Instructions in Format  

INFORMATION FOR CONTRIBUTORS

Introduction

These guidelines in English are aimed at potential authors interested in submitting manuscripts written in this language to the Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México (BSBM), the periodical published by the Botanical Society of Mexico (SBM). The BSBM is a scientific journal specialized in the field of Botany and its scope covers all areas of plant sciences, from ecosystem and plant community to anatomical, molecular and phytochemical approaches.
The BSBM welcomes original research papers, review papers, botanical notes and comments that promote the development of botanical knowledge. Book reviews and synopses of unpublished materials of general botanical interest are also considered. Accepted languages for publication are Spanish and English.
Active SBM members have the right to publish up to five printed pages free of charge. Authors must identify themselves as SBM members when submitting a manuscript; extra pages will be charged at $250.00 Mexican Pesos ($ 25.00 USD). Non-members must pay the total cost of printing and editorial processing at the same rate per page; publication cost will be sent to authors together with proofs for correction.

Fifty reprints will be provided free of charge to authors. Special requests for more reprints will be received provided the authors are willing to pay their cost.

IInstructions to authors

a. Send original manuscript, including photographs and illustrations, in original and three copies.

b. Use letter-size (21 × 28 cm) white paper, printed on one side only.

c. The entire manuscript, including text, references, legends to figures and tables must be printed double-spaced with the “Times New Roman” 12 points typeface.

d. Margins on four sides must be at least 2.5 cm wide. e. Paragraphs must have a three-space indentation, except those directly under a heading.

f. All lines must finish with complete words (no hyphens); paragraphs must be left-justified.

g. All pages must be numbered consecutively.

h. Tables and figures must be located at the end of the manuscript; figure legends must be written after Literature Cited.

Manuscript organization

Manuscripts should not exceed 30 pages, including tables, figures and cited literature, except when the nature of the work justifies a greater length.

Original research papers, review papers and opinion

1. Title and author(s).
a. Title. Must be short, concise, and must clearly reflect the contents of the paper. Capital letters must be used only at the beginning of the sentence and when necessary; if the title includes scientific names of species these must be written in italics.
b. Spanish title. Must be a direct translation of the English one. This will be included in the contents page of the corresponding issue of the BSBM.
c. Authors’ names and institutional affiliation. Names of all authors must be written in full, using upper-case and lower-case letters, centered in the page. Authors from Spanish-speaking countries wanting to use their two family names must necessarily join them with a hyphen. Names must be followed (in a new line) by the name of their institution and/or the place where the research was conducted.
d. Additional information. Include phone/fax numbers and e-mail address to facilitate communication between the editor and the author(s).
e. Running title. If the title is too long, authors may suggest one or several running heads, as short as possible (maximum eight words) that synthesizes it.

2. Abstract.
1. Contents and length. In a maximum of 150 words the most important aspects of the paper must be synthesized, including its relevance and rationale, experimental or observational procedures, as well as the main conclusions reached.

2. The abstract must be written in English and in Spanish (Resumen). If the author is unable to provide the Spanish translation, the journal’s editor may do it.

3. Key words. A maximum of five key words will serve to identify the main topics of the paper. These must be written just below the last line of the abstract and of the resumen, in lower-case letters, separated by commas.

4. Introduction (no heading). The theoretical and conceptual context of the investigation must be described briefly, together with the importance of the problem, its pertinence or the necessity and rationale of the investigation. The relevant literature will be revised here and the hypotheses and objectives will be stated.

5. Materials and methods. Materials used, procedures followed, variable measurements, statistical treatment of data, and other relevant information such as data bases used in the research must be described with all necessary detail. This section must contain necessary and sufficient information to allow corroboration of the experimental designs and the overall methods by other colleagues.

6. Results. Only the observed facts, derived from the application of the methods must be presented in a logical and objective manner, with the support of tables and figures, but strictly avoiding repetition in these aids.

7. Discussion. This section contains the authors’ interpretation about their results, a discussion of their meaning and an examination of the hypotheses in the light of the scientific knowledge accumulated up to the time of publication. This section must include assertions about the tested hypotheses and the general conclusions emerging from their findings.

8. Acknowledgments. These must be as short as possible, indicating granting agency and project number (if applicable).

9. Literature cited. A complete list of printed or on-line sources of information that were mentioned in any part of the text, including tables and figures, in strict alphabetical order and according to the following guidelines:

a. Articles in scientific periodicals. First author, family name(s), initial(s); if more than one author, the remaining in the following order: last name, initial(s). Publication year. Title of paper. Journal’s name, in full and in italics, volume or issue (in bold): page range. When ibero-american (hispanic) authors use both family names, these must be joined with a hyphen. Examples:

Rzedowski J. 1981. Un siglo de la botánica en México. Boletín de la Sociedad Botánica de México 65:79-89.

Vázquez-Yanes C. and Orozco-Segovia A. 1993. Patterns of seed longevity and germination in the tropical rainforest. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 24:69-87.

b. Technical bulletins or other non-periodic serials.

Arnauld M.C. 1994. La cuenca de Zacapu en una secuencia de 8000 años. Evolución de los diferentes paisajes y primeros desmontes. Cuadernos de Estudios Michoacanos, CEMAC, México, D.F.

c. Books. Examples:

Cox C.B. and Moore P.D. 1996. Biogeography: An Ecological and Evolutionary Approach. 5th ed., Blackwell Science, Oxford.

