INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS
Acta Amazonica publishes original research, in the form of full articles, reviews and short communications that focus on the Amazon biome. Studies concerned with parts of other biomes in the Legal Amazon (Cerrado and Caatinga) are not prioritized by the journal. Manuscripts have to be written in English and are submitted to a double-blind review process.
Submissions are accepted in the following research areas:Agronomy and Forestry
Animal Sciences and Fisheries
Biodiversity and Conservation
Biotechnology
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Environmental Sciences
Food Sciences
Geosciences
Health Sciences
Human and Social Sciences
Materials Technology
GENERAL STYLE AND FORMAT
All manuscripts have to be submitted in English (both American and British English are accepted). As we use double-blind evaluation, all manuscripts have to be anonymized, i.e., all author information has to be submitted in a separate title-page file.
Manuscripts of all types have to be formatted as Office Word DOC/DOCX documents in A4 page size, with 3-cm margins all-round and continuous line numbering, written in Times Roman 12, with double line spacing throughout (including references and figure legends). Use single spacing for tables. Manuscript files should not exceed 2 MB.
Do not use one-sentence paragraphs. Avoid an excess of short paragraphs. Only one level of sub-titles is allowed within sections. Do not use sentences only to describe the content of tables or figures, as this information is redundant with figure legends and table captions.
Bibliographic citations are expected to be placed preferentially at the end of sentences, in parentheses. Use the format Smith (2007), (Smith 2007), Smith and Jones (2007), (Smith and Jones 2007), Smith et al. (2007), (Smith et al. 2007). Use the latter form for all references with more than three authors. List more than one citation in chronological order, and in alphabetical order for citations from the same year; for example: (Viana et al. 2001; Caldwell et al. 2007; Smith 2007; Benavides et al. 2017).
Cite figures and tables as (Figure 1) or (Table 1), etc. Cite figures and tables in the text in increasing numerical order. Place tables at the end of the manuscript. Figures have to be submitted separately (see below in Section Format).
Scientific names of species have to be written in italics and spelled out (e.g. Leporinus macrocephalus) in the title, and the first time they are cited in Abstract and Introduction. Use the abbreviated form (e.g. L. macrocephalus) in subsequent citations, except at the beginning of a sentence, when the name always has to be spelled out. Cite the author of the species (e.g. Leporinus macrocephalus Garavello and Britisk 1988) the first time it is cited after the Abstract.
Separate decimal fractions by a point, and separate numerals from measuring units by one space (e.g. 40.6 cm, 200.3 kcal), except for temperature units (e.g. 60°C, NOT 60 °C) and percentages (e.g. 5%, NOT 5 %). Use negative exponents instead of a slash (/) (e.g. cmol kg–1 instead of cmol/kg; m s–1, NOT m/s). Use space instead of point between symbols (e.g. m s–1, NOT m.s–1). Use kg instead of Kg and km instead of Km, etc. Formulas can be inserted in the text using the Office Word equation function tool.
Title page – Include in the title page file the title of the manuscript, the author names, authors’ institutional affiliations, e-mail of the corresponding author, the Acknowledgments section, and the Data Availability section (see below in Data Policy).
Write in capital letters the part of the surname that each author wants to be used in citations, e.g., if Maria Souza Pereira wants to be cited as Pereira MS, she should write her name as Maria Souza PEREIRA. If she wants to be cited as Souza-Pereira M, she should write her name as Maria SOUZA PEREIRA.
Write the authors' institutional affiliation in the language of the country of the institution. Names of institutions in countries that do not use the latin alphabet should be written in English. Write the affiliation beginning with the higher hierarchical level (e.g. university, research institute), followed by city, state and country. Street address is optional. If the author is affiliated to more than one institution, list each affiliation separately. When two or more authors share the same affiliation, list it only once. Check a recent issue of the journal for the format of authors names and institutions. Do not include titles (PhD, MSc, etc.) or other "mini CV" information in the address.
Original article – Manuscripts submitted as "original article" have to be based on original research and are limited to a total length of 7500 words (including title, abstract, references, figure legends and tables). Up to five tables and seven figures can be included (see below in Section Format).
