Submissions

Author Guidelines

Manuscript submission

When submitting a manuscript, the authors must be certain that the described work:

Has not been previously published;

Is not being revised by any other journal;

Has been approved by all the co-authors and the liable authorities of the institute where the study was conducted. The editors will not be considered legally responsible in case of possible claims for compensation.

Online Submission

The submissions must be carried out through the online platform of this website. In case of doubts or issues during the submission, feel free to contact us at fociamb@gmail.com. During the submission, the authors should attach the following files:

1) Cover letter containing: a) a brief description of the news and scientific advances contained in the submitted manuscript and its relevance to our journal, b) a suggestion of at least two possible reviewers for the manuscript, whom must perform in the referring area of the manuscript subject and must not have any links with any of the authors.

2) Main text in accordance with the journal standards. To check the instructions for preparing the manuscript, click here.

3) Photos and graphics in individual files (maximum size per file of 8 MB) with the referring name regarding the figure placement in the main text (examples: Figure 1, Figure 2).

Language

The manuscripts should be drafted in Portuguese, Spanish or English. When the authors are not native speakers of the chosen language, we recommend a manuscript review by a native speaker or a professional translator before the submission.

Scientific Format

Always use signals and symbols according to the SI units.

Genus and species names should be in italic.

The equipment used for the shootings of the presented photos should be detailed in the manuscript.

The authors should mention the camera model, objective lens and other accessories and technical specifications of the images.

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

The main text should be edited in Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) and must adopt the following layout:

A4 paper size (21.0 x 29.7 cm), Times New Roman font (including tables, graphics and subtitles), size 12, 1.5 cm line spacing, paragraph aligned to the left and 2 cm margins in all sides.

Use the automatic page numeration function to number the pages and also the numbered lines function.

Footnotes are only allowed in tables.

MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE

Cover page (page 1)

The cover page must contain:

Manuscript category: original article, technical note/short communication (up to four pages in the final version), review or editorial.

Brief and informative title (maximum of 150 characters). When citing the name of a species in the title, authors should include the author of the species, year of description and the species group, as the following example: Eustala perfida Mello-Leitão, 1947 (Araneae: Araneidae).

Full name, filiations and email of all authors. Email address of the corresponding author should be in bold.

Abstract with 150 to 250 words. The author, year and group of a species should not be mentioned (when cited).

Four to six key words organized in alphabetic order, started with capital letter (except for names) and separated by commas. We suggest the avoidance of words that were previously cited in the title of the manuscript.

Main text (page 2)

The main text must contain: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion (if necessary), Acknowledgments, References, Figures subtitles and Tables. Capital letters, bold and left alignment should be used in the title of each section. In the end of each section, press Ctrl + Enter to begin the next section in a new page.

Introduction (the theoretical background and study context, aims and hypothesis should be presented).

Methods (study location, detailed explanation of the equipment and techniques utilized in the study, statistical analysis and other relevant information).

Results (resulting from what is described in "Methods")

Discussion (this section should contain an interpretation of the obtained results, a balance with existing literature, scientific advances provided by the study and future prospects).

Conclusion (only if necessary)

Acknowledgments (cite Institutions, people and financial allowance processes that provided significant support in the study execution).

References (only list the ones cited in the main text).

Journal articles

Author A. Year. Article title. Journal title 00(0): 00-00. doi:

Author A, Author B. Year. Article title. Journal title 00(0): 00-00. doi:

Author A, Author B, Author C. Year. Article title. Journal title 00(0): 00-00. doi:

Chapter in an edited volume

Author A, Author B, Author C. Year. Chapter title. pp. 00-00, in Editor (A) and Editor (B) (eds.). Book title: subtitle, issue number. Series title, series volume. City: Publisher.

Books

Author (A), Author (B), Author (C). Year. Book title: subtitle, issue number. Series title, series volume. City: Publisher. Book volume; 000 pp.

Websites or online database

Author. Year. Database title, Version. Website of the publisher. Accessed in url, date of access.

