Guide to authors

Subject Matter

Original research, reviews and observations in all branches of zoological science and human studies will be considered for publication. However, emphasis is placed on studies pertaining to Western Australia and neighbouring regions. Longer papers will be considered for publication as Supplements to the Records of the Western Australian Museum. Such publications may attract charges to the authors to offset the costs of printing — authors should consult the editors before submitting large manuscripts. Short communications should not normally exceed three typed pages and this category of paper is intended to accommodate observations, results or new records of significance. All material must be original and not have been published elsewhere. All type specimens must be lodged in a public institution and no type material may be kept in a private collection. Authors are required to lodge voucher material of all taxa in a public institution. Material collected under permit within Western Australia should be offered to the Western Australian Museum for permanent lodgement.

Presentation

Authors are advised to follow the layout and style in the most recent issue of the Records of the Western Australian Museum including headings, tables, illustrations and references. When in doubt, use a simple format that is easily edited. Please provide line numbers throughout the MS (e.g. in Word go to File » Page Setup » Layout (tab) » Line Numbers (button), add line numbers and click on ‘continuous’ numbering).

The title should be concise, informative and contain keywords necessary for retrieval by modern searching techniques. An abridged title (not exceeding 50 character spaces) should be included for use as a running head.

An abstract must be given in full length papers but not short communications, summarising the scope of the work and principal findings. It should normally not exceed 2% of the paper and be suitable for reprinting in reference periodicals. At the end of the abstract, provide several keywords not already included in the title.

The International System of units should be used. Spelling should follow the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Numbers should be spelled out from one to nine in descriptive text; figures used for 10 or more. For associated groups, figures should be used consistently (e.g. ‘5 to 10’, not ‘five to 10’). Systematic papers must conform with the International Codes of Botanical and Zoological Nomenclature and, as far as possible, with their recommendations.

Synonymies should be given in the short form (taxon, author, date, page) and the full reference cited at the end of the paper. All citations, including those associated with scientific names in taxonomic works, must be included in the references.

Manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically as .pdf’s or Word files to the editors (listed below). For manuscripts with large image files, submission of a CD/DVD is acceptable. Manuscripts must be 1.5 or double-spaced throughout. All margins should be at least 25 mm wide. Tables plus headings, and Figure legends should be on separate pages. Tables should be numbered consecutively, have headings which make them understandable without reference to the text, spell out generic names and be referred to in the text.

Figures

Lower resolution images can be inserted into a .pdf or Word document for review. Upon acceptance, high resolution (6–10 Mb) images in TIFF or JPEG format can be e-mailed or burned to CD/DVD and posted to the editors. We prefer TIFF files for figures. For Adobe Illustrator and Sigmaplot, save in .eps (encapsulated postscript) format; for PowerPoint, save in .wmf (windows metafile format); for Excel, save as Excel worksheet (must contain spreadsheet and embedded chart); and for CorelDraw, save as an .eps file that may be opened by Adobe Illustrator.

Scanned photographs should be saved as TIFF files. All TIFF files should be compatible with Adobe Photoshop. If figures are prepared in a paint program, for black-and white line art save at 600 dpi as a black-and-white bitmap (not greyscale or colour), and greyscale and colour line art at 300 dpi. The maximum page reproduction area for figures and tables is 235 x 170 mm.

Scale must be indicated on illustrations. Use arrows or other aids to indicate specific features mentioned in the text. All maps, line drawings, photographs and graphs should be numbered in sequence and referred to as ‘Figure’ (no abbreviation) in the text and captions. Each figure should have a brief, fully explanatory caption.

References

In the body of the text, references should be cited as follows:
McKenzie and colleagues (McKenzie 1999, 2000; McKenzie et al. 2000) found that bat frequencies were highest on full moons, contra previous workers (Smith and Jones 1982; Berman 1988; Zucker et al. 1992).

For citing taxonomic groups and the author, a comma occurs between them:
The family Carphodactylidae consists of Carphodactylus Smith, 1999, Nephrurus Jones, 1999, Orroya Couper, Covacevich and Hoskin, 2001, Phyllurus Sprong, 1888 and Saltuarius Hammond, 1901.

All references must be cited in the text by author and date and all must be listed alphabetically at the end of the paper. The names of journals are to be given in full. Consult a recent edition of the Records for style. For taxonomic papers, include full references for all taxonomic groups mentioned in the text. In manuscripts dealing with historical subjects references may be cited as footnotes.

Processing

All manuscripts are reviewed by at least two referees whose reports assist the editors in making their decision whether to accept the paper. The review process usually takes from two to three months, although the review process and typesetting for longer manuscripts and supplements are usually longer.

The corresponding author is sent one set of page proofs electronically which must be returned within one week of receipt. Upon completion, all authors receive a .pdf of their papers and a print copy of the entire issue.

New taxa described in accepted papers will be registered in ZooBank (http://zoobank.org/), the Official Registry of Zoological Nomenclature.

Editors

Manuscripts should be submitted to either Glenn Moore (glenn.moore@museum.wa.gov.au) for aquatic organisms or Kenny Travouillon (kenny.travouillon@museum.wa.gov.au) for all other disciplines.