Information for Authors and Editorial Policy
Information for Authors
Animal Biodiversity and Conservation (formerly Miscel·lània Zoològica) is an interdisciplinary journal published by the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona since 1958. It includes empirical and theoretical research from around the world that examines any aspect of Zoology (Systematics, Taxonomy, Morphology, Biogeography, Ecology, Ethology, Physiology and Genetics). It gives special emphasis to studies that expose a new problem or introduces a new topic, presenting clear hypotheses and predictions, and to studies related to Cconservation Biology. Papers purely descriptive or faunal or chorological describing the distribution in space or time of zoological organisms will not be published. These works should be redirected to our sister journal Arxius de Miscel·lània Zoològica (www.museucienciesjournals.cat/amz). Studies concerning rare or protected species will not be accepted unless the authors have been granted the relevant permits or authorisation. Each annual volume consists of two issues.
Animal Biodiversity and Conservation is registered in all principal data bases and is freely available online at www.museucienciesjournals.cat/abc assuring world–wide access to articles published therein. All manuscripts are screened by the Executive Editor, an Editor and two independent reviewers so as to guarantee the quality of the papers. The review process aims to be rapid and constructive. Once accepted, papers are published as soon as is practicable. This is usually within 12 months of initial submission.
Upon acceptance, manuscripts become the property of the journal, which reserves copyright, and no published material may be reproduced or cited without acknowledging the source of information.
All rights are reserved by the authors, who authorise the journal to publish the article. Papers are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: no part of the published paper may be reproduced or reused unless the source is cited.
Animal Biodiversity and Conservation remains neutral with regad to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Changes to authorship
The editors of this journal will not consider changes to authorship once a manuscript has been accepted for publication. It is important that authors carefully consider the authorship list and order of authors and provide a definitive author list at original submission.
Information for authors
Electronic submission of papers is encouraged (abc@bcn.cat). The preferred format is DOC or RTF. All figures must be readable by Word, embedded at the end of the manuscript and submitted together in a separate attachment in a TIFF, EPS or JPEG file. Tables should be placed at the end of the document. A cover letter stating that the article reports original research that has not been published elsewhere and has been submitted exclusively for consideration in Animal Biodiversity and Conservation is also necessary. This cover letter must also include the agreement of all authors and their e-mail addresses. In addition, when animal manipulation has been necessary, the cover letter should also specify that the authors follow current norms on the protection of animal species and that they have obtained all relevant permits and authorisations. Authors may suggest referees for their papers. Non–receipt of the cover letter with the requested information implies that the article will not be able to start the reviewing process.
Proofs sent to the authors for correction should be returned to the Editorial Board within 10 days.
Publishing in Animal Biodiversity and Conservation is free of charge. Expenses due to any substantial alterations of the proofs will be charged to the authors.
The first author will receive a copy of the article in PDF format.
Manuscripts
Manuscripts must be presented in DIN A-4 format, 30 lines, 70 keystrokes per page. Maintain double spacing throughout. Number all pages. Manuscripts should be complete with figures and tables. Do not send original figures until the paper has been accepted.
The text must be written in English. The journal provides linguistic revision by an linguistic adviser. Care must be taken to use correct wording and the text should be written concisely and clearly. Scientific names of genera and species as well as untranslatable neologisms must be in italics. Quotations in whatever language used must be typed in ordinary print between quotation marks. The name of the author following a taxon should also be written in lower case letters.
When referring to a species for the first time in the text, both common and scientific names should be given when possible. Do not capitalize common names of species unless they are proper nouns (e.g. Iberian rock lizard). Place names may appear either in their original form or in the language of the manuscript, but care should be taken to use the same criteria throughout the text.
Numbers one to nine should be written in full within the text except when preceding a measure. Higher numbers should be written in numerals except at the beginning of a sentence.
Specify dates as follows: 28/06/2019 (for a single day); 28,30/06/2019 (referring to two days, e.g. 28th and 30th), 28-30(06/2019 (for more than two consecutive days, e.g. 28th to 30th).
Footnotes should not be used.
Formatting of articles
Title. Must be concise but as informative as possible. Numbering of parts (I, II, III, etc.) should be avoided and will be subject to the Editor's consent.
Name of author or authors
Abstract in English, no longer than 12 typewritten lines (840 spaces), covering the contents of the article (introduction, material, methods, results and discussion). Speculation and literature citation should be avoided. The abstract should begin with the title in italics.
Key words in English (no more than six) should express the precise contents of the manuscript in order of relevance.
Resumen in Spanish, translation of the Abstract. Summaries of articles by non–Spanish speaking authors will be translated by the journal on request.
Palabras clave in Spanish.
Author’s address will be published as they appear in the manuscript file.
Researcher’s identifiers (ORCID, ResearcherID,…), at least from the first and the corresponding authors.
(Title, Name, Abstract, Key words, Resumen, Palabras clave, Author’s address and Researcher’s identifiers should constitute the first page.)
Introduction. Should include the historical background of the subject as well as the aims of the paper.
Material and methods. This section should provide relevant information on the species studied, materials, methods for collecting and analysing data, and the study area.
Results. Report only previously unpublished results from the present study.