Author. Year. Webpage title, in Publisher (ed.). Website of the publisher. Accessed in url, date of access.

Replace the Year for [Year] (year accessed in brackets) in case none of the dates were provided in the study.

In case there is no study author, use the publisher name or responsible entity.

Use acronym for long institution names (when citing in the text).

Maps

Cartographer. Year. Map title, map number [map], edition. Map series, Scale. City: Publisher.

Example: Centre for Topographic. Information. 2000. Trenton, Ontario, 31 C/04 [map], 7^th edition. National Topographic System of Canada, 1: 50,000. Ottawa: Natural Resources Canada.

Avoid grey literature

Grey literature is the scientific or technical literature that is not available in common bibliographic sources, such as databases or indexes, namely, they are not easily tracked through conventional channels, as in regular scientific journals or on the internet (scientific periodic with open access). Technical reports, pre-prints, committee reports, abstracts (conferences, congresses and symposiums), as well as unprecedented works (monographs, dissertations and thesis), are usually considered as grey literature. If strictly necessary, the adequacy of those document types will be examined under a case-by-case exam by the Subject Editor and reviewers. If the citation is accepted, these works should be cited as follows:

Unpublished works

Author. Year. Title [unpublished information]. Report or project number. City: institution. Pages. url

Examples:

Kalas, L. 1981. Land snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from northern Alaska and northwestern Canada [unpublished report]. Burlington, ON: National Water Research Institute, Canada Centre for Inland Waters. 173 + [133] pp.

Costa, H.C. 2010. Revisão Taxonômica de Drymoluber Amaral, 1930 (Serpentes, Colubridae). M.Sc. dissertation. Viçosa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa. 72 pp.

Accepted/in press articles

Accepted articles (but yet unpublished) should only be referred if the author has already received the formal/final approval by the editor of the journal which the study was submitted.

Figure subtitles (the subtitles must be presented in the same sequence that they were inserted in the text, one subtitle per page, according to the following format: Fig 1. A. Text., B. Text. [ctrl+enter] Fig. 2. Text. [crtl+enter] Fig.  3. Text. And so on.

Citations within the text

- The citations of the authors in the main text should proceed as the following models:

One author: (Silva 2015) or Silva (2015).

Two authors: (Souza and Silva 2015), Souza and Silva (2015).

Three or more authors (Silva et al. 2015) or Silva et al. (2015).

- The first time each species is cited in the text, the complete binomial name, the author of the species and the description year should be mentioned, as follows: Eustala perfida Mello-Leitão, 1947. The subsequent citations of each species must not contain the author and the year, and should present the short generic epithet (example: E. perfida). Popular name citation is left to the discretion of the author(s).

Photography

This digital publication aims to be a reference of excellence in photography use in scientific research. Therefore, the photos included in the manuscripts must have a high standard of technical quality and esthetics as well as ethics concerns. Other considerations about these aspects are presented below:

1. The authors of the manuscripts should confirm the authorship of the photos embedded in the study when filling and signing the authorization term for the use of images and texts. In unique cases when using photos of third parties, it is necessary a signed authorization of the copyright holder(s) of the photo(s).

2. Manipulated photos, non-ethical and/or abusive content will not be accepted. There will be an exception when the manipulation is part of the study and presents scientific relevance, in which case each step of the manipulation should be described in detail in the Methods section.

3. We accept minor light and color adjustments, as well as crops in the photos. Be ethical and careful in the post-production of the images. In case you do not feel comfortable and qualified in this stage, you can send it to us, in addition to the high-quality file, a photo in low resolution (72 dpi, 700 px) with instructions about the necessary adjustments and we will help you.

4. We recommend the submission of photos in its maximum resolution and ready for publication. Always be sure that you have the original files of the photos (RAW, TIFF, JPGE, preferably RAW), because these files could be requested by the editors or reviewers, if necessary.

5. If necessary, the photo editors of this journal are authorized to do final adjustments and treatments in the photos, with the authorization from the authors, for their use in articles and website of the journal.