INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS 
Manuscripts must be submitted to the Editor. All manuscripts are 
refereed externally. Members of the Editorial Committee oversee 
the peer-review process and establish publication standards. 
Only those manuscripts that meet the following requirements 
will be considered for publication. 
Submit manuscripts and images separately and electronically; 
images should be high resolution TIFFs (see below). Attach one 
summary file giving: the title; the name, address and email of each 
author; the author responsible for checking proofs; a suggested 
running-head of less than 40 character-spaces; and the number 
of figures, tables and appendices. Manuscripts must be complete 
when submitted. 
Tables and figures should be numbered and referred to in 
numerical order in the text. Authors should avoid excessive layout 
or textual embellishments; a single font should be used throughout. 
All copy is manipulated within a Windows (not Mac) environ¬ 
ment using Microsoft and Adobe software. Maps should be 
submitted as high resolution TIFF. 
Manuscripts should be prepared using recent issues as a guide. 
There should be a title (series titles should not be used), author(s) 
with their institutional addresses, an abstract (should be intelligible 
by itself, informative not indicative), introduction (should open 
with a few lines for general, non-specialist readers), materials and 
methods, results (usually subdivided with primary, secondary 
and rarely tertiary-level headings), discussion, acknowledgments 
and references. If appropriate, an appendix may be added after 
references. 
In the titles of zoological works the higher classification of 
the group dealt with should be indicated. Except for common 
abbreviations, definitions should be given in the materials and 
methods section. Sentences should not begin with abbreviations 
or numerals; generic names should not be abbreviated if at the 
beginning of a sentence. Metric units must be used except when 
citing original specimen data. It is desirable to include geo-spatial 
coordinates; when reference is made to them, authors must ensure 
that their format precludes ambiguity, in particular, avoid formats 
that confuse arcminutes and arcseconds. 
Label and specimen data should, as a minimum requirement, 
indicate where specimens are deposited, in addition to locality, 
date and collector. Original specimen data—especially that of 
type material—is preferred over interpreted data. If open to 
interpretation, cite original data between quotation marks or use 
“[sic]”. 
Rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature 
must be followed; authors must put a very strong case if a 
Recommendation is not followed. When new taxa are proposed 
in works having multiple authors, the identity of the author(s) 
responsible for the new name(s) and for satisfying the criteria of 
availability, should be made clear in accordance with Recommend¬ 
ations in Chapter XI of the Code. A scientific name with more than 
two authors is unwieldy and should be avoided. Keys are desirable; 
they must be dichotomous and not serially indented. Synonymies 
should be of the short form: taxon author, year, pages and figures. 
A period and em-dash must separate taxon and author except in the 
case of reference to the original description. Proposed type material 
should be explicitly designated and, unless institutional procedure 
prohibits it, registered by number in an institutional collection. 
Previously published illustrations will generally not be 
accepted. Colour is acceptable but only where necessary. All 
images must (a) be rectangular or square and scalable to a width 
of 83 mm (one text column) or 172 mm (both text columns 
including gutter) and any depth up to 229 mm (the number of 
lines in a caption limits depth); ( b ) have lettering similar to 14 
pt, upper case, normal, Helvetica or Arial, in final print; (c) have 
no unnecessary white or black space; and ( d ) have vertical or 
horizontal scale bar(s) with the thickness approximately equal to 
an upper case 14 pt letter “I”. 
Digital images must be presented as TIFF, or as multilayered 
PSD files suitable for Adobe Photoshop version 5.0 or later. 
Halftone and colour images must be at a minimum resolution of 
300 dpi at final size (at this resolution 2040 pixels = printed-page 
width) and all labelling must be sharp (with anti-alias active). 
Black and white line images (bitmaps) must be at a minimum 
resolution of 1200 dpi at final size (at this resolution, 8160 pixels 
= page width - 172 mm). 
When reference is made to figures in the present work use Fig. 
or Figs, when in another work use fig. or figs; the same case-rule 
applies to the words tables and plates. Figures and tables should 
be numbered and referred to in numerical order in the text. 
Authors should refer to recent issues of the Records of the 
Australian Museum to determine the correct format for listing 
references and to The Chicago Manual of Style to resolve other 
matters of style. If EndNote is used, Chicago 16th B output-style 
closely approaces the required specification. Insert URLs in the 
Reference section if they are known—use digital object identifiers 
(doi) if available (see www.crossref.org/SimpleTextQuery/). 
Certain anthropological manuscripts (both text and images) 
may deal with culturally sensitive material. Responsibility 
rests with authors to ensure that approvals from the appropriate 
person or persons have been obtained prior to submission of the 
manuscript. 
Stratigraphic practice should follow the International 
Stratigraphic Guide (second edition) and Field Geologist’s Guide 
to Lithostratigraphic Nomenclature in Australia. 
The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to modify manuscripts 
to improve communication between author and reader. Essential 
corrections only may be made to final proofs. No corrections can 
be accepted less than 10 days prior to publication without cost to the 
author(s). All proofs should be returned as soon as possible. 
No duplicates or reprints are printed. 
All authors, or the Corresponding Author on their behalf, must 
sign a Licence to Publish when a manuscript is submitted, and 
certify that the research described has adhered to the Australian 
Museum’s Guidelines for Research Practice —or those of their 
home institution providing they cover the same issues, especially 
with respect to authorship and acknowledgment. While under 
consideration, a manuscript may not be submitted elsewhere. 
More information and examples are freely available at our 
website: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.3853/issn.2201-4349 
Editor, Records of the Australian Museum 
Australian Museum Research Institute 
1 William Street, Sydney NSW 2010, Australia 
editor@austmus. gov. au 
10 May 2016 
Stock no. 016R68A 