Organize the manuscript in the following sequence: title in English, Abstract, Keywords, version in Portuguese OR Spanish of title, abstract and keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, References, Figure Legends, Tables.
Abstract and Resumo/Resumen are limited to 250 words. Results and Discussion are strictly separated sections. Do not repeat results, nor cite figures or tables, in the Discussion section.
Short Communication - Manuscripts submitted as "short communication" have to be based on original research that consists of more simple reports or data of not enough complexity for submission as an original article. They are limited to a total length of 2500 words (including title, abstract, references, figure legends and tables). Up to two tables and three figures can be included (see below in Section Format).
Organize the manuscript in the following sequence: title in English, Abstract, Keywords, version in Portuguese OR Spanish of title, abstract and keywords, body of the text (no section titles), References, Figure Legends, Tables.
Abstract and Resumo/Resumen are limited to 150 words. Although no section titles are used, the text should follow a logical sequence of introduction, methodology, results, discussion and conclusive remarks.
No supplementary material is allowed for short communications.
Review - Manuscripts submitted as "review" have to be based on original propositions of literature and data compilation, including an analytical interpretation and discussion, not only a simple description of the reviewed material. They are limited to a total length of 7500 words (including title, abstract, references, figure legends and tables). Up to five tables and seven figures can be included (see below for figure submission).
Organize the manuscript in the following sequence: title in English, Abstract, Keywords, version in Portuguese OR Spanish of title, abstract and keywords, Introduction, Material and Methods, body of the text, References, Figure Legends, Tables. An introduction and methodological section are mandatory, but the organization of the text after that is at the discretion of the authors.
Abstract and Resumo/Resumen are limited to 250 words.
Supplementary material – The submission of supplementary material is allowed for original articles and reviews, to provide access to support material that is not essential to the study, but aids in the interpretation of the results. It may be in the form of tables, images or figures, or other support material, such as, for example, lists of collection material examined or questionaires applied in ethnological studies. These materials will be available only in the online version of the article. Refer to supplementary files in the text of the manuscript as (Supplementary Material, Table S1) or (Supplementary Material, Figure S1), or (Supplementary Material, Appendix S1), etc. For the review process, submit all supplementary material, including tables, figures plus figure legends in one DOC/DOCX file.
Audio and video files do not need to be referred to in the text as "Supplementary Material". It is sufficient to include the URL link of the source file. Access to these files has to be available for reviewers.
SECTION FORMAT
AbstractThe abstract should present an essential overview of the study that makes the gist of the study clear for readers that read only the abstract of the article. Make sure to present the justification and objective of the study, its geographical circumscription, general methodology used, main results, main discussion points and conclusion.
KeywordsUse up to six words or expressions as keywords. Do not use words that are already used in the title.
IntroductionThis section should concentrate on introducing the specific subject of the study, avoiding information on the species, biome or research area that is unrelated to the specific objective of the study. The introduction should reflect the state of the art of the specific research topic, inform the knowledge gap addressed by the study, and make clear the interest of the study for the Amazon region. End the introduction with a paragraph stating the objectives of the study. State the working hypothesis of the study whenever pertinent.
Material and MethodsDescription of study sites and general geographical and environmental contexts should be written for a non regional readership that is not familiarized with the region. Sampling design, experimental design, laboratory procedures and statistical analyses have to be described clearly and with sufficient detail as to be replicated by other researchers. Include informative location maps when required. Use past tense in this section.
ResultsProvide here an objective report of observations, experiments, data analysis, etc. Always use past tense for reporting results. For the sake of transparency, report full test results, not only whether P is higher or lower than 0.05. Comments and interpretations belong to the Discussion. All tables and figures should be referred exclusively here. All samplings, experiments and analyses mentioned in Material and Methods have to be reported in the Results section and vice-versa.
DiscussionThis section should not be a repetition of results followed by comments. The Discussion is not expected to contain any reporting of results, neither original nor repeated from the Results section. The Discussion is expected to have a content beyond the simple comparison with measures or test results obtained by other authors on the same subject. Tables and figures should not be referred here, unless it is very relevant for a point being highlighted. References should reflect the current state of the knowledge in the specific research area of the study. Include references preferentially at the end of the sentence, in parentheses.
