search articles, reviews, notes and comments covering all forms of life - animals, plants and microorganisms - in marine, limnetic and brackish habitats. Editors, Review Editors and a large number of Anonymous Referees - all internationally acknowledged experts - assure constructive, fair and prompt peer reviews, and a critical selection of high-quality papers
¡¤ Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS)
¡¤ Aquatic Microbial Ecology (AME)
¡¤ Climate Research (CR)
¡¤ Diseases of Aquatic Organisms (DAO)
¡¤ Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics (ESEP), see:
ESEP Submission guidelines
Submitted manuscripts must (1) not be submitted simultaneously to any publication outlet; (2) be original, i.e. not published before; (3) have been approved by all immediately involved, e.g. authors, institutional authorities. If a manuscript has previously been submitted to any publication, the former reviews and author's replies should be enclosed.
We invite interpretative rather than descriptive contributions: Research articles (usually not more than 10 printed pages); Reviews, state-of-the-art evaluations of defined research areas (up to 25 pages); Notes, brief reports of important new information deserving priority publication (up to 4 printed pages); Comments, critical, fair assessments of published works - usually not peer-reviewed since they may include personal opinions, and Reply Comments, replies to comments (normally 2 to 3 printed pages; for more details on Comments/Reply Comments click here); Theme sections (MEPS and AME), integrated expert analyses highlighting an important current research area or problem (as brief as possible); Discussion forums (MEPS), focussing on current top issues.
MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
Address new manuscripts (5 copies) to:
- MEPS: the Editor or a Contributing Editor. (When submitting to the editor, you may alternatively send only one paper copy of the manuscript plus a computer file on diskette or per e-mail to submissions@int-res.com. For review purposes, the complete manuscript, including tables and figures, should be saved as a single word-processor or .pdf file.)
- AME: the most appropriate Editor. Authors should contact that Editor if electronic submission is desired.
- DAO: the appropriate Editor. Authors should contact that Editor if electronic submission is desired.
- CR: one of the Editors. You may alternatively submit the manuscript as a pdf file.
- ESEP: one of the Editors
PROCESSING
Manuscripts are critically evaluated by at least 3 reviewers. The Editor (or Contributing Editor) decides on acceptance or rejection. Acceptable manuscripts are usually returned to the author for consideration of comments and criticism.
On acceptance, titles of manuscripts are added to 'Forthcoming articles' on the Inter-Research Web site. The first, or corresponding, author receives a paper or electronic proof. Printing errors must be carefully corrected. At this stage, stylistic changes are not acceptable without compensatory payment. Tables of contents for each issue appear on the Web shortly before publication. Abstracts and .pdf versions of full articles are added on the day of publication.
For each published article in MEPS, AME, or CR a free copy of the journal will be mailed to the first, or corresponding, author. DAO makes 20 free offprints available to the first author. Additional offprints can be purchased. For prices consult the form accompanying the proofs. Orders for offprints must be made when returning the proof (use the form provided).
PREPARATION
Please submit revised manuscripts (mss) on 3.5" diskette, Zip disk or CD (formatted as Mac/PC hybrid) along with 1 printed copy; file and paper versions must be identical. To facilitate and accelerate the production process, please make sure that it conforms to the Inter-Research style. Poor mss incur considerable costs and delays; this applies particularly to figures and tables. If a ms requires excessive changes, we may have to return it, or charge you for the extra work involved in copy editing, typesetting and proofreading. To avoid this, please bring your ms in line with the following guidelines:
Cover page
Title: Please avoid the use of 'A', 'An', 'The', 'On', etc. at the beginning, eliminate unnecessary modifiers, and make the title as logical, specific and concise as possible. The title should preferably have up to 100 characters (ca. 15 words, 2 lines in print), and 150 characters at most. Compare
'A novel method for the production of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to an envelope protein (28kDa) of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) of shrimp and detection of WSSV by MAb-based antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay'
(236 characters, 37 words)
vs.
'Detection of white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) of shrimp by means of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to an envelope protein (28 kDa)'
(137 characters, 22 words).
Provide a running head with 3 to 6 words; e.g. 'Detection of shrimp WSSV'.
Authors and addresses: If a ms has several authors from different institutions,
- use superscript numerals for identification;
- provide a full valid street address or PO Box for each institution;
- use * to refer to footnotes that identify the corresponding author and provide her/his e-mail.
