(Revised May 2003)

Systematic Biology (SB ) is the journal of the Society of Systematic Biologists. SB is published six times per year: February, April, June, August, October, and December. As stated in our constitution, the objective of this society is the advancement of the science of systematic biology in all its aspects of theory, principles, methodology, and practice, for both living and fossil organisms, with emphasis on areas of common interest to all systematic biologists regardless of individual specialization.

Systematics is the study of biological diversity and its origins. It focuses on understanding evolutionary relationships among organisms, species, higher taxa, or other biological entities, such as genes, and the evolution of the properties of taxa including intrinsic traits, ecological interactions, and geographic distributions. An important part of systematics is the development of methods for various aspects of phylogenetic inference and biological nomenclature/classification.

Articles published in SB are original theoretical or empirical studies that explore principles and/or methods of systematics. Systematics is considered broadly to include phylogenetic studies of biogeography, paleontology, development, genes, and/or anatomical/cellular/molecular traits of taxa. Empirical papers chosen for publication are judged to be of interest to a broad systematics audience because they represent exemplary case studies involving some important contemporary issue or issues. These may be unusually thorough explorations of data, applications of new methodology, illustrations of fundamental principles, and/or investigations of interesting evolutionary questions.

Points of View address controversial topics of current interest to systematists, and may be presented either individually or as point/counterpoint discussions between authors with opposing views. POV's should comprise well-developed justifications for substantive differences of opinion.

Book Review proposals may be submitted to the Book Review Editor for approval. "Book Reviews" may include reviews of major software packages. Software reviews must include extensive testing of the program and its options.

Announcements are also published.

Submission of Manuscripts for Review (TOP)

The preferred method of manuscript submission is via e-mail as electronic files to the editorial office: Deborah Ciszek at systbiol@uconn.edu with a CC to r.page@bio.gla.ac.uk. The text should be submitted as a PDF file and if possible a Microsoft Word file. The MS Word file is highly recommended and may help speed the review process by allowing editors to easily insert comments on the electronic copy. For review, illustrations should be included at the end of the same PDF file as the text but for publication of accepted manuscripts, separate text and illustration files will be requested as described below. If a PDF is sent, figures need not be included in the MS Word version. To reduce PDF file size for most efficient transmission use the "optimize" function in Adobe Acrobat (or other program), and use no more than 300 dpi for figures.

Naming Files: To aid the Editor in file management, please start all filenames with the name of the first author; it would also be useful to include the date: e.g., "Smith_et_al._4Sep01.doc" (spell out the month to avoid confusion).

Important: Please place the date of submission on the top right corner of the title page and change the date on subsequent revisions.

For manuscripts involving phylogenetic analyses, electronic copies of data sets (e.g. nucleotide sequence data) and alignments, in nexus format, must be supplied.

Corresponding authors will receive a confirmation of manuscript receipt via e-mail. Authors who have not received a confirmation within one week should check with the editorial office. Manuscripts will be sent electronically to Associate Editors, who will then send them electronically to reviewers, who will return reviews the same way.

Authors lacking the ability to construct PDF files or with questions on formatting PDF’s may e-mail Managing Editor Deborah Ciszek, at systbiol@uconn.edu for instructions.

Special arrangements will be made for authors who do not have access to the internet. These authors may mail a disk containing an electronic version of their manuscript to Deborah Ciszek, Managing Editor, Systematic Biology, 28028 Fireweed Dr., Evergreen, CO 80439 USA.

Each manuscript must be accompanied by a statement that it has not been published or submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material from other sources and are required to sign an agreement for the transfer of copyright to the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) once the paper is accepted. All accepted manuscripts, artwork, and photographs become the property of SSB.

Manuscript Formatting (TOP)

Adherence to the correct style will speed the processing of your manuscript. Please refer to the most recent edition of the journal for examples and follow the instructions below.

Authors should aim for conciseness. Articles of excessive length may be returned to the author for shortening prior to review. The average length of articles published over the last three years has been 44 double-spaced manuscript pages including all figures, tables, and appendices.

Number all manuscript pages consecutively in this order: title page, abstract (not used in Points of View), text, acknowledgements, references, appendices, tables, figure captions, figures.

Title Page. Title page information should appear in the following format: Running head (composed of short title not greater than 50 characters in all capital letters); title (in capital and lowercase letters, each important word beginning with a capital letter); authors (all on one line or more if necessary with superscript numbers used to match authors to addresses); and addresses (in italic font typed on one or more lines as necessary). Each address should begin a new line. Add e-mail addresses if you wish them published. Identify name, address, telephone/fax numbers, and e-mail address for the author who will receive proofs.

Text. Double-space all parts of the manuscript. Use 12-point type (only) and margins of approximately one inch on all sides and a non-justified (ragged) right margin. Do not use odd type fonts. Use common fonts like Times or Helvetica. Words should not be hyphenated at the ends of lines. All paragraphs should be indented approximately 0.5 inch using a tab command. Scientific names of organisms are to be given the first time the organisms are mentioned.

