Editorial Conventions
The 7th Edition of the CBE Style Manual and Webster's 3rd is the standard we use for most editorial and stylistic details for The American Midland Naturalist. Please follow our general instructions and editorial conventions as indicated below. Upload new submissions in Microsoft Word format to Editorial Manager. Please review our author checklist before submitting new manuscripts. For revisions, upload the revision and a separate file for responses to the comments by the Associate Editor and the reviewers. PAGE 1: Title should be in capitals and lower case e.g., Competition among Small, Free-floating Aquatic Plants. Scientific names in the title are not italicized. The specific epithet is always lower case. Authors names are all caps, AND, if used, is in small caps. Addresses are italicized. If the state is part of the address, the state name should not follow the city e.g., Department of Biology, University of Missouri, Columbia 65211, otherwise spell out the state. The country should be used only if the author is from outside the United States. Present addresses are given in a footnote at the bottom of page 1 as: 1Present address: ........ If one of several authors is the corresponding author it should be noted as a footnote on page 1 as: 1Corresponding author (without punctuation) when not followed. If information follows, use a colon. Additional information for communication can in either case be given as a footnote on page 1 in all, or part, of the following formats associated with the appropriate author: Telephone: (area code) number; FAX: (area code) number; e-mail: ...... e.g., 1Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556. Telephone: (574) 631-7481; FAX: (574) 631-7413; e-mail: ammidnat.1@nd.edu. No ending period is used after footnotes GENERAL FORMAT: Double space everything Headings: Number 1 heading -- Introduction, Methods, Discussion. Caps and small caps, centered Number 2 heading -- small caps, centered Number 3 heading -- text follows this heading and continues. Cap, lowercase, italic, period and dash PUNCTUATION: (1) Do not use a comma before or after a restrictive term. (The species Rana pipiens) (2) Do not use a comma if only two adjectives are in sequence (long cold night) (3) Use a comma after usual italicized abbreviations, cf., e.g., et al., i.e., per se, a priori, (4) Use a comma or semicolon in a compound sentence before the conjunction when joining two independent phrases. A comma is not needed with a dependent clause. (5) Do not hyphenate an adverbial phrase, even when used as an adjective, "rapidly disappearing canines". (6) Do not hyphenate words with the standard prefixes - non, semi, re, pre, post, unless there are two vowels in sequence (e.g., pre- empt) -- leave a space following the hyphen. (7) In a series of citations in the text list them chronologically e.g., (Doe, 1970; Jones, 1971, 1980; Smith, 1992; Clements, 1910a, b). (8) Use a colon before a numbered series of items or a series without numbers. If numbered, enclose numbers in parentheses, e.g., (1). (9) At the end of the Table and Figure legends there is no punctuation, nor are periods used at the end of tabular footnotes. (10) Limit the use of hyphens to only when necessary for sentence clarity. (11) A comma is not needed following an introductory prepositional phrase of less than four words. ITALICS: (1) Italicize i.e., e.g., et al., per se, cf., a priori, t in t-test but not etc. ca., vs., sensu, ad lib. (2) In Literature Cited, the abbreviated journal title is always italicized and followed by a comma. (3) "See" in a citation is italicized (see Smith, 1940). (4) Genus and species names are italicized except in the title (Rana pipiens). Authority initials or names are roman (Limenitis archippus (Cramer) or Agelaius phoeniceus (L.)). (5) Acknowledgments is italicized and followed by a period and dash line, with text following. They are placed at end of the text before Literature Cited. NUMBERS: Use numerals, even for those under 10, when describing a measure: (2 pints, 3 h, 8 ha). Leave a space between number and unit If a number is used of something that is not a standard measure spell out the numbers to ten (e.g., five horses) and use numerals for 10 (e.g., 10 horses) and up except if it begins a sentence (e.g., Ten horses...). Exceptions may be made if there is a series of several numbered items in a sentence 1000 (omit comma) 10,000, 100,000, 0.01, 37 C (omit degree sign) 1950s ; 1972-1975 ABBREVIATIONS: Standard time abbreviations are: second - s minute - min hour - h day - d week - wk year - y month - mo Do not add s for more than one (e.g., 10 h) but in text use plural verb, e.g., 1 h is, 10 h are Spell out in text if in reverse sequence, e.g., day 10 of an experiment Geographic locations 30o14'30"E Coordinates for work study sites must be included in the methods section. Use % in text if following a number, e.g., 10% Jan. Feb. Mar. (Use periods if abbreviated) Spell out Figure 2 in the text. If in parenthesis abbreviate, e.g., (Fig. 1) (Figs. 1, 2) (Figs. 1-5) (Figs. 6A, B) U.S., U.S.A., P.O., Ph.D., M.A., M.Sc. (spell out Thesis or Dissertation) Standard deviation is SD, Standard error is SE (in small caps) WORD USE: Author(s) -- use first, second, etc., not junior, senior Century -- lower case if alone, 20th century or spell out if begins a sentence Cover -- not coverage Fewer refers to number, less refers to quantity Nouns as adjectives -- avoid in general, especially multiples Prior to -- use before Role -- avoid "play a role in," be specific Strong, or other indefinite descriptors -- avoid, especially in statistics. Significant or not Utilize -- avoid, use does as well While -- use whereas unless referring to a common time That -- limit the use of "that" to only when necessary for sentence clarity I or We -- try to limit how often a sentence is written in first person. MISCELLANEOUS: In statistical descriptions P is roman cap, t is italicized. chi square is not cap nor hyphenated unless used as an adjective, e.g., chi-square test. In descriptive statistics consider the number of decimals carefully. 1, maybe; 2, conceivable but doubtful; 3, inconceivable usually. If more than one species is named in the text, spell out the complete name the first time it appears in a paragraph. After that the generic name can be abbreviated unless it begins a sentence, then it is spelled out. LITERATURE CITED: See our Instructions for Authors. Check easch source cited in text to confirm the citation is included in the Literature Cited section. Heading cap and small cap, centered. Use appropriate abbreviations for journal titles. Italicize these. Follow title with a comma. If multiple articles by the same author(s) replace name(s) with a line in subsequent article(s). For authors in a book use the following: Authors name(s). Year. Title of article, p. xx-xx. In: editor's name(s) (ed.). or (eds.). Title of book. Publisher, location. Include number of pages for all nonjournal publications such as dissertations, reports and books Note: we use only single p for any number of pages We do not cap words in book titles except proper names Text References: Cite references in chronological order (Jones, 1975; Smith and Jones, 1980; Doe et al., 1990). Do not cite unpublished data. If it is relevant include it but do not add to the Literature Cited section. Use (S. Smith, pers. obs.) (J.J. Jones, pers. comm.) (Smith, S. in press.) If two or more publications by the same author in the same year use a, b, c, as needed Notes and Discussion: Manuscripts shorter than 10 double spaced pages should be prepared in our Notes and Discussion format. Title is in caps and lower case, centered. Authors names and address appear at the end of article. Names all caps. Addresses Roman caps and small caps. Present address: and or corresponding author: appear as footnotes at the bottom of the last page. FIGURES: When labeling figures, e.g., A, B, C, the letters need to be in uppercase, boldface, 14 font. No periods or parentheses should be used. Within a figure, such as a graph that has letter labels, lowercase letters are used in most instances.No periods are used at the end of table or figure legends.
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