Abstract: Limit the abstract to concise and information on your work and its principal results. The abstract (max. 200-250 words) should summarise the 'Introduction', 'Materials and methods', 'Results', and 'Discussion' with 1 to 3 sentences each. It should not contain literature cites, reams of data, or meaningless clauses such as 'the results are discussed'.
Key Words: Supply 3 to 8 key words, listed in order of importance; these may be composites (e.g. 'environmental assessment', 'population dynamics'), but they should not be phrases or sentences.
Text
Please use approximately 12 point font (e.g. 'Times') and double spacing. Do your very best to use correct English grammar, spelling and punctuation; if you are not a native speaker, you should have the text edited by someone who is, before sending the ms to IR. You may also wish to consult a 'How to' book such as Day (1998) How to write and publish a scientific paper. (Oryx, Phoenix, AZ).
Headings: Our main headings are in capital letters. Subheadings are bold type lower case, usually centered. Further subheadings can be used and you need not worry about details as long as their order is clear; they should be kept short and in the same style as described under 'Title'. We do not accept solitary subheadings, i.e. any section must contain at least 2 subheadings, or none at all.
Verbosity: Please eliminate verbiage; examples (verbiage underlined) with improved versions:
- 'Numerous studies in recent years, such as those by Miller (1995) and Smith (1998), have shown that low salinities enhance oyster recruitment'.
- 'Low salinities enhance oyster recruitment (Miller 1995, Smith 1998)'.
- 'This speed was chosen, because past studies have shown this to be slightly greater than the maximum sustained swimming speed',
- This speed is slightly greater than the maximum sustained swimming speed'.
- 'Foraging was mainly concentrated in water with the characteristics of deep, oceanic water',
- 'Foraging concentrated on deep, oceanic water'.
- 'Nevertheless, it seems likely that fur seal lactation success could be influenced by ...'
- 'Fur seal lactation success may depend on ...'.
Species names must be in italics, the genus is written in full at the first mention in each paragraph and abbreviated whenever mentioned again in the same paragraph. When referring to a species, do not use the genus name alone, unless you have previously defined it that way; be precise when using 'sp.' (singular) and 'spp.' (plural).
Abbreviations: Define unusual abbreviations and acronyms in the 'Abstract' (if used there) and at first mention in the main text, and thereafter use only the abbreviation / acronym.
Lists of items in the text should be run-on with numerals in parentheses; e.g. 'This study on mussels was conducted to: (1) assess their distributional range, (2) determine their population density, (3) collect specimens for culinary experiments'.
Literature cites in text: In cites with 2 authors, use '&' (e.g. 'Fesefeldt & Pritchard 2002'); in cites with >2 authors use 'et al.' but not in italics. Note there is no comma between authors and dates. When listing several cites in a row, these should be ordered by year (the earliest first), and if there are several with the same date, then these should go in alphabetical order. Cites are separated by a comma, not a semicolon.
Websites can be given in text (or as footnotes if referred to more than once), and they must be accessible when the article is published. A website alone is not sufficient for a full entry in the 'Literature cited', but a website may be added to a paper cited there.
Equations and units: Use standard SI units. Relations or concentrations (e.g. mg per l) must be given as 'mg l-1' (not mg/l); this applies to text, tables and graphs (e.g. axis labels). Variables are usually italicised (except for Greek letters). Italicisation should be consistent in text, figures and equations, and kept the same whether the symbols are in normal, superscript or subscripted text. Leave one blank space on either side of '=', '>', ¡À etc. where these denote equalities or inequalities.
Example: 'p < 0.05, r2 = 0.879' (not 'p<0.05, r2=0.879')
but: 'we studied organisms of size <0.5 µm'
Acknowledgements: Do not give first names in full, only initials (with period and space), e.g. 'We thank M. A. Smith and R. F. G. Miller' (and not '...Marsha Adelheide Smith and Raymond Fierabras Galahad Miller'). Authors of the current ms should be given as initials only, e.g. 'We acknowledge a grant to M.A.S. from ...'.
Figures and tables
Figures and tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement (not duplicate) the text; they must be referred to in correct numerical order in the text. Please prepare them very carefully; poor figures in particular are a principal source of delay and additional work in the production process. High quality laser printouts, photographic prints (i.e. created by a camera), and electronic files in standard formats are acceptable.
