Guidelines for authors 
275 
the MS Word program and italicize all variables, except 
those variables represented by Greek letters and the 
superscript and subscript parts of variables and expres¬ 
sions. Do not use photo mode when creating these 
symbols in the general text, and do not cut and paste 
equations, letters, or symbols from a different software 
program. 
Number equations (if there are more than one) for 
future reference by scientists; place the number within 
parentheses at the end of the first line of the equation. 
Literature cited section comprises published works and 
those accepted for publication (in press) in peer-reviewed 
journals. Follow the name and year system for citation for¬ 
mat in this section (i.e., citations should be listed alpha¬ 
betically by the authors’ last names, and then by year if 
there is more than one citation by the same author. A list 
of abbreviations for citing journal titles can be found at 
this website. 
Authors are responsible for the accuracy and com¬ 
pleteness of all citations. Literature citation format: 
Authors (last name, followed by initials for first name 
and, if given, middle name of first author; then list 
names of additional authors with initials before last 
names). Year. Title of article. Abbreviated title of the 
journal in which it was published. Always include either 
the range of page numbers (for a journal article) or a 
total number of pages (for a book or other type of pub¬ 
lication). List a sequence of citations in the general 
text chronologically, for example, “(Smith, 1932: Green. 
1947; Smith and Jones, 1985).” Avoid the use of multiple 
citations when a single citation sufficiently supports a 
statement; cite the work that first reported the informa¬ 
tion that supports a statement, not all of the subsequent 
works. 
Acknowledgments should be no more than 6 lines of 
text. Only those who have contributed in an outstanding 
way should be acknowledged by name. For recognition of 
other persons or groups, use a general term, such as crew, 
observers, or research coordinators, and do not include 
names with these terms. 
Digital object identifier (doi) code ensures that a publica¬ 
tion has a permanent location online. A doi link (which 
may include a doi code) should be included at the end of 
citations of published literature. Authors are responsi¬ 
ble for submitting accurate doi links. Faulty links will be 
deleted at the page-proof stage. 
Footnotes are used for all documents that have not been 
formally peer reviewed and for observations and personal 
communications, but these types of references should be 
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 communications, 
unpublished data, manuscripts in review, and council 
meeting notes are footnoted in 9-point font and placed 
at the bottom of the page on which they are first cited. 
Footnote format is the same as that for formal litera¬ 
ture citations. A link to the online source (e.g., [Available 
from http://www... , accessed July 2017.]), or the mailing 
address of the agency or department holding the docu¬ 
ment, should be provided so that readers may obtain a 
copy of the document. 
Tables are often overused in scientific papers; it is seldom 
necessary to present all the data associated with a study. 
Tables should not be excessive 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 abbreviations and unusual symbols must be 
explained in the table legend. Other incidental com¬ 
ments may be footnoted with numeral footnote markers. 
Use asterisks only to indicate significance in statistical 
data. Do not put a table legend on a page separate from 
the table; place the legend above the table. Do not submit 
tables in photo mode. 
• Note probability with a capital, italic P. 
• Provide a zero before all decimal points for values less 
than one (e.g., 0.07). 
• Round all values to 2 decimal points. 
• Use a comma in numbers of 5 digits or more (e.g., 
13,000 but 3000). 
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. The number of figures should not exceed 1 fig¬ 
ure for every 4 pages of text. Place panel labels A, B, C, 
etc., within the upper-left area of graphs and photos. Avoid 
placing labels vertically. 
Figure legends should explain all symbols and abbrevi¬ 
ations seen in the figure and should be double spaced on a 
separate page at the end of the manuscript. 
Line art and halftone figures should be saved at res¬ 
olutions >600 dots per inch (dpi) and >300 dpi, respec¬ 
tively. Color is allowed in figures to show morphological 
differences among species (for species identification), to 
show stain reactions, to show gradations (such as those of 
temperature and salinity within maps), and to distinguish 
between numerous lines and symbols in graphs. Figures 
approved for color should be saved in CMYK format. 
All figures must be submitted as PDF, TIFF, or EPS 
files. 
• Capitalize only the first letter of the first word and 
proper nouns in all labels within figures. 
• Do not use overly large font sizes in maps and for axis 
labels in graphs. 
