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 all images electronically; images should 
be high resolution TIFFs (see below). Attach one summary file or 
cover sheet giving: the title; the name, address and contact details 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. Electronic copy is stripped and recon¬ 
structed during production, so authors should avoid excessive layout 
or textual embellishments; a single font should be used throughout. 
All copy is manipulated within a Windows (not Mac) environment 
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. 
Eabel 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 Recommend¬ 
ation 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 Recommendations 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 en-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. 
Extra costs resulting from colour production are charged to the 
author. 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 point, 
upper case, normal, Helvetica or Arial, in final print; (c) have no 
unnecessary white or black space; and (d) have vertical or horizontal 
scale bars, with the lengths given in the caption and with the 
thickness approximately equal to an upper case 14 point 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-aliased 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. Insert 
URFs in the Reference section if they are known—use digital object 
identifiers (doi) if available (seewww.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 four weeks prior to publication without cost to the author(s). All 
proofs should be returned as soon as possible. 
No reprints will be available. 
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://australianmuseum.net.au/Scientific-Publications 
Editor, Records of the Australian Museum 
Australian Museum 
6 College Street 
Sydney NSW 2010, Australia 
editor@austmus.gov.au 
2 April 2014 
Stock no. 014R66B 
