Guidelines for DAO authors

We publish: Research Articles (usually not more than 10 printed pages); Reviews, state-of-the-art evaluations of important current research areas (up to 25 printed pages); Invited Reviews, authored by prominent experts; Notes, brief reports of important new information deserving priority publication (up to 4 printed pages); Comments, critical, fair assessments of published works and Reply Comments, replies to Comments (normally 2 to 3 printed pages; for more details on Comments/Reply Comments click here) as well as Theme Sections, integrated expert analyses highlighting an important current research area or problem (as brief as possible) and As I See It, important, personal views on hot topics (brief and fair). Articles of exceptional significance will occasionally be selected as Feature Articles and made available to the scientific community by open access on our website.

 

 

Authors will be offered the option of publishing their article as Open Access. For further details see Open Access Initiative.

 

 

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

 

Submitted 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 DAO 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.

 

All manuscripts must be submitted via the DAO editorial office, either online, by email, or by post. Manuscripts will be handled by the Managing Editor or one of the Subject 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 DAO editorial office (dao-submissions@int-res.com). Attach two files (1: the cover letter, 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.

 

 

PROCESSING

 

Manuscripts are critically evaluated by at least 3 reviewers. The 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 publications' on the Inter-Research Web site, together with a prepress abstract. 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, together with abstracts and .pdf versions of full articles, are published online as soon as an issue is complete.

 

For each article published in DAO a free copy of the journal volume or number will be mailed to the first, or corresponding, author. Orders for offprints must be made when returning the proof (use the form provided).

 

MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

 

New submissisions and revisions should if possible be uploaded or sent as one file (preferably pdf format) containing the complete text, tables, and figures. Once a ms has been accepted, please upload or send it as a word-processing file (e.g. MS Word, not pdf or TeX), together with separate figure files (if any). Large files (>1 MB) can be uploaded to our ftp site (ftp.int-res.com; the ftp site can be freely accessed, but please inform us if you upload anything).

 

To facilitate and accelerate the production process, please make sure that the ms conforms to the IR style. For the appropriate format please refer to recent issues of DAO. Poor mss incur extra 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:

 

Manuscript length

 

The target length of Research Articles should be approximately 10 printed pages (about 6000 words, including references, plus Tables and Figures). Limit the number of citations to a maximum of about 1 page of citations for every 4 pages of text (i.e. Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion).

 

Cover page

 

Title: Avoid the use of 'A', 'An', 'The', 'On', etc. at the beginning, eliminate unnecessary modifiers, and make the title as specific and concise as possible. It 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:

 

 

Abstract: Limit the abstract (max. 250 words) to concise information on your work and its principal results. It should not contain 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; these may be composites (e.g. 'environmental assessment', 'population dynamics'), but should not be phrases or sentences.

 

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 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).

 

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:

 

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).

 

Sequence data. Full information is required when molecular methods have been used. The sequences of novel primers must be given. Novel nucleotide or protein sequences must be deposited in the GenBank, EMBL or DDBJ databases and an accession number obtained.

 

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 more than 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. Websites can be given in the main text (or as footnotes if referred to more than once), and they must be dated and still accessible when the article is published.

 

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 '=', '>', ± 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'. 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: Please see Guidelines to Authors on Figure Preparation.

 

These should be self-explanatory; they must be referred to in correct numerical order in the text. Please prepare them very carefully; poor figures 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. If a figure or table provides data on biological species, its legend should begin with the full Latin name of that species. Example:

 

Tables: Keep tables as simple and short as possible. Make sure the layout is clear. 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 table footnotes, use superscripted lower case letters; asterisks can be used to indicate statistical significance. Tables too long to be printed in the journal can be published on our Website as an electronic supplement (see below).

 

Literature cited

 

Limit the number of citations to a ratio of about 1 page of citations for every 5 pages of text. Use IR format (e.g. no periods or spaces with authors' initials, nor periods within journal names; examples below). All quoted literature must be listed, and all listed literature must be quoted. If in doubt with regard to abbreviations or how much information the cite should contain, provide all of it and let us shorten it.

 

Periodicals: Use standard abbreviations according to 'BIOSIS Serial Sources'. You may download a list of journal abbreviations from www.int-res.com/misc/journallist.txt or use the bibliographic database software 'EndNote' to import the list and obtain styles for IR journals at www.endnote.com/support/enstyles.asp. Example:

 

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. Example:

 

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). Examples:

 

Certain conference proceedings/symposiums may be cited as a journal.

 

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:

 

Websites: Permanent databases such as FishBase, GenBank, or those from 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. Examples:

 

Electronic supplements

 

Additional material of importance to an article can be published on the Inter-Research website as an electronic supplement. This may 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.

 

COPYRIGHT

 

Scientific publications appearing in IR 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 sell, 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.

 

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.

 

How to cite from DAO (Example):

Penston MJ, Millar CP, Davies IM (2008) Reduced Lepeophtheirus salmonis larval abundance in a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland between 2002 and 200. Dis Aquat Org 81:109-117

Inter-Research and International Ecology Institute mailing address:

Nordbünte 23 (+3, 5, 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.