staner var . coalescens (Vermoesen) Pellegr. (Staner 1941: 204). -- Type: D.R. Congo, Mayumba, Temvo, 26 Feb. 1919, Vermoesen 1680 (lecto-: BR, designated here).

• Index Herbarorium acronyms are used for designations of herbaria.
• Nomenclatural types are deposited in a public herbarium.
• New synonyms are indicated in bold as synon. nov. at the end of the citation for the synonym.
• Illegitimate and invalid names are indicated in bold as nom. illegit. and nom. invalid. at the end of the citation for the name.
• Specimen citations use the following format:

Other collections examined -- Liberia: Nimba, near Gbedin, 16 Dec. 1966, Bos 2480 (K web, LIB n.v., WAG); Grand Gedeh, Putu Hills, East Range, East slope, 15 Jan. 2010, Jongkind 9059 (WAG).
Ivory Coast: Danané, 12 Mar. 1932, Aubréville (Ivory Coast series) 1040 (B, K web, P); Abidjan, Banco F.R., S of Arboretum, near river, 20 Jul. 1973, de Koning 1971 (WAG); Abidjan, Experimental Station ORSTOM, Adiopodoumé, Seedlings, Seed source Banco Forest, 14 Sep. 1973, de Koning 2230 (WAG) & 18 Sep. 1973, 2248 (WAG); Abidjan, Banco F.R., 30 Aug. 1974, de Koning 3901 (WAG); Abidjan, Adiopodoumé, 25 Sep. 1974, de Koning 3967 (WAG); Abidjan, Banco F.R., 14 Nov. 1974, de Koning 4762 (WAG); Abidjan, Anguédédou forest, 22 km NW of Abidjan, 2 Feb. 1959, Leeuwenberg 2648 (BR, K web, WAG).

• The author may choose, at his discretion, the expression he wishes to introduce the specimen citation (e.g. “additional specimens examined”, “representative specimens examined”...), but this expression should be consistent throughout the whole manuscript.
• Herbarium acronyms are given alone or with an institutional barcode number; when specimens were not seen, the mention “n.v.” is added; when specimens were only seen as digital images (virtual herbarium), the mention “web” is  added.
• Descriptions of new taxa include the following: (1) an illustration clearly showing the diagnostic characters, (2) a comparison with related (or sympatric, or similar) taxa in a dichotomous key or table, and (3) a discussion of the characteristics, ecology, geography, or reproductive biology, etc. that are the basis for their distinctiveness. New taxa are presented as follows, with a diagnosis in Latin or in English:

Colletoecema magna Sonké & Dessein, sp. nov.
Affinis Colletoecemae dewevrei sed ab illa differt foliorum majoribus laminis, nervorum secundariorum numero utrinque 7--10 (versus 4--6 in C. dewevrei), floribus sessilibus, corolla intus pubescenti super antheras (vs. corolla intus pubescenti infra antheras in C. dewevrei) atque fructibus multo majoribus. -- Type: Cameroon, Ngovayang massif, near Bidjouka, 03°09’N 10°25’E, alt. 526 m, 6 Jan. 2008, Dessein & Sonké 1608 (holo-: BR; iso-: BR, K, MO, P n.v., WAG, YA n.v.).

• New combinations include the basionym with a full and direct reference to its author and place of valid publication. This reference is also repeated in the References section:

Spermacoce hockii (De Wild.) Dessein, comb. nov.
Borreria hockii De Wild., Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis 11: 511. 1913 (De Wildeman 1913b). -- Type: R.D.Congo: Katanga, Biano, s.d., Hock s.n. (holo-: BR).

• Captions in taxonomic papers adhere to the following examples:

Figure 5 -- Pauridiantha paucinervis: A, flowering branch; B, detail of stipule; C, transverse section of ovary. From Dupont 759 (BR).
Figure 8 -- A & B, Acalypha guineensis: A, flowering branch; B, detail of leaf-blade. C & D, Acalypha cupricola: C, flowering branch; D, fruit. A & B from White 975 (BR); C & D from Black 5779 (WAG).

• In revisions and in Short Communications about taxonomic novelties, an IUCN conservation assessment of the taxa is included whenever possible.
• A list of taxonomic novelties is given on the last page of the Text File.

- Checklist for Tables -

• Each table is in a separate file.
• The name of each Table File consists of the first author’s last name followed by ‘table_1’, ‘table_2’, etc. (e.g. Janssens_table_3.doc).
• The Table File is formatted in MS Word (file type .doc or .docx) or in Rich Text Format (file type .rtf).
• Each table has a complete caption at the top and is Table 1, Table 2, etc. according to the order in which they are first mentioned in the text. The caption of a table should be divided into two parts: a concise descriptive headline (in bold) and an explanatory part as in the following example:

Table 4 -- Variables in the equation calculated by logistic regression.
Only significant variables are shown per individual species.

• Table text is typed using size 10 Times New Roman. Capitals are avoided within table cells (exceptions: first letter of the heading of row or column, names of taxa requiring a capital, and abbreviations e.g. pH).

- Checklist for Figures -

• All images (e.g. line diagrams, drawings, maps, graphs, photographs, plates) are treated as ‘Figures’.
• Each figure is in a separate file.
• The name of each Figure File consists of the first author’s last name followed by ‘fig_1’, ‘fig_2’, etc. (e.g. Janssens_fig_3).
• Electron and light micrographs have scale bars.
• Line diagrams are black and white. Use of colour in line diagrams is acceptable where this enhances clarity significantly.
• Size of the pictures fits either single (85 mm wide) or double (up to 177 mm wide) column reproduction. Picture height is maximum 235 mm (preferably shorter to leave space for the figure caption).
• All imagesare submitted at approximately the physical size they would appear in the Journal (this reduces file size).
• Related graphics are grouped into a single figure whenever possible. Each part of a grouped figure is labelled A, B, C, etc. and not treated as separate figures. Labels are preferably placed in the upper left or lower left corner of the picture using Arial 8. No space is left between the composing photographs of a figure. White parting lines will be added in the production process.
• Arial font is used to label figures. Abbreviations to indicate particular details are in lower case.  
• Line drawings and graphs are supplied as simple black and white TIFF or high quality JPG files of 1200 dpi.
• Greyscale images (e.g. photographs) are supplied as TIFF or high quality JPG files of 450 dpi.
• Colour images are used where they enhance significantly the clarity of the scientific information. They are of the same quality as the greyscale images (see above).

- Checklist for Appendices -

• Additional information not necessary for the basic understanding of the paper is supplied as electronic appendices.
• Each electronic appendix is a separate file.
• The name of each Appendix File consists of the first author’s surname followed by ‘appendix_1’, ‘appendix_2’, etc. (e.g. Janssens_appendix_3.pdf).
• The number of electronic appendices is limited to 6 appendices per paper.
• Authors are free to regroup several items in one appendix (e.g. several maps of a given area), but should provide a clear caption. The first part of the caption should be a general title that can describe all items present in the appendix. The second part of the caption describes each item, and should be formatted like captions for composed figures (using letters A, B, C...).
• The layout of the electronic appendices is publication-ready.