Contributions to the Essex Naturalist
Jude Gibson
GUIDANCE FOR CONTRIBUTORS
From 2015 the Essex Naturalist is printed in colour throughout.
Submission of material Authors should be aware that papers and photographs accepted for publication in the Essex Naturalist may be republished by the Club on its website, any images in web quality only, and with the photographer's copyright clearly indicated.
The Editors welcome early submission of papers throughout the year, especially major ones, rather than all in the weeks approaching the deadlines. For all major papers more than two pages the submission deadline is the end of May. The submission deadline for short notes is the end of July. Papers received after the stated deadlines may be held over for publication in the following issue.
The Essex Naturalist carries original papers and notes, and communications on all aspects of the flora, fauna, geology and general ecology of the county of Essex. All material is accepted on the understanding that it is not currently being offered to or considered by any other publication not produced by the Essex Field Club. Papers relating to adjacent counties or other areas may be submitted if their contents are relevant to the county of Essex and this relevance is indicated in the work. Papers, notes and communications are invited from both members and non-members of the Essex Field Club and from amateurs and professionals alike. All papers will be subjected to peer review prior to acceptance. Notes will be subjected to Editorial review. The Editorial Team of this journal and the Editor of the Essex Field Club Newsletter reserve the right to refer submitted material to each other if appropriate.
Titles should reflect accurately the contents of the work and major papers should commence with an abstract, followed by an introduction and then the main body of the work. All contributions must be provided as digitized copy. Submissions must be sent by e-mail as a Word for Windows file.
IMPORTANT. PLEASE FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEXT, TABLES AND FIGURES Journal page size Please note that the journal is produced with a page size of 168mm x 248mm, margins 1.2cm top and left, 1cm bottom and 1.8cm right. Make sure tables, figures and inset text will be usable at this size and can fit the page.
Illustrations and tables The submission of original line artwork and photographs for inclusion is welcome. Distribution maps should be submitted in digital format as Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) files. Although photographs, diagrams, charts and tables should be included within submissions with their captions, they must also be provided as good quality jpg files in case these are needed. Photograph captions should include the name of the photographer or copyright holder. Figures and charts with multiple elements must be grouped together or provided as high resolution image files, otherwise components may be lost or moved when these are placed into the journal. Do not use borders in image files and do not combine multiple images.
Text
- Please supply all text in 10PT and WITHOUT APPLIED STYLES.
- Please do not use Title case for titles: do not capitalise titles except for proper nouns.
- Do not set text in columns or justify. Please do not use any formatting other than bold, italic or underline.
- DO NOT USE FONT STYLES - these will all be stripped out before use, and simply add enormously to the work involved in producing the journal.
- Tables must not be lined up using spaces or multiple tabs. Either separate columns with A SINGLE TAB (regardless of whether this lines up columns or not) or tabulate using Excel or Word.
- Dates should follow the format 25 December 1999, 25th December 1999 or 25.xii.1999. Please do not use superscript, since this does not OCR well for future addition to the Club’s archive.
- Scientific names should include the genus and cite the author at the first mention; thereafter the author may be omitted and the generic name may be abbreviated to the initial capital followed by a full point unless confusion with similar names dictates that they should be spelled out in full.
- Do not enclose latin names in brackets. Use initial capitals for English names of specific taxa, not for general or generic names, and for plants follow Stace. Measurements should be in metric units and follow the SI system (Système Internationale d’Unités) with imperial equivalents in round brackets thereafter if required. Tables and figures must be properly captioned.
- Do not use non-standard characters, which may cause problems when converted to pdf files for submission to the printers.
References In notes and communications references should be given in the text and may be abbreviated; in papers, references should be collected at the end and should follow the format in this volume and with capitalised authors. References in the text should not include a comma between author and year. Capitalization in titles of books and papers in journals should be kept to a minimum. Journal titles should be in full. Authors must ensure that all references are cited accurately: they will not be checked by the editors.
Reference style:
- BALMER, D.E., GILLINGS, S., CAFFREY, B.J., SWANN, R.L., DOWNIE, I.S. & FULLER, R.J. (2013)
- Bird Atlas 2007-2011. The Breeding and Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. BTO Books, Thetford.
- BARNETT, P.R., WHITTINGHAM, M.J., BRADBURY, R.B. & WILSON, J.D. (2004) Use of improved
- lowland grassland by wintering birds in the UK. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 102: 49-60.
- BAUDRY, J., BUNCE, R.G.H. & BUREL, F. (2000) Hedgerows: An international perspective on their
- poring, function and management. Journal of Environmental Management 60: 7-22.
- BENTON, T.G., VICKERY, J.A. & WILSON, J.D. (2003) Farmland diversity: Is habitat heterogeneity the
- key? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18: 182-188.
- BIBBY, C.J., BURGESS, N.D., HILL, D.A. & MUSTOE, S.H. (2000) Bird Census Techniques (2nd
- edition). Elsevier Academic Press, London.
Reprints Authors will receive a pdf file reprint of their paper, which can be sent to other people as required.