Instructions to Authors

Standard proofreaders' marks for CH editors and authors.

Submitting Manuscripts

The submission of a manuscript is taken to imply that the material is original, and that no similar paper has been or will be submitted for publication elsewhere. Submission of a manuscript will also be taken to imply that all the named authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the paper, that all who are listed as providers of personal communications have agreed to their inclusion, and that all requisite permissions for the use of material (from previously published sources or made available electronically) are supplied with the final submission.

Manuscripts submitted to Contemporary Herpetology (CH) must be divided into a number of files to facilitate processing by our editors and reviewers as well as to expedite their conversion to web documents.

Authors should submit all manuscript files as attachments to an e-mail cover letter. Unless other arrangements have been made with an Associate Editor, all manuscripts should be sent to a Managing Editor. Necessary file conversions will be made prior to forwarding the submission to an Associate Editor.  A useful freeware e-mail utility for submitting manuscripts and attachments is Eudora Light.

Once a manuscript is accepted, authors are required to submit copies of a signed consent to publish form. At this time, the manuscript will be formatted for the Web and the author(s) will then have the opportunity to proof the manuscript. Upon approval by the author(s), the manuscript will be published on CH and its mirror sites. 

File Formats

  Text file formats supported by CH:

Rich Text Format (RTF) - Preferred format for submitted papers. Saves all formatting and converts formatting to instructions that other applications can read and interpret.
WordPerfect for MS-DOS - Version 5.x
WordPerfect for Windows - Version 5.x
Microsoft Excel BIFF - Versions 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0
RFT-DCA
Microsoft Word for the Macintosh - Versions 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x
Microsoft Word for Windows - Versions 2.x and 6.x
Microsoft Works for the Macintosh - Version 4.0
Microsoft FoxPro and other dBASE formats - Versions 2.0 and 2.5 of FoxPro Versions 2, 3, and 4 of dBASE
Text Only - Saves text without formatting. Converts all section breaks, and page breaks to paragraph marks.
MS-DOS Text Only - Converts files the same way as Text Only format. Uses the extended ASCII character set, which is the standard for MS-DOS applications.
Text Only with Line Breaks, MS-DOS Text Only with Line Breaks - Saves text without formatting.
Text with Layout Preserves line breaks - Inserts spaces in a converted document to approximate indents, tables, line spacing, paragraph spacing, and tab stops. Converts section breaks and page breaks to paragraph marks. If your word processor does not support RTF, this is another good general format in which to save text files.

Still Graphics Files

CH can support and convert the following graphics formats: PICT, Photoshop 2.X, 3.X, and 4.X, MacPaint, TIFF (uncompressed, packbits, CCITT3/4 and lzw), RIFF, PICS, 8BIM, 8BPS/PSD, JPEG/JFIF, GIF, PCX/SCR, GEM-IMG/-XIMG, BMP (RLE compressed BMP´s also), ICO/ICN, PIC (16 bit), FLI/FLC, TGA, MSP, PIC (PC Paint), SCX (ColoRIX), SHP, WPG, PBM/PGM/PPM, SUN, RLE, XBM, PM, IFF/LBM, PAC, Degas, TINY, NeoChrome, PIC (ATARI), SPU/SPC, GEM-Metafile, Animated NeoChrome, Imagic, ImageLab/Print Technic, HP-GL/2, FITS, SGI, DL, XWD, WMF, Scitex-CT, DCX, KONTRON, Lotus-PIC, Dr. Halo, GRP, VFF, Apple IIgs, AMBER, TRS-80, VB HB600, ppat, QDV, CLP, IPLab, SOFTIMAGE, GATAN, CVG, MSX, PNG, ART, RAW, PSION, SIXEL, PCD, ST-X, ALIAS pix, MAG, VITRONIC, CAM, PORST, and VOXEL.

    To find out whether a format is Web-compatible, open the file in your browser. This is accomplished through the File - Open... command supported by most browsers. Those using Netscape can simply drag the file to an open window to view it. It is not necessary that you submit your files in a web-compatible format; however, doing so does save time on our side. CH encourages authors to utilize the unique multimedia qualities of online publishing in order to facilitate understanding of their research. 

Text formatting

    Do not embed any non-text resources (including equations) within your text. All papers must be in English. Write with precision, clarity, and economy; use the active voice and first person. A style sheet is in preparation, until ready, it is suggested that authors follow the most recently accepted manuscripts.

    Although many text attributes are set by individual browsers when viewing web documents, submissions to CH should follow the following conventions in order to facilitate the review process.

 Underlining/Italicization
    Italicize scientific names and the symbols for all variables and constants except Greek letters in the text. Symbols should be italicized in the illustrations to match the text. Do not underline text.

 Greek Characters
    Greek characters are not supported as symbols by most graphical browsers at present. Please write out in full (e.g., alpha, beta) all Greek characters that occur within the text of your manuscript. Greek characters are permitted within equations, which must be submitted as separate graphics files.

 Tables
    Tables must be submitted in a format that preserves their layout, whether they are tab- or space-delimited. The Rich Text Format (RTF) is a useful general-purpose file format in which to submit tables.

 Literature Cited
    Citations should be spelled out in their entirety. Page numbers of books should be not be included. The authors' names should be capitalized and all but the last name abbreviated.

 Units
    Use the International System of Units (SI) for measurements. Consult Standard Practice for Use of the International System of Units (ASTM Standard E-380-93) for guidance on unit conversions, style, and usage. When preparing text and graphics, note in particular that SI requires (1) the use of the terms mass or force rather than weight, (2) when one unit appears in a denominator, use the solidus (/), but for two or more units in a denominator, use negative exponents, and (3) use a capital L as the symbol for liter.

Internet Formatting
    Given the ephemeral nature of the Internet outside the directories of Contemporary Herpetology, the stability of external links cannot be guaranteed. Thus, authors may not include links to other Internet resources in their articles. Web formatting and the addition of appropriate internal links from the manuscript text to figures, tables, equations, and literature cited will be done by CH. Links will be placed based on reference. For instance, whenever an author refers to Figure 1 the reader will simply click on "Figure 1" to view (or hear) that figure.

    Technical inquiries about manuscript submission and formatting should be directed to the Managing Editors.

Copyright © 1997-2001 by Contemporary Herpetology.