Abstract. Be concise. Avoid abbreviations, diagrams, and citations in he abstract. Make sure that your abstract contains the most interesting findings from your paper.

Key Words. A list of four to eight key words should be included. For full articles these key words will be published but for Points of View they will only be used for indexing.

Footnotes, except for authors’ current and e-mail addresses, are not used in the main text. Those in tables should be designated with lowercase letters.

Headings. First level: Capital and small cap (use lowercase letters if small cap command not available), each important word should begin with a capital letter. No heading is used for the introduction. Second Level: Capital and lowercase letters, each important word should begin with a capital letter, italic font. Third level . -- Paragraph indented, capital and lowercase letters, only the first word and proper nouns should begin with capital letters, italic font, followed by a period and a long dash (en dash), run into the text.

Guidelines for nomenclature and abbreviations of proteins and protein-encoding loci should be followed.

All figures and tables must be mentioned in order in the text. Citations of figures or tables with parts (indicated by lowercase letters) should match actual labels appearing on the figures or tables. All references cited in the text must be listed in the References section, and vice versa. Spellings and dates must match between the text and References section.

Contributions should be in English and clearly written. Papers not clearly written may be returned for rewriting prior to review. In general, the recommendations of the sixth edition of the CBE Style Manual: A Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers in the Biological Sciences are followed.

Literature Cited is listed in a References section, with abbreviations for serial names following the American National Standard. Serial Sources for the BIOSIS Database, which is provided with Biological Abstracts, lists abbreviations for most serials. References are cited in the text as: Jones (1970); (Jones, 1970); (Jones, 1970:25); or (Jones, 1970; Smith, 1976, 1978).

Citations should be alphabetized. All authors should be listed (no et al. used). A dash should NOT be used in place of an author's name repeated from the preceding entry; provide name of author in each subsequent citation. Details of established internal style for citations should be followed, particularly relating to order of parts, capitalization, and proper forms of abbreviation. Full page ranges should be provided for cited chapters in books and for journal articles. Unpublished works should not be included in the References section. Works "in press" may be included, but should be updated in page proofs if possible. Consult recent issues of Systematic Biology for specific format details.

Figures and Tables (TOP)

For review (only): include figures in the PDF or Word file with the text, tables and appendices. Figures should be placed at the end of the document. If you send a PDF, the Word version need not include figures.

Tables. The table title should be typed in capital and lowercase letters and should appear at the top of the page on which the table appears. All units must be included. Horizontal rules should be used between the title and the column headings, between the column headings and the body of the table, and at the end of the body of the table (before the footnotes, if any). Horizontal "straddle rules" may be used in column heads as appropriate. No other horizontal, vertical, and diagonal rules should be used. However, complicated tables (e.g. with shading of columns) can be accommodated by the publisher if they are treated as figures but can still referred to as tables in the text. This requires clear communication with the publisher. Table footnotes should be designated by superscript lowercase letters. Each footnote should be mentioned in the table body and vice versa. Footnotes should be named in the proper order, starting at the upper left corner of the table and working vertically and horizontally to the lower right corner (as you would read a book).

Figures. Figures should be completely labeled, with font size taking into account necessary size reduction for publication. For review purposes, it is more convenient if captions can be included on the same page as their respective figures (but captions will need to be on a separate page for final submission, see below).

Revision of Manuscripts (TOP)

Authors should send a paper copy of the 1) revised manuscript and 2) cover letter replying to reviewers' comments to Editor Roderic Page, Professor in Taxonomy, DEEB, IBLS, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QP, UK, and an electronic copy of 1 & 2 to r.page@bio.gla.ac.uk with a cc to Deborah Ciszek (systbiol@uconn.edu). After a revision has been approved, the final version should be submitted to systbiol@uconn.edu with a cc: to r.page@bio.gla.ac.uk. One hard copy of the final version should be mailed to Managing Editor Deborah Ciszek, 28028 Fireweed Drive, Evergreen, CO, 80439.

Sequence data. All nucleotide sequence data and alignments should be submitted to Genbank or EMBL. In addition, we recommend that all data matrices and resulting trees be submitted to TreeBase. Genebank and TreeBase reference numbers should be provided in the paper.

Text. Text must be double spaced and the electronic and hard copies must be identical. Macintosh formatting (Microsoft Word) is preferred, but not required. The publisher, Taylor and Francis (T&F), prefers Microsoft Word files. LaTex files are also acceptable, but do not forget to send the associated style files. Please contact the managing editor (systbiol@uconn.edu) before sending files in other file types.

If electronic submission is impossible, all paper copies of figures should be clearly marked in pencil on the reverse side with the number, author’s name, and top edge indicated. Captions should be typed, double-spaced, on a separate page. The paper on which the manuscript is printed should be of good quality and standard size (US Letter or A4). Erasable, tissue, and highly absorbent papers should not be used.

