INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
It is expected that manuscripts submitted to Acta Amazonica are prepared according to the Instructions to Authors (guidelines). Thus, please make sure your manuscript follows these guidelines before uploading your submission. Manuscripts that do not adhere to the Journal´s instructions are returned to authors.
1. Maximum size of an individual file should be 2 MB.
2. A letter submitting the manuscript (cover letter) should state that:
a) The research data are original and accurate; b) all the authors participated substantially and are prepared to assume public responsibility for its content; c) the contribution presented to this journal has not previously been published, nor has it been submitted for publication elsewhere, entirely or in part. Upload the cover letter upon submission.
3. The manuscripts must be written in English. The veracity of the information contained in the manuscript is exclusive responsibility of authors.
4. Maximum length for articles and reviews is 30 pages (or 7500 words, disregarding the title page), ten pages (2500 words) for short communications, and five pages for other contributions.
5. Manuscripts properly formatted according to the "Instructions to authors" are sent to Associate Editors for pre-evaluation. In this first judgment it is taken into consideration the scientific relevance and intelligibility of the manuscript, and its scope within the Amazonian context. In this phase, contributions outside of the scope of the Journal or of little scientific value are declined. Manuscripts approved in the first judgment are sent to scientific referees for evaluation, at least two reviewers; experts from institutions other than those of the authors.
6. Acceptance of manuscripts will be based on the scientific content and the correct formatting according to the Journal guidelines.
7. Manuscripts requiring corrections will be returned to the authors for revision. The revised version needs to be uploaded in the Journal system in TWO weeks' time. A response letter is required to be returned with the revised version. In this letter, please detail the modifications made to the manuscript. Recommendations not incorporated into the revised version, if any, need to be responded. The entire process is online, and can be followed at the Journal Web site, http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/aa-scielo.
8. Follow these instructions to prepare and upload the manuscript:
a. Authorship and manuscript information (Title page, please use the word format): This page must contain the manuscript title, authorship (last name in uppercase letter), full institutional address of the authors, and email of the corresponding author. Do NOT abbreviate names of institutions. Use an asterisk (*) to indicate the corresponding author. Only the e-mail of the corresponding author is required in the title page of the manuscript.
Upon submission, upload this file selecting the option: "Title page".
b. Main body of the text (main document , please use the word format). The text of the manuscript should follow this order: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements , References, Figure legends, and Tables. It is also required to include a “Titulo, Resumo and Palavras-chave” in Portuguese OR Spanish.
Upon submission upload this file as "Main document".
c. Figures. Up to seven figures are permitted for articles. Each figure MUST be uploaded as a separate file. Figures should be in the graphic format (JPG or TIFF) and of high quality and resolution (300 dpi). Use 600 dpi for bitmap illustration.
Upload each of these files selecting the option: "Figure".
d. Tables. Five tables are permitted for articles. Use single spacing and the table function for typing tables. Please insert the Tables at the end of the text of the manuscript (main document ), after the "Figure legends".
9. Short communications are to be written separating the topics (Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions) in paragraphs, but without including their titles. They also have to include all the sections of the full article (e.g.: Title, authorship, affiliation, electronic address, Abstract, Keywords, Acknowledgements, References). Three figures and two tables are permitted. Upload the "title page", "main document", figures and tables as described previously (Item 8).
10. Full name of authors and their institutional addresses and e-mails must be registered in the Journal system.
11. IMPORTANT NOTE: Manuscripts not properly formatted according to the "Instructions to Authors" are NOT accepted for publication.
FORMAT AND STYLE
12. The manuscript is to be prepared with a text editor (e.g. doc or docx), typed using "Times New Roman" 12-point font. It should be double-spaced with 3-cm margins; pages and lines consecutively numbered. For tables see Item 8d.
13. Title. Adjust to the left and capitalize the first letter of the sentence. Avoid using scientific names.
14. Abstract. It should have up to 250 words (150 for short communications). Initiate the Abstract with a couple of lines (rationale), and after that clearly state the objectives. The Abstract must succinctly contain the methodology, results and conclusions, emphasizing important aspects of the study. It should be intelligible for itself. Scientific names of species and other Latin terms should be in italic. Avoid acronyms, but if they are required give their meaning. Do not use references in this section.
15. Keywords. They must consist of four or five terms. Each keyword term may consist of two or more words. However, words used in the title cannot be repeated as keywords.
16. Introduction. This section should emphasize the purpose of the study. It should convey an overview of previous relevant studies, as well as clearly state the objectives or hypotheses to be tested. This section is expected not to exceed 35 lines. Do not anticipate data or conclusions of the manuscript and do NOT include subtitles in this section. End the Introduction with the objectives.