ConclusionsConclusions have to be written in one paragraph, and should present the answer to the question posed in the objectives, how the it fits into the body of knowledge on the subject, and how it informs future research.
AcknowledgmentsThis section is mandatory (to be placed in the title page) and should include all funding agencies of research grants and scholarships involved in the study, as well as institutional and individual support received by the authors. Names of institutions and agencies have to be spelled out and written in the original language of their home country (in English if the country of origin does not use the latin alphabet). If no external funding, nor specific funding from the home institution, was received whatsoever, authors are requested to state that the study was carried out without third-party funding and without specific institutional support.
ReferencesReferences should be mainly of up-to-date published peer-reviewed articles and books. The reference to preprints is not allowed in the published article.
Citation style templates for Acta Amazonica article, book, book chapter, webpage and thesis/dissertation format are available from Zotero Style Repository and Mendeley Reference Management.
In Zotero the style template can be downloaded from (https://www.zotero.org/styles/acta-amazonica).
In Mendeley, for the style template (acta-amazonica.csl) to be uploaded correctly, it needs to be saved in the <citationStyles-1.0> directory, usually located in:
C: > Program Files (x86) > Mendeley Desktop > citationStyles-1.0
Use the following formats for the reference list:
Articles in journalsPrestinaci, F.; Pezzotti, P.; Pantosti, A. 2015. Antimicrobial resistance: a global multifaceted phenomenon. Pathogens and Global Health 109: 309-318.
Publications with more than six authorsMassi, K.G.; Bird, M.; Marimon, B.S.; Marimon Jr., B.H.; Nogueira, D.S.; Oliveira, E.A; et al. 2017. Does soil pyrogenic carbon determine plant functional traits in Amazon basin forests? Plant Ecology 218: 1047-1062.
Magnusson, W.E.; Lima, A.P.; Luizão, R.; Luizão, F.; Costa, F.R.C.; de Castilho, C.V.; et al. 2005. RAPELD: a modification of the Gentry method for biodiversity surveys in long-term ecological research sites. Biota Neotropica 5: 01005022005.
BooksSoares, C.P.B.; Paula-Neto, F.P.; Souza, A.L. 2011. Dendrometria e inventário florestal. 2nd ed. Editora UFV, Viçosa. 272p.
Book chaptersMorais, E.G.F.; Peronti, A.L.B.G.; Marsaro-Júnior, A.L.; Amaro, G.C. 2015. Cochonilla-rosada, Maconellicoccus hirsutus (Green). In: Vilela, E.F.; Zucchi, R.A. (Eds.). Pragas introduzidas no Brasil: insetos e ácaros. FEALQ, Piracicaba. p.328-344.
Grey literature (theses, unpublished technical reports, technical brochures, online resources, etc.) can be accepted, but should be cited only when absolutely necessary, and weblinks to permanent official repositories where the material may be accessed should be included whenever possible. In case of an excess use of grey literature (>25% of references), its use should be justified in the cover letter to the editor.
Master´s dissertationTizuka, M.M. 2013. Geoarqueologia e paleohidrologia da planície aluvial holocênica do alto Rio Madeira entre Porto Velho e Abunã-RO. Master´s dissertation. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil, 170p. (http://repositorio.unesp.br/bitstream/handle/11449/92805/tizuka_mm_me_rcla.pdf?sequence=1)
Doctoral thesisBarbosa, C.E.A. 2012. Controles ambientais e bióticos da dinâmica de plântulas em uma floresta de terra-firme da Amazônia central. Doctoral thesis. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia -INPA), Brazil, 130p. (http://bdtd.inpa.gov.br/handle/tede/942).
Examples of other formatsASF. 2015. Alaska Satellite Facility’s data portal for remotely sensed imagery of the Earth. (https://vertex.daac.asf.alaska.edu/). Accessed on 26 Jun 2016.
Brasil. 2011. Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento – MAPA. Instrução normativa nº 13 de 24 de março de 2011. Protocolo oficial para avaliação da viabilidade e eficiência agronômica de cepas, inoculantes e tecnologias relacionados ao processo de fixação biológica do nitrogênio em leguminosas. (http://www.agricultura.gov.br/assuntos/insumos-agropecuarios/insumos-agricolas/fertilizantes/legislacao/in-sda-13-de-24-03-2011-inoculantes.pdf). Accessed on 15 Jan 2018.
