MANUSCRIPT (MS) SUBMISSION
Manuscripts must (1) not be submitted simultaneously to any other publication outlet; (2) be original, i.e. not published before; (3) have been approved by all immediately involved, e.g. authors, institutional authorities; (4) meet ethics guidelines (see below). If the manuscript has previously been submitted to any publication outlet, this must be disclosed and a rationale for its submission to AB provided. Submission of a manuscript implies agreement to Inter-Research terms of publication, including transfer of copyright to Inter-Research and the online posting of a prepress abstract.
Authors are encouraged to submit new manuscripts, and revisions, electronically. Acceptable electronic formats are Adobe pdf and MS-Word. Pages and lines must be numbered. All fonts must be embedded in the file, which must not contain any security settings.
All manuscripts must be submitted via the AB editorial office, either online, by email, or by post. Manuscripts will be handled by one of the Editors-in-Chief or one of the Contributing Editors. Authors are invited to specify their preference, and (in their cover letter) to identify 3-5 suitable referees.
1. Online manuscript submission system: click here AUTHOR GATEWAY.
2. Email submission: to the AB editorial office (ab-submissions@int-res.com). Attach two files (1: the cover letter, which may include a list of potential reviewers, and which must include the response to reviews if the submission is a revision; and 2: the manuscript) to the above address. Hard copies are NOT required unless electronic submission is impossible. In that case, manuscripts may be submitted - one hard copy and an electronic file on disc - by post.
3. By post: to Inter-Research, Nordbünte 23, 21385 Oldendorf/Luhe, Germany.
MS PROCESSING
Manuscripts are critically evaluated by at least 3 reviewers. The Editor decides on acceptance, revision, or rejection.
Titles of accepted manuscripts are added to 'Forthcoming publications' on the IR Web site, together with a prepress abstract. Articles are published within a few days after corrected proofs have been returned by the corresponding author. Orders for offprints must be made when returning the proof (use the form provided). A copy of the journal volume or number, and offprints ordered will be mailed to the corresponding author after an issue is printed.
MS PREPARATION
Please consider the following when preparing your ms. Consult recent IR publications as a general guide.
Once a ms has been accepted, upload or send it as a word-processing file (e.g. MS Word, not pdf or TeX), with separate figure files. Large files (>1 MB) can be uploaded to our ftp site (ftp.int-res.com), which can be freely accessed (please inform us if you upload anything).
Manuscript length
The target length of Research Articles is approximately 10 printed pages (about 6000 words).
Cover page
Title: Avoid 'A', 'An', 'The', 'On', etc. at the beginning; the title should have not more than 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 of shrimp by means of monoclonal antibodies specific to an envelope protein'
(114 characters, 19 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 the address of each author's institution, including present address(es) if applicable. Include zip or postal code but not street address or box number
use * to refer to a footnote that identifies the corresponding author and provide her/his e-mail.
Abstract: Limit length to 250 words. Provide concise information on your work and its principal results. Avoid literature cites, series of data, or meaningless clauses such as 'the results are discussed'.
Key words: Supply 3 to 8 key words, listed in order of importance.
Text
Please use numbered pages and lines, 12 point font, and double spacing. Do your very best to use correct English grammar, spelling and punctuation; if you are not a native English 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 & Gastel (2006) How to write and publish a scientific paper, 6th edn (Greenwood Press, Westport, CT).
Verbosity: Please eliminate verbiage; example:
'This speed was chosen because past studies by Miller (1995) and Smith (1998) have shown this to be slightly greater than the maximum sustained swimming speed.'
vs.
'This is slightly greater than the maximum sustained swimming speed (Miller 1995, Smith 1998).'
Genus and species names must be in italics; write the genus name in full at first mention in each paragraph and abbreviate 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 abbreviations and acronyms in the 'Abstract' and at first mention in the main text, and thereafter use only the abbreviation / acronym.
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). Variables are usually italicised (except for Greek letters). Italicisation should be consistent in normal, superscript and subscripted text. Leave one blank space on either side of '=', '>', ±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 ųm'
Figures and tables
Figures: Please consult Guidelines to Authors on Figure Preparation.
Figures, tables, and their captions should be self-explanatory; e.g. abbreviations and acronyms must be defined again here. If a figure or table provides data on biological species, its legend should begin with the full Latin name of that species. For table footnotes, use superscripted lower case letters; asterisks can be used to indicate statistical significance.
Literature cited
All quoted literature must be listed, and all listed literature must be quoted.
Periodicals: Use standard abbreviations according to 'BIOSIS Serial Sources'. You can download a list of journal abbreviations from www.int-res.com/misc/journallist.txt or use the bibliographic database software 'EndNote' . You can obtain styles for IR journals at www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp or download here.
How to cite from AB (example):
Zimmer I, Wilson RP, Beaulieu M, Ancel A, PlÖtz J (2008) Seeing the light: depth and time restrictions in the foraging capacity of emperor penguins at Pointe Géologie, Antarctica. Aquat Biol 3:217-226
Books: 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. Example:
Hanski I (2005) The shrinking world: ecological consequences of habitat loss. In: Kinne O (ed) Excellence in ecology, Book 14. International Ecology Institute, Oldendorf/Luhe
Papers from books, conference reports, symposium proceedings, etc.: Give the title of the 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:
West TL, Amrose WG (1992) Abiotic and biotic effects on population dynamics of oligohaline benthic invertebrates. In: Colombo G, Ferrari I, Ceccherelli VU, Rossi R (eds) Marine eutrophication and population dynamics. Proc 25th Eur Mar Biol Symp. Olsen & Olsen, Fredensburg.
Dissertations: Write the title in lower case, 'MS / PhD thesis / dissertation', and give the university and its location. Example:
Eve TM (2001) Chemistry and chemical ecology of Indo-Pacific gorgonians. PhD dissertation, University of California, San Diego, CA
Websites: Permanent databases such as FishBase, GenBank, or climatological sources may be included in the Literature Cited list; the date accessed must be given. URLs for printed publications also available online may be included with their citations. Other website references should only be cited in the body text. Example:
Froese F, Pauly D (2009) FishBase. Accessed 13 Jan. www.fishbase.org
Electronic supplements
Additional material of importance to an article may be included for possible publication on the Inter-Research website as an electronic supplement. This might be overlong tables or appendices, derivations of mathematical models, video clips, etc., and will be linked from the online article.
ETHICS
Research published in IR journals must have been conducted in accordance with institutional, national and international guidelines concerning the use of animals in research and/or the sampling of endangered species.
AUTHORSHIP
Individuals listed as authors must: (1) agree to be listed; (2) have contributed to the research reported; (3) approve the submitted version of the manuscript.
COPYRIGHT
Scientific information appearing in IR journals has 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 sell, reproduce (by any means, including photographic or electronic), distribute (including via photocopies, reprints, or electronic means), and 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.
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 IR journals.