17. Materials and Methods. This section should contain enough information, chronologically organized to explain the procedures carried out, in such a way that other researches can be able to repeat the study. Statistical treatments of data should be described. Standard techniques need only be referenced. Measuring units and their abbreviations should follow the International System and, when necessary, should include a list of the abbreviations utilized. Specific instruments used in the study should be described (model, manufacturer, city and country of manufacturing, in parentheses). For example: "Photosynthesis was determined using a portable gas exchange system (Li-6400, Li-Cor, Lincoln, NE, USA)". Voucher material (sample for future reference) should be deposited in one or more scientific collections and informed in the manuscript. Do NOT use sub-subtitles in this section. Use bold, but not italic or uppercase letters for subtitles.
18. Ethics and legal aspects: For studies that requires special permissions (e.g. Ethic Committee/National Commission of Ethic in Research-CONEP, IBAMA, SISBIO, CNPq, CNTBio, INCRA/FUNAI, EIA/ RIMA, others) the registration/approval number (and publishing date) must be informed. Authors are responsible to follow all specific regulations on this issue.
19. Results. This section should present a concise description of information obtained, with a minimum of personal judgment. Do not repeat in the text all the data contained in tables and illustrations. Do not present the same information (data) in tables and figures simultaneously. Do not use sub-subtitles in this section. Numeral should be one space-separated from units. For example, 60 °C and NOT 60°C, except for percentages (for instance, 5% and NOT 5 %).
Units: Use units and symbols of the International System. Use negative exponents instead of slash (/). For example: cmol kg–1 instead of meq/100g; m s–1 instead of m/s. Use space instead of point between symbols:
m s–1 instead of m.s–1. Use a dash (NOT a hyphen) to denote negative numbers. For example: –2, instead of -2. Use kg instead of Kg and km instead of Km.
20. Discussion. The discussion should focus on results obtained. Avoid mere speculation. However, well based hypotheses can be incorporated. Only relevant references should be included.
21. Conclusions. This section should contain a concise interpretation of main results and a final message, which should highlight the scientific implications of the study. Write the conclusions in a separate section (one paragraph).
22. Acknowledgements should be brief and concise. Include funding agency. Do NOT abbreviate names of institutions.
23. References. At least 70% of references must be scientific journal articles. Citations should preferentially be from last 10 years. It is suggested not to exceed 40 references. They should be cited in alphabetical order of author names, and should be restricted to citation included in the text. If a reference has more than ten authors, use only the six first names and et. al. In this section, the journal title is NOT abbreviated. See the examples below:
a) Articles from periodicals:
Villa Nova, N.A.; Salati, E.; Matsui, E. 1976. Estimativa da evapotranspiração na Bacia Amazônica. Acta Amazonica 6: 215-228.
Articles from periodicals that do not follow traditional pagination:
Ozanne, C.M.P.; Cabral, C.; Shaw, P.J. 2014. Variation in indigenous forest resource use in Central Guyana. PLoS ONE 9: e102952.
b) Dissertations and theses:
Ribeiro, M.C.L.B. 1983. As migrações dos jaraquis (Pisces: Prochilodontidae) no rio Negro, Amazonas, Brasil. Dissertação de Mestrado, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia/Fundação Universidade do Amazonas, Manaus, Amazonas. 192p.
c) Books:
Steel, R.G.D.; Torrie, J.H. 1980. Principles and procedures of statistics: a biometrical approach. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill, New York, 633p.
d) Book chapters:
Absy, M.L. 1993. Mudanças da vegetação e clima da Amazônia durante o Quaternário. In: Ferreira, E.J.G.; Santos, G.M.; Leão, E.L.M.; Oliveira, L.A. (Ed.). Bases científicas para estratégias de preservação e desenvolvimento da Amazônia. v.2. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas, p.3-10.
e) Citation of electronic Source:
CPTEC, 1999. Climanalise, 14: 1-2 (www.cptec.inpe.br/products/climanalise). Accessed on 19/05/1999.
f) Citations with more than ten authors:
Tseng, Y.-H.; Kokkotou, E.; Schulz, T.J.; Huang, T.L.; Winnay, J.N.; Taniguchi, C.M.; et al. 2008. New role of bone morphogenetic protein 7 in brown adipogenesis and energy expenditure. Nature 454: 1000-1004.
