Guidelines for authors 
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Footnotes are used for all documents that have not 
been formally peer reviewed and for observations and 
communications. These types of references should he 
cited sparingly in manuscripts submitted to the journal. 
All reference documents, administrative reports, inter- 
nal reports, progress reports, project reports, contract 
reports, personal observations, personal communica- 
tions, unpublished data, manuscripts in review, and 
council meeting notes are footnoted in 9 pt font and 
placed at the bottom of the page on which they are first 
cited. Footnote format is the same as that for formal 
literature citations. A link to the online source (e.g., 
[http://www/ , accessed July 2007.]), or the mail- 
ing address of the agency or department holding the 
document, should be provided so that readers may ob- 
tain a copy of the document. 
Tables are often overused in scientific papers; it is 
seldom necessary or even desirable to present all the 
data associated with a study. Tables should not be ex- 
cessive in size and must be cited in numerical order in 
the text. Headings should be short but ample enough 
to allow the table to be intelligible on its own. All un- 
usual symbols must be explained in the table legend. 
Other incidental comments may be footnoted with italic 
numeral footnote markers. Use asterisks only to indi- 
cate significance in statistical data. Do not type table 
legends on a separate page; place them above the table 
data. Do not submit tables in photo mode. 
Figures must be cited in numerical order in the 
text. Graphics should aid in the comprehension of the 
text, but they should be limited to presenting patterns 
rather than raw data. Figures should not exceed one 
figure for every four pages of text. Figures must be la- 
beled with the number of the figure. Avoid placing la- 
bels vertically (except for the y axis). Figure legends 
should explain all symbols and abbreviations seen in 
the figure and should be double-spaced on a separate 
page at the end of the manuscript. Color is allowed in 
figures to show morphological differences among spe- 
cies (for species identification), to show stain reactions, 
and to show gradations in temperature contours within 
maps. Color is discouraged in graphs, and for the few 
instances where color may be allowed, the use of color 
will be determined by the Managing Editor. 
• Notate probability with a capital, italic P. 
• Provide a zero before all decimal points for values 
less than one (e.g., 0.07). 
• Capitalize the first letter of the first word in all la- 
bels within figures. 
• Do not use overly large font sizes in maps and for 
units of measurements along axes in figures. 
• Do not use bold fonts or bold lines in figures. 
• Do not place outline rules around graphs. 
• Use a comma in numbers of five digits or more (e.g., 
13,000 but 3000). 
• Place a North arrow and label degrees latitude and 
longitude (e.g., 170°E) in maps. 
• Use symbols, shadings, or patterns (not clip art) in 
maps and graphs. 
Failure to follow these guidelines 
and failure to correspond with editors 
in a timely manner will delay 
publication of a manuscript. 
Copyright law does not apply to Fishery Bulletin, 
which falls within the public domain. However, if an 
author reproduces any part of an article from Fishery 
Bulletin in his or her work, reference to source is con- 
sidered correct form (e.g., Source: Fish. Bull 97:105). 
Submission 
Submit manuscript online at http://mc.manuscriptcentral. 
com/fisherybulletin. Commerce Department authors 
should submit papers under a completed NOAA Form 
25-700. For further details on electronic submission, 
please contact the Associate Editor, Kathryn Dennis, at 
kathryn.dennis@noaa.gov 
When requested, the text and tables should be submit- 
ted in Word format. Figures should be sent as PDF files 
(preferred), Windows metafiles, TIFF files, or EPS files. 
Send a copy of figures in the original software if con- 
version to any of these formats yields a degraded ver- 
sion of the figure 
Questions? If you have questions regarding these 
guidelines, please contact the Managing Editor, Sharyn 
Matriotti, at 
sharyn . matriotti@noaa .gov 
Questions regarding manuscripts under review should 
be addressed to Kathryn Dennis, Associate Editor. 