Rzedowski J. 1978. Vegetación de México. Limusa, México, D.F.

d. Book chapters. Examples:

Gentry A.H. 1991. The distribution and evolution of climbing plants. In: Putz F.E. and Mooney H.A. Eds. The Biology of Vines, pp. 1-49, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Wendt, T. 1993. Composition, floristic affinities, and origins of the canopy tree flora of the Mexican Atlantic slope rain forest. In: Ramamoorthy T.P., Bye R., Lot A. and Fa J. Eds. Biological Diversity of Mexico: Origins and Distribution, pp. 595-680, Oxford University Press, New York.

e. Thesis, dissertations and the like. Example:

Ortega-Guerrero B. 1992. Paleomagnetismo, magnetoestratigrafía y paleoecología del Cuaternario tardío en el Lago de Chalco, Cuenca de México. Ph.D. Dissertation, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F., 161 pp.

10. Appendices. Lengthy materials, whose inclusion in text may not be adequate, may be published as appendices and will be attached in an ordered fashion at the end of the text.

11. Footnotes. These will be used only when strictly necessary (in most cases the information may be incorporated into the text). These should be concisely written and numbered progressively. The Editorial Committee keeps the right to remove those footnotes considered to be inadequate.

12. Headings. These may be of various ranks (orders), which is indicated by their position in the text.
a. First order headings. The only heading of this type is the title of the paper.

b. Second order headings. These correspond to the main sections of the text: Abstract, Resumen, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments and Literature cited. They must be written in upper- and lower-case letters, in bold typeface.

c. Third order headings. They are written in upper- and lower-case characters, left-justified, and in italics, two spaces below last line of previous paragraph. Text follows in the same line, separated by a period.

d. Fourth order headings. They are written in higher- and lower-case letters, left-justified. Text follows in the same line, separated by a period and a hyphen.

e. Lower rank headings. When these are really necessary, letters or numbers may be used.

13. References cited in text. All references cited in the text must be listed in the Literature Cited section.

a. The complete last name(s) of the author and publication must be written, separated by a comma.

b. In the case of two authors, last name(s) of each one and publication year.

c. In the case of three or more authors, only the complete last name(s) of the first one will be written, followed by et al. (in italics) and publication year.

d. When several papers are cited together, these must be ordered chronologically.

e. When the author(s) name(s) is part of the sentence, publication year will be in parentheses.

f. When the reference is located at the end of the sentence, both the last name(s) and the publication year will be in parentheses, separated by a comma.

g. If more than one paper of a given author or author combination are cited that were published in the same year, these must be distinguished by using lower-case letters (a, b, c, d).

h. Personal communications will be cited in the text as if they were published references, except that first name(s) initial(s) will be added. Example: (P. Dávila, pers. comm.).

i. Verbatim quotes. When used, these will be written between quotation marks. If they are longer than one line, they must be indented on both sides; the reference will include last name(s), year and page after a colon.

14. Tables and figures. These are used in order to replace text or because their use helps to save space. They must be clear, simple and concise. The third dimension must be strictly avoided in graphs, unless absolutely necessary. They may not be larger than letter-size paper. Tables may have footnotes where elements of the table are referred to by numbers and explained. Tables and figures must be numbered consecutively, according to the order of appearance in the text. Headings of tables and legends to figures must be concise but self-explanatory, of three lines maximum. Titles of columns in tables must be written in upper- and lower-case characters. Photographs must have a legend and be numbered as figures; in the case of microphotographs the legend must indicate the corresponding enlargement of the take. All tables and figures must be cited in the text.

a. Formulae. These must be written with the same typeface, leaving a blank line between them; subindices and superindices must be properly located and readable; the numbers 0 and 1 must be clearly differentiated from capital letters O and I, respectively.

b. Equations. These must be numbered consecutively in parenthesis on the right side of the page.

c. Greek letters and symbols. These should be explained after being used for the first time, except those of universal use. The expression “chi-squared” must be written χ2.

d. Fractions. The lineal form will be used, with negative exponents for denominators.

e. Abbreviations or acronyms. They must be explained the first time they are used in text.

f. Nomenclature. This must follow international rules of nomenclature pointed out in the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. When necessary they must be subjected to the principles of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature and to the International Code of Bacterial Nomenclature. All living organisms (plants, insects, birds, mammals, etc.) that are the central topic of the paper must be identified with their scientific (latin) names the first time they are mentioned. Italics will be use for them as well as for words in foreign languages.

15. Illustrations. These must be numbered consecutively and cited in text. Line-drawings and graphs must be sent as printed originals of very good quality. After acceptance of the paper these must be sent together with the text, in PC floppies or CDs, prepared with a recent version of MS-Word. Figures or slides must be sent as separate files (never as part of the text), in TIFF or EPS format, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and size bigger than half of a letter page. In addition to the printed material, graphs must be accompanied by files in EXCEL format. Dendrograms, cladograms or any other graph prepared with other software must be sent with the corresponding file, indicating name and version of the software used..

Short scientific note or communication

These serve to report findings or contributions that deserve immediate publication. They do not require those sections of original research papers and the author is free to decide the details of their structure. Maximum length of five pages.

Book review

It is an analytical appraisal of scientific books or publications of broad interest for the readership. It must be properly sustained and should be no longer than five pages. Its aim is to objectively orient the scientific community. It may have a free format and structure, and will not be subject to peer-review.