Home  ¦  The Coleopterists Bulletin  ¦  Publications  ¦  Society Info  ¦  News  ¦  Membership  ¦  Resources  ¦  Member Login   back to The Coleopterists Bulletin Manuscript Guidelines We are pleased you are considering publishing in The Coleopterists Bulletin. You will find that well written original research is often published within 1 year of initial submission. Our conversion to electronic submission via email has greatly expedited the review and publication process. Manuscripts on Coleoptera, written in English, are considered for publication as "Regular Articles" or as "Scientific Notes". All manuscripts are peer-reviewed. Book reviews and other contributions also are published as space is available. As the last step prior to publication, the corresponding author must submit the Page Charges Form that is sent electronically with the proofs. Authors should read the following information closely and review recently published examples prior to formatting papers for submission. Feel free to contact the Managing Editor with any questions. General Policies. The following policies are in place for manuscripts submitted for publication in The Coleopterists Bulletin (Revised 29 September 2009; Federal EIN 23-7319132). Authors must pay $40/page (this represents about half of the actual cost to the Society, which subsidizes the remaining costs). Book Reviews are published gratis (please contact Book Review Editor directly concerning submissions). "Fast track" articles are paid at full ($80.00/page) page charges. These are published in the next issue (which is not already in press) following acceptance. Authors who are not members of The Coleopterists Society must pay a $40.00 (U.S.) nonmember surcharge in addition to the $40.00/page page charges. They are encouraged to join the Society ($40) instead. Color illustrations are charged "at cost," based on what Allen Press charges the Society. This is approximately $600 per page. Illustrations in black and white in the paper journal may be reproduced in color in the PDF posted on BioOne. The cost is US$30 per plate. Steps and Usual Timelines in the Publication Process: E-mail or letter of receipt after editor receives manuscript (generally <1 week, unless editor is out of the country). Note: Manuscripts are logged into the queue for review at this point. Distribution of new manuscript to Review Editor for review processing (generally <1 week, unless out of the country). Regular articles are typically sent to two reviewers, scientific notes to one. Review Editors and Managing Editor may serve as additional reviewers. Return of reviewed manuscript to authors by Review Editor (1-3 months after submission; please make an inquiry with the Managing Editor if, after two months, you have not received a status report). Recommendation for acceptance with minor or major revision or rejection relayed to corresponding author. For those manuscripts recommended for acceptance, authors revise manuscript and send back to Review Editor. Decision regarding acceptance (generally 1-2 weeks after return of revised manuscript with high resolution TIFF figures). Final decisions are made by the Managing Editor in consultation with the Review Editor in charge of the manuscript. Managing Editor will inform authors at this point as to when they may expect proofs. Proofs will be emailed directly from Allen Press (but using Managing Editor email) approximately two months before the next issue (for example, proofs for the March issue are typically mailed in early February). Note: Receipt of proofs does not necessarily mean that your article will appear in the next issue. The Managing Editor normally has a holdover stock of proofs from 5-10 manuscripts. However, corrected proofs should be returned to the editor as soon as possible to avoid potential delays in publication. It is critical that the author send the final corrections to the proof by email or fax or regular mail within 1 week of receiving the proofs. Important: it is required that the Page Charges Form be returned to the Managing Editor (either by email or fax or regular mail) with all the appropriate address and billing information prior to publication. Approximate time from submission of manuscript to publication; Regular page-charged articles (less than six months after final acceptance). Fully paid, "Fast Track" articles (less than 3 months after final acceptance). Scientific Notes and Book Reviews (less than 6 months after final acceptance). Manuscript Submissions 1. Initial submission of manuscripts as electronic files: Please submit all articles electronically to the Managing Editor. Please, do not submit directly to the Review Editors. Initial text submissions must be in Microsoft Word format in 12 pt. Times New Roman font, with 1' margins on all sides. PDF, WordPerfect, RTF, or other formats are discouraged (but the Managing Editor may accept these formats if there are no translation problems). Group figures into plates with appropriate legends. Insert draft quality jpeg plates and tables into the text file at the end of the manuscript for initial submission. If manuscript has four or more plates, they may be separately attached to an email along with the .doc file. Do not attach more than three plates to emails. (Note: High quality TIFF files will be required after the manuscript has been reviewed and accepted for publication, and at that time they must be sent on a CD or attached separately to an email). 