Fishery Bulletin 
Guidelines for contributors 
Content of papers 
Articles 
Articles are reports of 10 to 30 pages (double 
spaced) that describe original research in one or 
a combination of the following fields of marine 
science: taxonomy, biology, genetics, mathematics 
(including modeling), statistics, engineering, eco- 
nomics, and ecology. 
Notes 
Notes are reports of 5 to 10 pages without an 
abstract that describe methods and results not 
supported by a large body of data. Although all 
contributions are subject to peer review, responsi- 
bility for the contents of articles and notes rests 
upon the authors and not upon the editor or the 
publisher. It is therefore important that authors 
consider the contents of their manuscripts care- 
fully. Submission of an article is un-derstood to 
imply that the article is original and is not being 
considered for publication elsewhere. Manuscripts 
must be written in English. Authors whose native 
language is not English are strongly advised to 
have their manuscripts checked for fluency by 
English-speaking colleagues prior to submission. 
Preparation of papers 
Text 
Title page should include authors’ full names and 
mailing addresses (street address required) and 
the senior author’s telephone, fax number, e-mail 
address, as well as a list of key words to describe the 
contents of the manuscript. Abstract must be less 
than one typed page (double spaced) and must not 
contain any citations. It should state the main scope 
of the research but emphasize the author’s con- 
clusions and relevant findings. Because abstracts 
are circulated by abstracting agencies, it is impor- 
tant that they represent the research clearly and 
concisely. General text must be typed in double- 
spaced format. A brief introduction should state the 
broad significance of the paper; the remainder of 
the paper should be divided into the following sec- 
tions: Materials and methods, Results, Discussion 
(or Conclusions), and Acknowledgments. Headings 
within each section must be short, reflect a logical 
sequence, and follow the rules of multiple subdi- 
vision (i.e. there can be no subdivision without at 
least two subheadings). The entire text should be 
intelligible to interdisciplinary readers; therefore, 
all acronyms and abbreviations should be written 
out and all lesser-known technical terms should be 
defined the first time they are mentioned. The 
scientific names of species must be written out the 
first time they are mentioned; subsequent mention 
of scientific names may be abbreviated. Follow Sci- 
entific style and format: CBE manual for authors, 
editors, and publishers (6th ed.) for editorial style 
and the most current issue of the American Fish- 
eries Society’s common and scientific names of 
fishes from the United States and Canada for 
fish nomenclature. Dates should be written as fol- 
lows: 11 November 1991. Measurements should be 
expressed in metric units, e.g. metric tons (t). The 
numeral one (1) should be typed as a one, not as a 
lower-case el (1). 
Footnotes 
Use footnotes to add editorial comments regarding 
claims made in the text and to document unpub- 
lished works or works with local circulation. Foot- 
notes should be numbered with Arabic numerals 
and inserted in 10-point font at the bottom of the 
first page on which they are cited. Footnotes should 
be formatted in the same manner as citations. 
If a manuscript is unpublished, in the process 
of review, or if the information provided in the 
footnote has been conveyed verbally, please state 
this information as “unpubl. data," “manuscript 
in review,” and “personal commun.,” respectively. 
Authors are advised wherever possible to avoid ref- 
erences to nonstandard literature (unpublished lit- 
erature that is difficult to obtain, such as internal 
reports, processed reports, administrative reports, 
ICES council minutes, IWC minutes or working 
papers, any “research” or “working” documents, 
laboratory reports, contract reports, and manu- 
scripts in review). If these references are used, 
please indicate whether they are available from 
NTIS (National Technical Information Service) or 
from some other public depository Footnote format: 
author (last name, followed by first-name initials); 
year; title of report or manuscript; type of report 
and its administrative or serial number; name and 
address of agency or institution where the report is 
filed. 
