Guide to Authors 
Subject Matter: 
Reviews, observations and results of research into 
all branches of natural science and human studies 
will be considered for publication. However, 
emphasis is placed on studies pertaining to Western 
Australia. Longer papers will be considered for 
publication as a Supplement to the Records of the 
Western Australian Museum. Short communications 
should not normally exceed three typed pages and 
this category of paper is intended to accommodate 
observations, results or new records of significance, 
that otherwise might not get into the literature, or for 
which there is a particular urgency for publication. 
All material must be original and not have been 
published elsewhere. 
Presentation: 
Authors are advised to follow the layout and style 
in the most recent issue of the Records of the 
Western Australian Museum including headings, 
tables, illustrations and references. 
The title should be concise, informative and 
contain key words necessary for retrieval by modern 
searching techniques. An abridged title (not 
exceeding 50 letter spaces) should be included for 
use as a running head. 
An abstract must be given in full length papers but 
not short communications, summarizing the scope of 
the work and principal findings. It should normally 
not exceed 2% of the paper and should be suitable 
for reprinting in reference periodicals. 
The International System of units should be used. 
Numbers should be spelled out from one to nine in 
descriptive text; figures used for 10 or more. For 
associated groups, figures should be used 
consistently, e.g. 5 to 10, not five to 10. 
Spelling should follow the Concise Oxford 
Dictionary. 
Systematic papers must conform with the 
International Codes of Botanical and Zoological 
Nomenclature and, as far as possible, with their 
recommendations. 
Synonymies should be given in the short form 
(taxon, author, date, page) and the full reference 
cited at the end of the paper. All citations, including 
those associated with scientific names, must be 
included in the references. 
Manuscripts: 
The original and two copies of manuscripts and 
figures should be submitted to the Editors, c/- 
Publications Department, Western Australian 
Museum, Francis Street, Perth, Western Australia 
6000. They must be in double-spaced typescript on 
A4 sheets. All margins should be at least 30 mm 
wide. Tables plus heading and legends to 
illustrations should be typed on separate pages. The 
desired position for insertion of tables and 
illustrations in the text should be indicated in pencil. 
Tables should be numbered consecutively, have 
headings which make them understandable without 
reference to the text, and be referred to in the text. 
High quality illustrations are required to size (16.8 
cm x 25.2 cm) or no larger than 32 cm x 40 cm with 
sans serif lettering suitable for reduction to size. 
Photographs must be good quality black and white 
prints, not exceeding 16.8 cm x 25.2 cm. Scale must 
be indicated on illustrations. All maps, line 
drawings, photographs and graphs, should be 
numbered in sequence and referred to as Figure/s in 
the text and captions. Each must have a brief, fully 
explanatory caption. On acceptance an IBM 
compatible disk containing all corrections should be 
sent with amended manuscript. The disk should be 
marked with program (e.g. WordPerfect, Wordstar, 
etc). 
In papers dealing with historical subjects 
references may be cited as footnotes. In all other 
papers references must be cited in the text by author 
and date and all must be listed alphabetically at the 
end of the paper. The names of journals are to be 
given in full. 
Processing: 
Papers and short communications are reviewed by 
at least two referees and acceptance or rejection is 
then decided by the editors. 
The senior author is sent one set of page proofs 
which must be returned promptly. 
The senior author will receive fifty free offprints 
of the paper. Additional offprints can be ordered at 
page proof stage. 