Legends: Table legends should be given above each table; figure legends should be supplied as a list, and not placed with the individual figures. Captions should be brief and precise; they should not contain text in bold or italic, except for species names. If a figure or table provides data on biological species, its legend should begin with the full Latin name of that species. Example:
- 'Fig. 3. Crassostrea gigas and Mytilus edulis. Larval growth rates (mm d-1; mean ¡À SD) at (a) 20¡ãC and (b) 25¡ãC'
Figures: Please see Guidelines to Authors on Figure Preparation.
Tables: Keep tables as simple and short as possible. Make sure the layout is clear; complex tables may be misunderstood. Preferably, write the rows as normal text lines and use tabs to indicate the columns (rather than using the 'Table' (cells) option in a word-processing program). For footnotes within tables, use superscripted lower case letters; asterisks can be used to indicate statistical significance. Tables that are too long to be printed in the journal and/or are not absolutely necessary can be published on our Website as an electronic supplement.
Literature cited
Please pay attention to the IR format (e.g. no periods or spaces with authors' initials, nor periods within journal names; examples below). Lists of references in a different format create considerable work for copy editors and typesetters. All quoted literature must be listed, and all listed literature must be quoted. If you are in doubt with regard to abbreviations or how much information the cite should contain, then provide all of it and let us shorten it.
Periodicals:Use the standard abbreviations according to 'BIOSIS Serial Sources'. You may download a list of journal abbreviations from http://www.int-res.com/journals/misc/journallist.txt or use the bibliographic database software 'EndNote' to import the list and obtain styles for IR journals at http://www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp. Example:
- Blackburn N, Fenchel T (1999) Influence of bacteria, diffusion and shear on micro-scale nutrient patches, and implications for bacterial chemotaxis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 189:1-7
Books: Please write the title of the book in lower case, and give the publisher and place of publication. In the case of book series, give the series editor as well. Examples:
- Mann KH, Lazier JRN (1991) Dynamics of marine ecosystems. Blackwell, Oxford
- Ehrlich PR (1997) A world of wounds: ecologists and the human dilemma. In: Kinne O (ed) Excellence in ecology, Book 9. Ecology Institute, Oldendorf/Luhe
Papers from books, conference reports, symposium proceedings, etc.: Please give the title of the cited chapter, the editor(s) and title of the volume, the publisher and place of the publisher (not the location where the conference was held), and the pages of the chapter. The date of the cite must be the year of publication (not the year in which the conference was held). Example:
- Smith WK (1984) A framework for evaluating community measures of marine pollution. In: White HH (ed) Concepts in marine pollution measurements. Maryland Sea Grant College, University of Maryland, College Park, p 193-202
Dissertations: Please write the title in lower case, 'MS / PhD thesis / dissertation' (no spaces or periods in 'MS' or 'PhD'), and give the university and its location. Example:
- Eve TM (2001) Chemistry and chemical ecology of Indo-Pacific gorgonians. PhD thesis, University of California, San Diego
Inter-Research and International Ecology Institute mailing address:
Nordb¨¹nte 23 (+21, 26, 28, 30)
21385 Oldendorf/Luhe
Germany
Inter-Research levies no page charge.
The last issue of each set of 10 volumes features a combined author/title index.
Copyright
Scientific publications appearing in Inter-Research journals have been rigorously refereed, carefully quality-improved, and professionally selected by our editorial staff. These publications, and all parts thereof, are therefore protected by copyright. This covers the exclusive rights of the publisher to reproduce (by any means, including photographic or electronic), to distribute (including via photocopies, reprints, or electronic means), and to store (on microfilm, in electronic data bases, on video disks, etc.) this material.
The acceptance regulations of a manuscript for publication automatically include the consent of the author(s) to transfer the copyright to the publisher. Permission for exceptions to these rules must be obtained in writing from the publisher at the time of manuscript submission. In the USA, photocopies may be made for personal or in-house use beyond the limitations stipulated under Section 107 or 108 of U.S. Copyright Law, provided a fee (US$10.00 per article) is paid to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 21 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970, USA.
Disclaimer
Publisher, editors, reviewers and authors do not accept any legal responsibility for errors, omissions or claims, nor do they provide any warranty, express or implied, with respect to information published in Inter-Research journals.