Literature cited 
The literature cited section comprises works that 
have been published and those accepted for pub- 
lication (works in press) in peer-reviewed jour- 
nals and books. Follow the name and year system 
for citation format. In the text, write “Smith and 
Jones (1977) reported” but if the citation takes 
the form of parenthetical matter, write “(Smith 
and Jones, 1977).” In the literature cited section, 
list citations alphabetically by last name of senior 
author: For example, Alston, 1952; Mannly, 1988; 
Smith, 1932; Smith, 1947; Stalinsky and Jones, 
1985. Abbreviations of journals should conform 
to the abbreviations given in the Serial sources 
for the BIOSIS previews database. Authors are 
responsible for the accuracy and completeness of 
all citations. Literature citation format: author 
(last name, followed by first-name initials); year; 
title of report or article; abbreviated title of the 
journal in which the article was published, volume 
number, page numbers. For books, please provide 
publisher, city, and state. 
Tables 
Tables should not be excessive in size and must be 
cited in numerical order in the text. Headings in 
tables should be short but ample enough to allow 
the table to be intelligible on its own All unusual 
symbols must be explained in the table legend. 
Other incidental comments may be footnoted (use 
italic arabic numerals for footnote markers). Use 
asterisks only to indicate probability in statistical 
data. Place table legends on the same page as the 
table data. We accept tables saved in most spread- 
sheet software programs (e.g. Microsoft Excel). 
Please note the following: 
• Use a comma in numbers of five digits or more 
(e.g. 13,000 but 3000). 
• Use zeros before all decimal points for values 
less than one (e.g. 0.31). 
Figures 
Figures include line illustrations, computer-gener- 
ated line graphs, and photographs (or slides). They 
must be cited in numerical order in the text. Line 
illustrations are best submitted as original draw- 
ings. Computer-generated line graphs should be 
printed on laser-quality paper. Photographs should 
be submitted on glossy paper with good contrast. 
All figures are to be labeled with senior author’s 
name and the number of the figure (e.g. Smith, Fig. 
4). Use Helvetica or Arial font to label anatomical 
parts (line drawings) or variables (graphs) within 
figures; use Times Roman bold font to label the dif- 
ferent sections of a figure (e.g. A, B, C). Figure leg- 
ends should explain all symbols and abbreviations 
seen within the figure and should be typed in dou- 
ble-spaced format on a separate page at the end 
of the manuscript. We advise authors to peruse a 
recent issue of Fishery Bulletin for standard for- 
mats. Please note the following: 
• Capitalize the first letter of the first word of 
axis labels. 
• Do not use overly large font sizes to label axes 
or parts within figures. 
• Do not use boldface fonts within figures. 
• Do not create outline rules around graphs. 
• Do not use horizontal lines through graphs. 
• Do not use large font sizes to label degrees of 
longitude and latitude on maps. 
• Indicate direction of degrees longitude and 
latitude on maps (e.g. 170°E). 
• Avoid placing labels on a vertical plane 
(except ony axis). 
•Avoid odd (nonstandard) patterns to mark 
sections of bar graphs and pie charts. 
Copyright law 
Fishery Bulletin, a U.S. government publication, is 
not subject to copyright law. If an author wishes to 
reproduce any part of Fishery Bulletin in his or her 
work, he or she is obliged, however, to acknowledge 
the source of the extracted literature. 
Submission of papers 
Send four printed copies (one original plus three 
copies) — clipped, not stapled — to the Scientific Edi- 
tor, at the address shown below. Send photodopies 
of figures with initial submission of manuscript. 
Original figures will be requested later when the 
manuscript has been accepted for publication. 
Do not send your manuscript on diskette until 
requested to do so. 
Dr. John V. Merriner 
Scientific Editor, Fishery Bulletin 
Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat 
Research, NOS 
101 Pivers Island Road 
Beaufort, NC 28516 
Once the manuscript has been accepted for pub- 
lication, you will be asked to submit a software 
copy of your manuscript. The software copy should 
be submitted in WordPerfect or Word format (in 
Word, save as Rich Text Format). Please note that 
we do not accept ASCII text files. 
Reprints 
Copies of published articles and notes are avail- 
able free of charge to the senior author (50 copies) 
and to his or her laboratory (50 copies). Additional 
copies may be purchased in lots of 100 when the 
author receives page proofs. 