IBGE. 2016. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Informações sobre o município de Barcelos, Amazonas. (https://cidades.ibge.gov.br/brasil/am/barcelos/panorama). Accessed on 15 Jan 2018.
SVS. 2014. Vigilância da Esquistossomose Mansoni. Diretrizes técnicas. 4th ed. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde, Ministério da Saúde, Brasil. 146p. (http://bvsms.saude.gov.br/bvs/publicacoes/vigilancia_esquistossome_mansoni_diretrizes_tecnicas.pdf). Accessed on 05 Jan 2018.
USGS. 2004. Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, 1 Arc Second scene SRTM_u03_n008e004, Unfilled Unfinished 2.0. Global Land Cover Facility, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, February 2000. (http://glcf.umd.edu/data/srtm/). Accessed on 05 Jan 2018.
WHO. 2015. World Malaria Report 2015. World Health Organization. (http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/world-malaria-report-2015/report/en/). Accessed on 08 Feb 2016.
Figure legendsLegends of figures should include sufficient metadata to be self-explanatory. Identify the legend with the format: Figure 1.
TablesTable captions should include sufficient metadata to be self-explanatory. Start the caption with the format: Table 1. Format tables with Office Word. Do not paste tables from other programs. Mark no vertical lines in tables. Use single spacing for table caption and content. When a table exceeds the size of the page, do NOT separate it in two independent tables.
FiguresFigures can be photographs, drawings or graphics. Submit figures exclusively as separate JPG or TIF files in high resolution, minimum 300 x 300 dpi, and maximum 6 MB individual file size. Photographs should be of high quality, sharp focus and adequate contrast. Do not use web posting resolution. Use at least resolution for printed documents. Figures should be formatted to fit within one column or two columns of the journal page format (check a recent issue for reference).
In graphs, mark the X and Y axes with a black solid line, and use inward-facing indentations for the scale-value positions only. Avoid the use of gridlines within the graph area. Place plot legends inside the graph area whenever possible. Both axes should have a title and scale values. Use a font size for axis titles and vales that is large enough to assure good visibility in one or two column width of the journal page. The meaning of symbols and acronyms used in figures must be defined in the figure legend. Do NOT use titles placed on top of the graph, nor outer encasing lines for the graph area.
In composite figures, label each panel with an uppercase letter (A, B, C, etc.).
Maps can have gridlines and have to include a scale bar.
Photographs, illustrations, maps and graphs can be submitted in color and will appear in color in the electronic version of the journal, but will appear in black and white in the printed version. If the authors wish that the figure appears in color in the printed version, the extra printing costs will be charged to the authors. When a color figure is submitted and intended only for the electronic version, please add "This figure is in color in the electronic version." to the figure legend.
Authors are kindly requested to give preference, whenever possible, to black and white graphs, which will be equaly readable in the electronic and printed versions.
For figures that have been previously published elsewhere, it has to be clearly stated in the figure legend that a permission for reproduction has been granted, along with the source of the figure. Authors may be asked at any time to provide the document that conceded the permission for reproduction. State the author of original drawings and photographs in the figure legend.
DATA POLICY
Nomenclature and units should follow internationally accepted rules and conventions. Use the metric system for measure units, following the International System of Units (SI) (https://www.nist.gov/publications/international-system-units-si-2019-edition). Include the equivalent in metric units when citing quantities in other systems. Biological nomenclature should follow the International Code of Nomenclature of Algae, Fungi and Plants (https://www.iaptglobal.org/icn), the International Code of Nomenclature of Procaryotes (https://www.the-icsp.org/), and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (https://code.iczn.org/). All biological species (crops, other plants, bacteria, yeasts, plants, fungi, animals, etc.) should be identified by their scientific name along with their common name in English, with the exception of common domestic animals. All biocides and other organic compounds, including active ingredients of formulations and extracts, should follow the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (https://iubmb.qmul.ac.uk/).
