GUIDE FOR AUTHORS 



Policy. The Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) 

 Zoology, was established specifically to accommodate manu- 

 scripts relevant to the Collections in the Department of Zoology. It 

 provides an outlet for the publication of taxonomic papers which, 

 because of their length, prove difficult to publish elsewhere. Prefer- 

 ence is given to original contributions in English whose contents are 

 based on the Collections, or the description of specimens which are 

 being donated to enhance them. Acceptance of manuscripts is at the 

 discretion of the Editor, on the understanding that they have not been 

 submitted or published elsewhere and become the copyright of the 

 Trustees of the Natural History Museum. All submissions will be 

 reviewed by at least two referees. 



Manuscripts. Initially three clear, complete copies should be 

 submitted in the style and format of the Bulletin. The text must be 

 typed double-spaced throughout, including references, tables and 

 legends to figures, on one side of A4 paper with 2.5 cm margins. All 

 pages should be numbered consecutively, beginning with the title 

 page as p. 1. SI units should be used where appropriate. 



Whenever possible a copy of the text, once the paper has been 

 accepted, should also be provided on floppy disc (see below). Discs 

 should only be sent after final acceptance, as papers generally need 

 revision after refereeing. If it is impossible to provide an appropriate 

 disc please ensure that the final typescript is clearly printed. 



Authors are requested to ensure that their manuscripts are in final 

 format, because corrections at proof stage may be charged to the 

 author. Additions at proof stage will not normally be allowed. Page 

 proofs only will be sent. 



Word-processor discs. Please follow these instructions. 



1 . Ensure that the disc you send contains only the final version 

 of the paper and is identical to the typescript. 



2. Label the disc with the author's name, title of the paper and 

 the word-processor programme used. Indicate whether IBM or 

 Apple Mac (IBM preferred). 



3. Supply the file in the word-processor format; if there is a 

 facility to save in ASCII please submit the file in ASCII as well. 



4. Specify any unusual non-keyboard characters on the front 

 page of the hard copy. 



5. Do not right-justify the text. 



6. Do not set a left-hand margin. 



7. Make sure you distinguish numerals from letters, e.g. zero 

 (0) from O; one (1) from 1 (el) and I. 



8. Distinguish hyphen, en rule (longer than a hyphen, used 

 without a space at each end to signify 'and' or 'to', e.g. the Harrison- 

 Nelson technique, 91-95%, and increasingly used with a space at 

 each end parenthetically), and em rule (longer than an en rule, used 

 with a space at each end parenthetically) by: hyphen, two hyphens 

 and three hyphens, respectively. Be consistent with rule used paren- 

 thetically. 



9. Use two carriage returns to indicate beginnings of para- 

 graphs. 



10. Be consistent with the presentation of each grade of heading 

 (see Text below). 



Title. The title page should be arranged with the full title; name(s) 

 of author(s) without academic titles; institutional address(es); sug- 

 gested running title; address for correspondence. 



Synopsis. Each paper should have an abstract not exceeding 200 

 words. This should summarise the main results and conclusions of 



the study, together with such other information to make it suitable 

 for publication in abstracting journals without change. References 

 must not be included in the abstract. 



Text. All papers should have an Introduction, Acknowledgements 

 (where applicable) and References; Materials and Methods should 

 be included unless inappropriate. Other major headings are left to 

 the author's discretion and the requirements of the paper, subject to 

 the Editors' approval. Three levels of text headings and sub-headings 

 should be followed. All should be ranged left and be in upper and 

 lower case. Supra-generic systematic headings only should be in 

 capitals; generic and specific names are to be in italics, underlined. 

 Authorities for species names should be cited only in the first 

 instance. Footnotes should be avoided if at all possible. 



References. References should be listed alphabetically. Authori- 

 ties for species names should not be included under References, 

 unless clarification is relevant. The author's name, in bold and lower 

 case except for the initial letter, should immediately be followed by 

 the date after a single space. Where an author is listed more than 

 once, the second and subsequent entries should be denoted by a long 

 dash. These entries should be in date order. Joint authorship papers 

 follow the entries for the first author and an '&' should be used 

 instead of 'and' to connect joint authors. Journal titles should be 

 entered in full. Examples: (i) Journals: England, K.W. 1987. Certain 

 Actinaria (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) from the Red Sea and tropical Indo- 

 Pacific Ocean. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), 

 Zoology 53: 206-292. (ii) Books: Jeon, K.W. 1973. The Biology of 

 Amoeba. 628 p. Academic Press, New York & London, (iii) Articles 

 from books: Hartman, W.D. 1 98 1 . Form and distribution of silica in 

 sponges, pp. 453^493. In: Simpson, T.L. & Volcani, B.E. (eds) 

 Silicon and Siliceous Structures in Biological Systems. Springer- 

 Verlag, New York. 



Tables. Each table should be typed on a separate sheet designed to 

 extend across a single or double column width of a Journal page. It 

 should have a brief specific title, be self-explanatory and be supple- 

 mentary to the text. Limited space in the Journal means that only 

 modest listing of primary data may be accepted. Lengthy material, 

 such as non-essential locality lists, tables of measurements or 

 details of mathematical derivations should be deposited in the 

 Biological Data Collection of the Department of Library Services, 

 The Natural History Museum, and reference should be made to 

 them in the text. 



Illustrations. Figures should be designed to go across single 

 (84 mm wide) or double (174 mm wide) column width of the 

 Journal page, type area 235 x 174 mm. Drawings should be in black 

 on white stiff card or tracing film with a line weight and lettering 

 suitable for the same reduction throughout, either 50%, 30% or 

 25%. After reduction the smallest lettering should be not less than 

 10 pt (3 mm). All photographs should be prepared to the final size of 

 reproduction, mounted upon stiff card and labelled with press-on 

 lettering. Components of figure-plates should be abutted. All fig- 

 ures should be numbered consecutively as a single series. Legends, 

 brief and precise, must indicate scale and explain symbols and 

 letters. 



Reprints. 25 reprints will be provided free of charge per paper. 

 Orders for additional reprints can be submitted to the publisher on 

 the form provided with the proofs. Later orders cannot be accepted. 



