GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING TEXT
(Revised January 2002)

Submit 3 hard copies of the manuscript, printed on standard-weight letter-size (8.5 X 11 inch) paper with wide margins on all four sides. [Note: Do not submit digital files of text and/or illustrations when the printed manuscript is submitted for review. Digital files should be submitted to the production editor after the manuscript is reviewed, approved, and released to the production editor. Instructions are provided below.] Improperly formatted manuscripts will be returned to the author.

Every section of the manuscript must be double-spaced, including the references. Use a 12-point font that is clearly legible. Do not justify right-hand margins. Avoid separately typed inserts. Use the correct bibliographic style for references. Number pages consecutively in upper right-hand corners from the beginning to the end of the manuscript. Headers are acceptable but not necessary.

When any of the following items are included, they should be numbered consecutively (not as separate sections). Each should begin a new page and be placed at the end of the text in the order listed below:

1. References

2. Appendices

3. Figure captions

4. Footnotes. Keep footnotes to a minimum. They complicate the paging process.

Table pages should be placed at the end of the text and numbered as a separate section.

Estimating length of printed text. Note that a printed page comprises roughly 650 words of fairly dense text (that is, with only a single centered heading on the page). This count can be used to roughly estimate the length of the printed text, with the required addition of printed pages occupied by figures, tables, appendices, etc.

FORMATTING CONTENT

Authors’ Names and Affiliations. Use a recent printed issue of the publication as a guide for formatting the manuscript. Note the difference between Novitates and Bulletin title page format for authors’ affiliations. AMNH employees’ affiliations should include author’s title at AMNH (curator, fellow, student, etc.). Non-AMNH employees should specify their affiliation with AMNH followed by title at home institution, name of home institution, and complete address. All authors should include e-mail addresses.

Title of Paper. The title should state the subject matter as briefly as possible. If the paper deals with taxonomic groups, indicate the names of the major group treated (scientific name or widely accepted vernacular name).

Table of Contents. Long papers that comprise 80 printed pages or more normally require a table of contents. Align the main headings flush left and indent subheadings with tabs. Headings should correspond exactly to text headings (see below) with the exception that long or parenthetical remarks can be omitted from the Contents. Use automated dot leaders to page numbers rather than manually typed dot leaders.

Abstract. An abstract is required. Make the abstract intelligible without reference to the body of the paper. Its purpose is to summarize the objectives and conclusions of the study so that readers can decide whether to read the entire document. It should be brief enough to be easily reproduced in secondary sources. Abstracts of systematic studies should include taxonomic innovations. Names of new taxa should be included. Normally, the abstract should be kept to one page or less (approximately 22 printed lines or 1900 or fewer characters in the Novitates, 57 lines or 5000 or fewer characters in the Bulletin).

Introduction. The Introduction is intended to inform the reader of the purpose and scope of the study in greater detail than the Abstract. Often it includes a historical review of the subject as it relates to the objectives of the current study. A section on Materials and Methods is properly placed at the end of this section. Abbreviations used for institutions and for scientific terms are properly listed at the end of the Introduction. Optionally, anatomical abbreviations can be included in the first figure legend and referred to in subsequent legends or they can be listed in an Appendix at the end of the paper.

Acknowledgments. An acknowledgment section should be included at the end of the text (immediately preceding the References). The author should include an acknowledgment of Grant or Fund support and of manuscript reviewers in this section. Titles (Dr., Mr., Ms.) should not be used.

Text Headings

Headings should correspond exactly to the headings in the Table of Contents. However, long parenthetical or qualifying remarks can be deleted from the Contents headings.

Level 1 heading: Format in all capital letters, centered (use for Abstract, Introduction, and main text headings).

Level 2 heading: Centered, initial capital letters and the rest lower case. Sometimes small capitals instead of lower case. Use for genus and species headings.

Level 3 heading: Paragraph indented, initial capitals and lower case (or initials capitals and small capitals), follow with colon and run into text.

If needed, an additional level of heading can be inserted subordinate to the last centered heading, but superior to the final run-in heading. It is formatted flush left but not run into subsequent text. Preferred format is initial capitals and lower case or initial capitals and small capitals.

If a series of centered headings is needed to specify taxonomic classification, it is preferable to type such taxonomic names in all capitals.

FORMATTING ELECTRONIC TEXT AND TABLE FILES

(Word, Wordperfect, and Xywrite files are acceptable. Submit on disk, CD-ROM, or short files can be sent as e-mail attachments.)

Formatting the text: Format standard text according to a recently published Novitates or Bulletin. Format “special”  sections of text (for which there is no previously printed example) in the style intended for the published document. Special Instructions for Style of such text can be typed at the beginning of the file, or attached to the hard copy, if necessary.

Use the tab key to indent the beginning of paragraphs or use the word processor’s indentation format. Inserting extra spaces to indent or align text is not acceptable.

Use the word processor’s “hanging indent” option to align “turnover” lines, known as “hanging paragraphs” (like the AMNH Reference section). Use these commands rather than tabs. All carriage returns and tabs inserted to indent successive lines of text within a paragraph must be removed before the file can be typeset.

Please leave all italic and boldface. (If you used underline instead of italic, it can be easily converted to italic by you or in the editorial office).

Do not randomly (and be careful not to inadvertently) insert carriage returns or spaces anywhere in the document, for example, at the ends of lines on the computer monitor. Do not double space following punctuation (periods, colons, semi-colons, etc.) or preceding carriage  returns.

Type a single space before and after mathematical symbols such as =, +, < , > , etc. Exception: Mathematical symbols should be closed up to parentheses: (= total males).

Hyphens: Type two hyphens for ranges or leave the word processor's N-dash if used (e.g., 4.5--10 mm, pp. 66--84, we captured 1050--1093 specimens representing 6--8 species).

Type three hyphens for the grammatical dash or leave the word processor's M-dash (for example, geographic upheaval---not temperature changes---led to extinction of these groups).

Type a single hyphen for hyphenated words (orange-brown coloration).

Headings: It is preferable to type all run-in headings (side heads such as Diagnosis, Description, etc.) either in capitals and small caps or in initial caps and lower case, not all capitals.

All Footnotes and/or Endnotes must be converted to regular text. If you used the wordprocessor’s “insert footnote” option instead of placing footnotes as regular text at the end of the document, they must be extracted and moved to the end of the file. If you cannot do this, it will be done in the editorial office.

Spacing around punctuation, between initials: Be consistent. All punctuation (including commas, periods, colons, and semicolons) should be followed by a single space only. Do not type spaces between initials in proper names, i.e., R.H. Macy, not R. H. Macy.

Table files: Extensive tables are prepared in the Publications Office and sent to the printer as line art. Note that both Excel table files and Word table files are acceptable. They are preferable to tables prepared in word processing text format.

Tables prepared as word processing text: It is preferable to set tab stops along your horizontal ruler to align columns. However, authors who use unaligned tabs should do the following:

(1) Insert a single tab preceding every entry (except for column 1).

(2) It is preferable to use a dash for blank entries. Please note that you must include a tab stop for every entry in every row, even for a blank entry (no data, no dash).