2. After acceptance: Submission of the final version of a manuscript should be made to the Managing Editor by email (if less than 10 megabytes) or by CD (if larger than 10 megabytes). Please note that manuscripts with many figures will generally be larger than 10 megabytes since we require high resolution (>300 dpi, usually) plates at time of final submission. Please note the address below: Ronald D. Cave, Editor The Coleopterists Bulletin 2199 South Rock Road Indian River REC Ft. Pierce, FL 34945, USA Tel (work): 772-468-3922 x 145 Fax: 772-460-3673 Email: BeetleEditor(AT)gmail.com * Graphics File Guidelines It is important that authors group their figures into plates prior to submission. Initial submissions of figures must be pasted into the document as low resolution jpegs. However, final versions of graphic files must conform to the following guidelines, as set forth by Allen Press. Illustrations that are submitted with the final manuscript at resolutions lower than recommended below can no longer be accepted for publication. Electronic figures must be formatted in a high resolution TIFF file (at least 300 dpi for half-tone and color, at least 600 dpi for line drawings) and at the final dimensions (please note that the page width is 11 cm (4.3 inches) and page height is 18 cm (7.2 inches). Remember to allow space for the figure legend below the plate, otherwise, plates will need to be reduced in size. For color images, please use CMYK (not RGB) format. For additional information about formatting electronic files, contact the Managing Editor. Text Formatting Guidelines Important: Pay attention to Title, Heading, Bibliographic styles when formatting manuscripts. The easiest way is to follow a recent issue as a guide and then see the instructions below. Language. Manuscripts are only accepted in English. For authors whose native language is not English: please ensure that your manuscript has been read and proofed by a native English speaker before submission, to address any problems in regard to English spelling, syntax, style, and usage. General Organization & Requirements. Manuscripts for regular papers are generally organized as follows: Title, Authors, Addresses, Abstract, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion (or Results and Discussion), Acknowledgments, Literature Cited, Appendix, Figure Legends, embedded Figures (each numbered and identified), and Tables (each with an Arabic numeral and with heading provided). Number each page consecutively in upper right corner. Leave a space after periods and colons (except for ratios and time, e.g. 1:1, 10:30). Avoid hyphens or dashes at ends of lines. Do not divide a word at the end of a line. Do not begin a sentence with an abbreviation. Use italic font when appropriate instead of underlining. Numbers less than 10 should be written out as words. For descriptions, however, use Arabic numerals throughout, including single digit ones. Measurements should be carried to same decimal, e.g., 6.0-6.4, not 6-6.4. Illustrations must all be referred to in the text, e.g., "tarsal claws (Fig. 1)" (preferred) or "tarsal claws as in Figure 1". Title Section. Include a brief descriptive title of the paper followed by the names of authors and their addresses and institutional affiliations (if any). The systematic position of taxa named in the title must be indicated (e.g., Coleoptera: Cleridae), except where only family group level taxa are treated, in which case only the order is required. Note: we will not publish footnotes specifying the corresponding author, however, all correspondence will be made to the person who makes the initial submission to the Managing Editor. Email addresses may be included, but are not required. Abstract. The abstract, required for all regular papers, should be a succinct condensation of the contents of the article, noting all nomenclatural acts. A second abstract may be written in another language using the English alphabet. Do not cite references in the abstract. Provide all new scientific names in the abstract. Provide the authority of all genus-group and species-group names in the abstract. Cite, in bold, all newly described taxa and nomenclatural changes in the abstract. Do not provide a list of key words. Scientific Names. The names of all genus-group and species-group taxa mentioned in the title and the abstract must be accompanied by the authority name, e.g., Curculio Linnaeus, Curculio proboscideus (Fabricius). The first mention of the name of a plant or animal in the text itself must include the full scientific name, including the authority. Spell out the entire scientific name the first time it is mentioned in the text; thereafter, abbreviate the genus name, except when it begins a sentence, and except for cases where it would be ambiguous. Do not write the name of a species-group taxon anywhere that is not preceded by the name of the genus or its initial. Taxonomic Papers. Taxonomic papers must conform to requirements of the latest version of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Type specimens must be designated and type depositories, preferably public institutions, must be clearly indicated for new species. Specimens not included in type series must be explicitly excluded. New taxa (species, genera, tribes, etc.) must be clearly differentiated from previously described taxa by means of keys and/or differential diagnoses. For new genera, type species and lists of included species must be explicitly indicated. Literature