Voucher material has to be deposited in at least one official institutional zoological collection, herbarium or tissue collection, which has/have to be named in the manuscript, including voucher numbers. If voucher numbers are not available, the deposit must be attested in written form to the editor-in-chief by the collection curator.
Geographical coordinates of study areas and collected material have to be provided. Use the grades,minutes,seconds. For distributional data the datum of coordinates should be provided.
New animal species descriptions (or description of previously unknown life forms of a species) have to include the Official Register of Zoological Nomenclature from ZooBank (https://zoobank.org) as a hyperlink or registration code in the version of the manuscript accepted for publication.
Studies that involve essays with living organisms, such as fungi, bacteria, plants, etc., as well as DNA sequences, have to present in the version of the manuscript accepted for publication the registration code of deposit of voucher material in a sceintific collection or data repository of public access.
All pertinent permits, licenses and authorizations that were mandatory to carry out the study (environmental authorities, health safety authorities, ethics committees, etc.) have to be cited in the Material and Methods section. Adherence to international and/or national protocols related to experiments and laboratory procedures have to be stated whenever necessary.
Data availabilityAll original research articles have to include a "Data availability" section informing whether the dataset is available to the public and where it is deposited. Include this section in the title page.
According to Scielo´s gide on data availability statements (https://wp.scielo.org/wp-content/uploads/dados.pdf), the use of one of the following alternatives is mandatory:
Data not available – The data that support the findings of this study are not publicly available.
Data available – The data that support the findings of this study (a) were published in this article; (b) were published in this article and in its attached "Supplementary Material" section; (c) are available in [name of repository] and can be accessed at [URL or DOI]; or (d) are available in [name of repository] with the identifying codes [list of identifiers]. In the case of anonimized date, use (e) the anonimized data that support the findings of this study are available in [name of repository] and can be accessed at [URL or DOI].
Data available upon request – The data that support the findings of this study are available, upon reasonable request, (a) from the corresponding author [name of the corresponding author]; or (b) from [name of the organization]. The dataset is not publicly available because [detail the motive, e.g. the data contain information that compromise the privacy of participants in the research].
If the manuscript is accepted for publication, this information will appear in a "Data availability statement" at the end of the article.
SUBMISSION PROCESS
Access (http://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/aa-scielo) and follow the instructions therein.
All authors of the study have to be registered with a valid e-mail in the online submission form. When registering authors in the system, please use the official institution name in the language of the country of origin. Institutions from countries that do not use the latin alphabet should be registered in English.
Always upload the main document file before the figure files, and upload figure files in incresing order. This is necessary for the system to configure correctly the PDF file for reviewers.
When uploading figure files, include the complete figure legend (including the figure number) in the "Caption/Legend" box.
Submit supplementary material files as "Supplemental file for review".
Create a cover letter by typing or pasting text directly into the appropriate space in the submission panel, or by uploading a file as a "Supplemental file NOT for review". Address the cover letter to the editor-in-chief and include the following statements:
(a) The research data are original and accurate;(b) All authors participated actively in the discussion of results and have read and approved the final version of the manuscript, and assume public responsibility for its content;
(c) The submitted manuscript has not previously been published, nor has it been submitted for publication elsewhere, in print or online format, entirely or in part, and will not while being considerd for publication in Acta Amazonica;
(d) The manuscript does not infringe third-party copyright or intelectual property rights; otherwise I will be solely responsible and liable for any such infringement in all applicable administrative and legal instances;
(e) All ethical principles and guidelines that apply to the research presented in the submitted manuscript have been duly observed, and all pertinent declarations, authorizations and/or licenses are presented in the manuscript.
Further inquiries on the submission process should be directed to acta@inpa.gov.br. If you already have submitted a manuscript, please make sure to inform the submission number.
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.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Acta Amazonica does not charge submission or publication fees. Access to the online version is free of charge.
Subscriptions to Acta Amazonica (printed version) are available for an annual fee of USD 100.00 for institutional subscriptions and USD 75.00 for individual subscriptions, payable by check or bank transfer. Inquiries regarding subcriptions should be directed to e-mail acta@inpa.gov.br, or phone +55 92 3643-3236.
