Arachnology submission guidelines

Submission of manuscripts to Arachnology

  • Arachnology is devoted to the study of arachnids, excluding papers relating solely to mites.
  • All contributions are in the English language.
  • Papers are accepted on the understanding that they are not being offered in whole or in part to any other journal, and that the author is offering the British Arachnological Society the right of reproduction without payment to the author(s). There are no submission or page charges to authors.
  • Submission should be made through the British Arachnological Society online submission system: bas@manuscriptmanager.net
  • Publication queries can be emailed to: arachnology@icloud.com

Text

  • All text (including references, figure legends, etc.) should be double spaced, with wide margins (c. 1″, 2 cm), on numbered pages; the addition of line numbers would assist reviewers.
  • Manuscripts should be concise and the title of the paper as short as possible. The title should be in sentence case. A short running title, suitable for page headings, should be provided.
  • The name(s) of the author(s) will appear at the beginning of the paper, together with the institution in which the research has been carried out, and email address(es). If any author has subsequently moved to a new address, this may be given in a footnote.
  • All papers except short notes should be accompanied by an Abstract (ideally not more than 200 words) in continuous prose, giving a succinct account of the subject, results obtained, and conclusions, followed by a list of useful Keywords not contained in the title.
  • Tables, footnotes, and legends for illustrations should be placed separately at the end of the manuscript, and should be kept to a minimum.
  • The text should include, in order: Title, author(s) and address(es), Abstract, Keywords, main text, References, tables with their headings, legends to figures, and any footnotes.
  • All living organisms, where exactly identified and relevant to the article, should be given their full scientific name. Latin names of genera and species should be italicized. The first mention of a species should include the full scientific name with authority, but thereafter the authority can be omitted.
  • An initial capital letter must be used for proper names, the Latin names of orders, families, etc., but not for anglicized derivatives from Latin names nor for English names of plants and animals.
  • Dates should be in the form 02 June 1954; the month should not be indicated by a figure.
  • All figures, including half-tones and line drawings, should be referred to as Fig. 1, Figs. 2–3, etc., and numbered sequentially throughout the paper. Should it be necessary to divide a figure into separate parts, they should be referred to as Fig. 1A, C–D, etc.
  • If a new taxon is described, the location of the type material in a museum must be indicated. ICZN rules should be adhered to. The Editor will ensure that new taxa are recorded in Zoobank.
  • The metric system is used throughout. Only the minimum of numerical matter essential for clarity should be used.

References to literature

  • In the text, if there are more than three authors, quote only the first followed by et al. and the date, but all authors’ names should be included in the references. Lists of references in parentheses should be arranged in chronological order.
  • References should be listed in alphabetical order at the end of the paper in the following form (note that Arachnology uses full journal titles):
    • CURTIS, D. J. 1968: Fine structural studies on the eyes of Phalangida. Ph.D. thesis, University of Liverpool.
    • GABBUTT, P. D. 1969: Chelal growth in pseudoscorpions. Journal of Zoology 157: 413–427.
    • HUXLEY, J. S. 1932: Problems of relative growth. London, Methuen. 
    • MANTON, S. M. 1968: Terrestrial Arthropoda 11. In J. Gray, Animal locomotion. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 333–376.
    • MERRETT, P., RUSSELL-SMITH, A. & HARVEY, P. 2014: A revised check list of British spiders. Arachnology 16: 134–144.
    • WORLD SPIDER CATALOG 2021: World spider catalog, version 22.5. Bern: Natural History Museum, online at http://wsc.nmbe.ch
  • References should be arranged first alphabetically, then chronologically. Indicate first, second, third, etc., works by the same author(s) in the same year by a, b, c, etc., e.g. BONNET, P. 1933a. Authors must ensure that the references are accurately cited; they will not be checked by the Editor. All authors quoted in the text must be included in the list of references, including taxon authorities in taxonomic papers.

Illustrations and tables

  • All figures should be arranged to fit in either column width (8.4 cm) or page width (17.7 cm).
  • Explanations should, where possible, be placed in the legend; the drawing itself should contain a minimum of lettering which should be done in sans serif lettering, with appropriate allowance made for any reduction. Graph curves may be distinguished by the use of solid, pecked or dotted lines; avoid 3D effects in graphs.
  • If related diagrams are grouped to form a single figure, they should be prepared uniformly to the same scale. A metric scale should be included near each diagram or, alternatively, the magnification or reduction indicated in the legend and adjusted to allow for reduction in the printed size of the illustration.
  • Photographs should be at least 300 dpi at final size; figures that contain both photographs and text or fine lines should be at least 500 dpi at final size, and line drawings (bitmaps) at least 1270 dpi at final size. Illustrations should preferably be submitted as TIF, JPG, or EPS files. Originals need not be submitted initially, but only when requested after acceptance for publication.
  • Colour illustrations will be published in both the online and printed editions.
  • Tables should be set out on separate pages, numbered in Arabic numerals and given a concise heading. All captions should be self-explanatory and should include a key to any symbols used.
  • Any supplementary material provided by the author(s) will be deposited by the Editor in Zenodo (zenodo.org).

Proofs

  • One set of digital proofs will be sent to the author, which should be returned, duly corrected, with the least possible delay.
  • All technical matter in the article, including references, names, figures (numbers, formulae, etc.), illustrations, etc., are the responsibility of the author. Unless there have been substantial changes, revised proofs will not normally be sent to authors.

Separates and PDF file

  • An order form for run-on copies will be sent to the author with the proofs. All authors will be provided with a PDF file of their paper, which is for personal use only for distribution to colleagues.
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