Citations. Cite references in text as follows: Spangler (1991) or (Spangler 1991) for one author; Wood and Bright (1987) or (Wood and Bright 1987) for two authors; Orbach et al. (1995) or (Orbach et al. 1995) for three or more authors. Include all authors' names under Literature Cited. References "in press should be cited only after they have been accepted for publication. End the citation under Literature Cited "(in press)." Notify the editor immediately of any change in status. Names of persons who provide unpublished information should include initials in the text, e.g., N. E. Woodley, pers. comm. (for information obtained orally) or N. E. Woodley, in litt. (for personal communications obtained in writing). Literature Cited. List references alphabetically by author under Literature Cited. Do not list references under Literature Cited that are not cited in the text, in tables, or figure legends. Do not italicize words in titles under Literature Cited that are not italicized in the original. Do not italicize journal names or book titles. Spell out the complete titles of periodicals. The citations below serve as examples: Citation of a book: Crowson, R. A. 1981. The biology of the Coleoptera. Academic Press, London, UK. 902 pp. Citation of an issue of a monographic series: Wood, S. L., and D. E. Bright, Jr. 1987. A catalog of the Scolytidae and Platypodidae (Coleoptera), Part 1: Bibliography. Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs, No. 11. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. 685 pp. Citation of a contribution in a book: Spangler, P. J. 1991. Haliplidae (Adephaga) [pp. 311-312]. In: Immature Insects, Volume 2 (F. W. Stehr, editor). Kendall Hunt Publishing Co., Dubuque, IA. 975 pp. Citation of an article in a periodical with two authors: Young, F. N., and G. Longley. 1976. A new subterranean aquatic beetle from Texas (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae-Hydroporinae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 69: 787-792. Citation of an article in a periodical with three or more authors: Orbach, E., L. Bartolozi, and A. Sforzi. 1995. A new Afrotropical species of Rhinopteryx Lacordaire (Coleoptera: Brentidae). Coleopterists Bulletin 49(1): 17-22. Citation of a website: Lingafelter, S. W., and E. H. Nearns. 2008. Cerambycidae Holotypes of the Smithsonian Institution (USNM). Available from: http://www.elaphidion.com/ (Accessed on 13 January 2008). Use of Internet Websites. Please try to avoid citing websites with URLs that extend beyond one line of text. Cite internet websites as a standard literature citation (see previous example). Authors may use websites to provide descriptive, illustrative, and distributional information to supplement, but not replace, published information. Websites cited in manuscripts must be accessible to the Review Editor before they will be published. However, unpublished scientific names should not be posted on publicly accessed websites prior to publication. Contact the Managing Editor for additional information about the use of websites in conjunction with publications. Figure Captions. Figure captions should be typed on a separate page and submitted after Literature Cited (or after Appendix). These should be concise, precise guides to the interpretation of each figure. When formatting figure captions, use the following examples as guides, paying particular attention to punctuation and use of bold font. Figs. 1-10. Hinda modesta. 1) head, frontal view; 2) antenna; 3) labrum; 4) mandibles; 5) maxilla; 6) labium; 7) wing; 8) prosternal process; 9) metendosternite; 10) epipleuron. Scientific Notes. These are short contributions that should not exceed three typewritten text pages and two plates. Organize Scientific Notes as Title, Text (acknowledgements are last paragraph of text), Literature Cited, and Author(s) (in bold, no italics) and Address(es) (italicized, no bold). There are no Abstracts. Do not include a separate Acknowledgement section for Scientific Notes. Cite references for Scientific Notes in the same style used for Regular Articles. Submission of Monographs. Manuscripts to be considered for The Coleopterists Society Monographs should be submitted to the Monograph Editor by the annual March 1 deadline. Due to the larger size of monographs, it is best to send them initially by CD rather than email. General formatting guidelines are the same as regular articles in the Bulletin. Final decision of Monograph selection will be made by April 1, and then a further scientific review will be conducted. The final version of the Monograph, after review, must be received by September 1 to meet the December mailing date. Include a Table of Contents in the final version and inform the Managing Editor which image you request on the cover. Please contact the Monograph Editor or Managing Editor for number of pages the Society will pay full page charges for Monographs. Generally this number will be 125 or more published pages. All pages beyond this limit must be paid by the author(s) at US$80/page. Color illustrations are charged "at cost", based on what Allen Press charges the Society. This is approximately US$600 per page. Illustrations in black and white in the paper journal may be reproduced in color in the PDF posted on BioOne. The cost is US$30 per plate. Page charges and reprint order form Ronald D. Cave, Managing Editor     Contact the website coordinator with questions or comments regarding this website.