Issues of the Records of the Australian Museum are published three times a year and circulated to 84 countries. All that is published in print is, soon afterwards, also freely available online.
Records of the Australian Museum (ISSN 0067-1975) is Australia’s leading Museum-based journal Impact Factor 0.917 and one of the world’s most important sources of taxonomic information on the Australian fauna. Volume 1 was published in 1890 and 1891. Volume 2 spanned the following several years. Volume 20 was published from 1937 to 1940. From volume 34 in 1982, volume-number changed every year. Records of the Australian Museum, volume 62 was published in 2010, volume 63 in 2011. Currently issues of the Records of the Australian Museum are published twice a year and circulated to more than 80 countries.
All that is published in print is, soon afterwards, also freely available online. Every article is DOI registered to enhance cross-linking (interoperability) in the scientific literature.
Manuscripts must be submitted to The Editor. All manuscripts are refereed externally.
Only those manuscripts that meet the following requirements will be considered for publication. Large monographic works are considered for publication only when the subject matter aligns closely with the Museum's strategic objectives.
Submit manuscripts electronically and as one printed copy; images should be high resolution TIFFs (see below). If colour is necessary, authors should first consider the costs involved, the TIFF specifications and the layout (see below). Attach one summary file or cover sheet giving: the title; the name, address and contact details of each author; the author responsible for checking proofs; a suggested running-head of less than 40 character-spaces; and the number and colour of figures, tables and appendices. Manuscripts must be complete when submitted. Authors are required to sign a Licence to Publish when a manuscript is submitted for consideration.
Text files, tables and charts should be in Rich Text Format (RTF). Tables and figures should be numbered and referred to in numerical order in the text. Electronic copy is stripped and reconstructed during production, so authors should avoid excessive layout or textual embellishments; a single font should be used throughout; avoid using uncommon fonts. All copy is manipulated within a Windows (not Mac) environ¬ment using Microsoft and Adobe software. The submitted printed copy of the manuscript should be derived directly from the electronic file that accompanies it.
Manuscripts should be prepared using recent issues as a guide. There should be a title (series titles should not be used), author(s) with their institutional addresses, an abstract (should be intelligible by itself, informative not indicative), introduction (should open with a few lines for general, non-specialist readers), materials and methods, results (usually subdivided with primary, secondary and rarely tertiary-level headings), discussion, acknowledgments and references. If appropriate, an appendix may be added after references.
In the titles of zoological works the higher classification of the group dealt with should be indicated. Except for common abbreviations, definitions should be given in the materials and methods section. Sentences should not begin with abbreviations or numerals. Metric units must be used except when citing original specimen data. It is desirable to include geo-spatial coordinates; when reference is made to them, authors must ensure that their format precludes ambiguity, in particular, avoid formats that confuse arcminutes and arcseconds.
Label and specimen data should, as a minimum requirement, indicate where specimens are deposited. Original specimen data—especially that of type material—is preferred over interpreted data. If open to interpretation, cite original data between quotation marks or use “[sic]”.
Rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature must be followed; authors must put a very strong case if a Recommend¬ation is not followed. When new taxa are proposed in works having multiple authors, the identity of the author(s) responsible for the new name(s) and for satisfying the criteria of availability, should be made clear in accordance with Recommend¬ations in Chapter XI of The Code. A scientific name with more than two authors is unwieldy and should be avoided. Keys are desirable; they must be dichotomous and not serially indented. Synonymies should be of the short form: taxon author, year, pages and figures. A period and en-dash must separate taxon and author except in the case of reference to the original description. Proposed type material should be explicitly designated and, unless institutional procedure prohibits it, registered by number in an institutional collection.
Previously published illustrations will generally not be accepted. Extra costs resulting from colour production are charged to the author (AU$1000 for 1–8 pp, AU$2000 for 9–16 pp, etc.; authors of adjoining papers may share costs). All images must (a) be rectangular or square and scalable to a width of 83 mm (one text column) or 172 mm (both text columns including gutter) and any depth up to 229 mm (the number of lines in a caption limits depth); (b) have lettering similar to 14 point, upper case, normal, Helvetica or Arial, in final print; (c) have no unnecessary white or black space; and (d) have vertical or horizontal scale bars, with the lengths given in the caption and with the thickness approximately equal to an upper case 14 point letter “I”.
Digital images must be presented as TIFF, or as multilayered PSD files suitable for Adobe Photoshop version 5.0 or later. Halftone and colour images must be at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi at final size (at this resolution 2040 pixels = printed-page-width) and all labelling must be sharp (with anti-aliased active). Black and white line images (bitmaps) must be at a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi at final size (at this resolution, 8160 pixels = page width = 172 mm).
When reference is made to figures in the present work use Fig. or Figs, when in another work use fig. or figs; the same case-rule applies to the words tables and plates. Figures and tables should be numbered and referred to in numerical order in the text.
Authors should refer to recent issues of the Records of the Australian Museum to determine the correct format for listing references and to The Chicago Manual of Style to resolve other matters of style. Insert hyperlinks in the Reference section if they are known—use digital object identifiers (doi) if available (see www.doi.org and www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery).
Certain anthropological manuscripts (both text and images) may deal with culturally sensitive material. Responsibility rests with authors to ensure that approvals from the appropriate person or persons have been obtained prior to submission of the manuscript.
Stratigraphic practice should follow the International Stratigraphic Guide (second edition) and Field Geologist’s Guide to Lithostratigraphic Nomenclature in Australia.
The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to modify manuscripts to improve communication between author and reader. Essential corrections only may be made to final proofs. No corrections can be accepted less than four weeks prior to publication without cost to the author(s). All proofs should be returned as soon as possible. No reprints will be available.
All authors, or the Corresponding Author on their behalf, must sign a Licence to Publish when a manuscript is submitted, and certify that the research described has adhered to the Australian Museum’s Intellectual Property Guidelines—or those of their home institution providing they cover the same issues, especially with respect to authorship and acknowledgment. While under consideration, a manuscript may not be submitted elsewhere.
Editorial Board
Contact Scientific Publications
Scientific Publications are managed by The Editor, to whom manuscripts and enquiries should be addressed.
Manuscripts for the Records of the Australian Museum or for Technical Reports of the Australian Museum, Online and all general enquiries should be addressed to The Editor:
The Editor Australian Museum Scientific Publications 6 College Street Sydney NSW 2010 Australia Phone +612 9320 6200 Email the Editor
Australian Museum Research Scientists and other expert members of staff contribute to the prestige and imprimatur of the Museum’s publications in many ways (see Staff finder).