In the final version, clearly label each file, making sure to identify the program that was used to create it. Use tab commands rather than spaces for paragraph indents. All character attributes should appear in the file just as they will in the final printed article (see recent issues for internal style conventions), i.e., items to be set all caps (e.g., running head, article title), bold, italic (use italic font instead of underlining), subscript, or superscript should be formatted as such using appropriate keyboard commands. Use two hyphens or an actual en dash for page and other ranges (e.g., 1991--1992, April--June) and three hyphens or an actual em dash after number 3 headings (e.g., Abstract.---). Be careful when entering possible confusing pairs, such as "els" and "ones" or "ohs" and "zeros." Use the word processor's special characters rather than "home-made" special characters (e.g., do not use superior lowercase "oh" for a degree sign or an italic cap "ex" for a lowercase Greek "chi"). Be sure mathematical expressions are exactly as they are to appear in final form. Any effects that cannot be achieved by the word processor (e.g., italic or bold variables) should be clearly marked by hand on a hard copy to be set as such. Figures should not be embedded in the text (see formatting instructions below).

Appendices usually appear only on the web site (http://systematicbiology.org). Please note if any appendices must appear in the print version of the journal.

Tables may be included (one per page) at the end of the manuscript in the same file. Clearly label what program(s) was used to generate the file(s). A short descriptive title should appear above each table with a clear legend and any footnotes suitably identified below. All units must be included. Excel files are acceptable for tables.

Figures. Digital files are recommended for highest quality reproduction and should follow these guidelines:

Must be at least 300 dpi resolution, though 600 dpi is preferred.

Must be in EPS (encapsulated postscript), TIFF, or PostScript file types; T&F will not accept JPEG or PDF files.

Each figure should be submitted as a separate file; figures should not embedded in text files

IMPORTANT: Figures should be sized proportionally for reduction to one or two column widths. Experiment with photocopy reduction to visualize final size. Labels on figures should be of professional quality and should be sufficiently large that characters will be at least 2.0 mm high after reduction. Axis labels, taxon names, etc., within figures should be capital and lowercase letters (not all capitals) in a sans-serif font (e.g., Helvetica). Genus and species names should be in italics. Parts of figures should be indicated by lowercase letters enclosed in parentheses.

Write figure numbers and author's name on the lower right hand corner of the final printed version of the manuscript.

Color illustrations will be considered for publication; however, the author will be required to bear the full cost involved in their printing and publication. The charge for the first figure is $1,200.00. Subsequent figures, totaling no more than 4 text pages, are $500.00 each. Color figures needing reduction or enlargement will be charged an additional 25 percent. The publisher has the right to refuse publication of any artwork deemed unacceptable.

Figure captions should be included with the text and typed as paragraphs, one after another (separated by two or three lines of blank space) on one or more pages as needed; do not begin each caption on a new page. Labels and definitions in figure captions should match labels on figures.

Occasionally, Systematic Biology papers end in mid page. Consider submitting a line drawing of your organism that could be used to fill this potential space (especially if you do not already have figures illustrating your organism). These will be kept in the editorial office and sent to the press after galley proofs are produced and space is evaluated. Particularly nice drawings would also be candidates for the journal cover.

The front cover of Systematic Biology displays a figure associated with (but not included in) an article from that issue. If you would like a figure to be considered for the front cover, please send it along with your revised manuscript, designating it as such. Final cover figures will be chosen on the basis of attractiveness and general interest in addition to being related to an article of that issue. Note that in the new journal cover format, illustrations are full page so space must be available at the top and bottom of the page for our signature boxes.

Any questions regarding disk preparation should be referred to the managing editor.

If electronic facilities are not available to the author, paper copies (line drawings, halftones, photos, photomicrographs, etc.) should be clean originals and sent as paper mail. Illustrations in a large format are not desirable because they are easily damaged in transit; if possible, original illustrations or high quality reproductions should be the size of standard stationery sheets or smaller. On the back, each should have figure number, author name, journal name, and an indication of the top of the figure.

Page proofs, reprints, and charges - Authors will be notified of page proofs via e-mail and be able to access them via the web. These must be returned within 48 hours to the Production Editor to avoid delays in publication. Authors should not expect to make major modifications of their work at this stage. Excessive alterations in proofs will be charged to the author. Please note that the publisher is unable to make corrections to figures. If the author wishes to make corrections to figures, new, corrected figures must returned with the proofs. To avoid delays, authors should notify the Editor of any address changes. If the author will be out of email contact for several days, an alternative contact person authorized to correct proofs should be identified prior to the author's absence. Authors will receive a reprint order blank from the publisher. Fifty complimentary reprints are provided to the corresponding author. Reprints are billed at the publisher's current schedule of costs.

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