Discussion. The results and their comparison with related studies should be discussed. Suggestions for future research may be given at the end of this section.
Acknowledgements (optional).
References. All manuscripts must include a bibliography of the publications cited in the text.
References should be presented as in the following examples:
- Journal articles
Conroy MJ, Noon BR, 1996. Mapping of species richness for conservation of biological diversity: conceptual and methodological issues. Ecological Applications 6, 763-773, DOI:10.2307/2269481
- Books or other non–periodical publications
Seber GAF, 1982. The estimation of animal abundance. C. Griffin & Company, London.
- Contributions or chapters of books
Macdonald DW, Johnson DP, 2001. Dispersal in theory and practice: consequences for conservation biology. In: Dispersal: 358-372 (TJ Clober, E Danchin, AA Dhondt, JD Nichols, Eds). Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Ph. D. Thesis
Merilä J, 1996. Genetic and quantitative trait variation in natural bird populations. PhD thesis, Uppsala University.
- Works in press should only be cited if they have been accepted for publication
Ripoll M (in press). The relevance of population studies to conservation biology: a review. Animal Biodiversity and Conservation.
References must be set out in alphabetical and chronological order for each author, adding the letters a, b, c,… to papers of the same year. Bibliographic citations in the text must appear in the usual way: “…according to Wemmer (1998)…”, “…has been defined by Robinson and Redford (1991)…”, “…the prospections that have been carried out (Begon et al 1999)…”
DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) should also be included where available.
Tables. Must be numbered in Arabic numerals with reference in the text. Large tables should be narrow (across the page) and long (down the page) rather than wide and short, so that they can be fitted into the column width of the journal.
Figures. All illustrations (graphs, drawings, photographs) should be termed as figures, and numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, etc.) with reference in the text. Glossy print photographs, if essential, may be included. The Journal will publish colour photographs but the author will be charged for the cost. Figures have a maximum size of 15.5 cm wide by 24 cm long. Figures should not be tridimensional. Any maps or drawings should include a scale. Shadings should be kept to a minimum and preferably with black, white or bold hatching. Stippling should be avoided as it may be lost in reproduction.
Legends of tables and figures. Legends of tables and figures should be clear, concise, and written both in English and Spanish.
Large amounts of data or long tables will be published as supplementary material. This supplementary material will accompany the online version of the article only, not the printed version.
Main headings (Introduction, Material and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and References) should not be numbered. Do not use more than three levels of headings.
Manuscripts should not exceed 20 pages including figures and tables.
If the article describes new taxa, type material must be deposited in a public institution.
Authors are advised to consult recent issues of the journal and follow its conventions.
Brief communications
Brief communications should follow the same procedure as other articles and they will undergo the same review process. They should not exceed 2,300 words including title, abstract, figure and table legends, acknowledgements and references. The abstract should not exceed 100 words, and the number of references should be limited to 15. Section headings within the text are optional. Brief communications may have up to two figures and/or two tables but the whole paper should not exceed four published pages.
Instructions to authors available also on a PDF format
Editorial Policy
Animal Biodiversity and Conservation is an international journal devoted to the study and conservation of animal biodiversity, open-access, free for authors, driven by a fast-paced editorial process that includes assessment by experts. It is published twice a year.
Peer review process
Articles under consideration by the Editorial Committee are first reviewed by the Executive Editor who determines their suitability for the Journal. Reasons for initial rejection may be that the subject matter is not relevant to the journal’s scope, or that attention to guidelines is poor. After clearing the initial screening, management of the peer-review process is undertaken by an Associate Editor. The quality of the paper is assessed and compliance with the Journal's open access policy is revised.
Manuscripts will be evaluated by two external reviewers in a single-blind review system. In the rare case that the paper concerns a highly specialised niche field, a single reviewer may be accepted due to the difficulties to get more experts in the referred matter. In case of conflicting opinions, a third referee may be consulted. Associate Editors may play this role. The peer review process is confidential and identities of reviewers are not revealed, unless a reviewer allows this for the author’s knowledge.
Reviewers’ comments are summarized by the Associate Editor who decides the next step: accepted, accepted with major or minor changes, or rejected. The Managing Editor sends the report with conclusion and comments to the corresponding author who will respond to the comments and suggestions. Authors will have 2 months to return the corrected version of the paper. Resubmissions may be reviewed by the same experts that examined the original version if they voluntarily offer to do so.
The Associate Editor and Executive Editor will make the final decision together and notify the corresponding author.
Publication terms
Accepted articles will be published electronically immediately upon acceptance. They will be stored electronically on the Journal’s database. Simultaneously they will be deposited in the RACO repository that provides the possibility of long-term storage using PKP (Public Knowledge Project) system.
Authors will receive notification on the same day. Annual volumes of the journal will be compiled over the year as articles are accepted. Contributions will be identified by consecutive numbering of pages in the order they are published and corresponding to the PDF file text length.
Articles published online are open access and no fees are charged for editing and publishing papers. Authors will receive a copy of the corresponding files of their articles in PDF format.
Copyrights
From volume 43 (2020) all rights are reserved by the authors, who authorise the journal to publish the article. Papers are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License: no part of the published paper may be reproduced or reused unless the source is cited.