24. Citations in the text. Citations of references follow a chronological order. For two or more references from the same year cite according to alphabetical order. Please see the following examples.
a) One author:
Pereira (1995) or (Pereira 1995).
b) Two authors:
Oliveira and Souza (2003) or (Oliveira and Souza 2003).
c) Three or more authors:
Rezende et al. (2002) or (Rezende et al. 2002).
d) Citations from different years (chronological order):
Silva (1991), Castro (1998) and Alves (2010) or (Silva 1991; Castro 1998; Alves 2010).
e) Citations in the same year (alphabetical order):
Ferreira et al. (2001) and Fonseca et al. (2001); or (Ferreira et al. 2001; Fonseca et al. 2001).
FIGURES
25. Photographs, drawings and graphics should have high definition, with high black and white contrast. Do NOT use grey tones in scatter graphs or bar charts. In scatter graphs use black (solid, dotted or dashed) lines and open or solid (circle, square, triangle or diamond) symbols. For bar charts, black, white, stripped or dotted bars can be used. Border the plotting area with a thin solid line, but do NOT use a border line in the graphic area. Label each panel of a composite figure (multiple panels) with an uppercase letter inside the plotting area, in the upper right-hand corner.
26. Avoid unnecessary legends in the plotting area. Do NOT use letters too small (< size 10) in figures (either in title axes or within the plotting area). In axes, use inward-oriented marks in scale divisions. Do NOT use horizontal or vertical grid lines, except in maps or similar illustrations. Each axis of the graphic should have a title and unit. Avoid too many subdivisions on the axis scale (five to six should suffice). On maps include a scale bar and at least one cardinal point.
27. Figures should be formatted to fit within the page dimensions of the Journal, namely, within a column (8 cm) or the width of the entire page (17 cm), and allowing space for the figure legend (caption). Illustrations can be resized during the production process in order to optimize Journal space. Scales should be indicated by a bar (horizontal) in the figure and, if necessary, referenced in the figure legend. For example, scale bar = 1 mm.
28. Figures in the text: Figures can be cited directly or indirectly (in parentheses), with the initial letter capitalized. For example: Figure 1 or (Figure 1). In the legend, figure number should be followed by a period. For example: "Figure 1. Analysis...". Meaning of symbols and acronyms used in figures must be defined in the figure legend. Figures should be self-explanatory.
29. For figures that have been previously published, the authors should clearly state in the manuscript that a permission for reproduction has been granted. The document that conceded such authorization should be uploaded (not for review) in the Journal system.
30. In addition to figures in the graphic format (TIFF, JPG), bar charts and scatter graphs generated using Excel or SigmaPlot can be uploaded. Select the option supplemental file NOT for review.
31. Color illustrations. Photographs and others illustrations are expected to be black and white. Color illustrations are accepted; however, there is a printing cost, which is charged to authors. Without costs to authors, a color illustration can be used in the Journal electronic version; whereas a black and white version of the same figure can be used in the printed version. When a color photograph is used only in the electronic version, mention it in the figure legend. For example, adding this sentence "this figure is in color in the electronic version". This information is for the readers of the printed issue.
Authors can be invited to submit a color photograph to illustrate the Journal cover page. In this case, the printing cost will be afforded by the Journal.
TABLES
32. Tables should be well organized and numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals. The numbering and the table title (legend) should be at top of the table. A table may have footnotes. The meaning of symbols and acronyms used in the table (e.g. head columns, etc.) MUST be defined in the table title. Use horizontal lines above and below the table, and for separating the heading from the main body of the table. Do NOT use vertical lines.
33. Tables should be generated using a text editor (e.g. doc or docx), and should NOT be inserted in the manuscript as an image (e.g. in JPG format).
34. Table citations in the text can be made directly or indirectly (in parentheses), with the initial letter capitalized. For example: Table 1 or (Table 1). In the table legend, the table number should be followed by a period, for instance: "Table 1. Analysis...". Tables should be self-explanatory.
LICENSING AND COPYRIGHT
All content of the journal is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). Under CC-BY, authors retain copyright of their work. The license allows re-distribution and re-use of the published work on the condition that the creator is appropriately credited.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Acta Amazonica can make minor formatting and grammar corrections in the manuscript to adjust to editorial and language standard. Before printing, the proof is sent to authors for last verification. In this phase only typographical or spelling mistakes can be corrected in the proof. NO major changes can be made on the manuscript at this stage, otherwise the entire manuscript will return to the evaluation process by the Editorial Board.
Acta Amazonica does not charge a fee for publication. Also, there is no fee charge for submission and evaluation of manuscripts. Further information can be obtained by e-mail acta@inpa.gov.br. If your inquiry is about a submission please inform the submission number.
Subscriptions to Acta Amazonica (printed version) can be paid by check or money order. Institutional subscriptions US$ 100.00; individual subscription US$ 75.00. Please contact by e-mail: acta@inpa.gov.br.Tel.: (55 92) 3643-3236 or fax: (55 92) 3643-3029
