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TITLES AND AUTHORS
The first page must have the following order:
a) The full title of the paper (capitalized and in no more than 15 words) in the original language and in the alternative one (in English if the original paper is in Spanish or in Portuguese; or in Spanish if the original paper is in English);
b) A list of all the authors containing their full name, affiliation, postal address and email address. The author, whom the Editor will be in contact with, is to be identified as well;
c) A brief title or header (no longer than 35 characters with spaces. For example: the first five words of the title of the paper). Once published, this title will appear as a header in all of the pages of the article, except for the first one;
d) Keywords (Up to four keywords. Compound terms are considered one key word. Those words appearing in the title must not be repeated in the keywords. The list of keywords must be submitted in the source language of your paper and in English. In the event the source language of the paper was English, please, include the keywords in English and in Spanish).
ABSTRACT
The abstract must be limited to pointing out the purpose of the research study, major results achieved as well as the main conclusions in just a single paragraph. Abstracts written in the same language as the manuscript should not exceed 300 words. Additionally, include an abstract in the alternative language (In English if the original paper is in Spanish or in Portuguese; in Spanish if the original paper is in English). Do not include bibliographical references in abstracts.
TEXT
Write with accuracy, in a clear manner by doing away with unnecessary words. Try to use active voice and the first person singular (passive voice is preferred when describing methods and results: active voice can be used to emphasize a personal point of view, typically in the Introduction and in the Discussion).
Use Arial or an equivalent font (san-serif typeface) in 12 cpi. Use double spacing between lines. Number all the pages including the title page, bibliography, acknowledgements, tables, figures and all the lines sequentially. Do not indent the beginning of paragraphs or titles. Use left-hand margin indentation and do not separate words by placing dashes at the end of the lines. Separate paragraphs by leaving a free space in between. Use punctuation marks consistently; only leave a space between words and after punctuation marks.
The manuscript must be divided into the following sections: an Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion (or Results and Discussion depending on the author’s criterion), Conclusions (optional), Acknowledgements and Bibliography.
Introduction: It must present the problem, provide a thorough literature review and clearly specify the aim of the research study.
Materials and Methods: It must provide sufficient explanatory detail so as for the paper to be reproduced. It must include methodological details, techniques used, layout and statistical analyses.
Results: They must be clear and concise.
Discussion: It must provide a clear answer to the objectives of the paper; explain the meaning of the results obtained, rather than repeating them.
Conclusions: The main conclusions of the research study can be included in a Section for Conclusions, or in the last paragraph of Results and Discussion.
Every section should include those subtitles you consider necessary for better understanding the text, without making an excessive use of them. Capitalize titles of sections and write subtitles in separate lines from the rest of the text. If using a third level of titles, underline it in the same paragraph as the following text. They should be short enough so as to fit in a column (approximately 30 characters for titles and subtitles, with spaces included.)
Do not use footnotes (they can be included in the text, between parentheses, if necessary). Use "e.g.," (for example), "i.e.," (that is to say) and "et al." (And collaborators), in italics (cursive letter).
For further instructions on how to cite bibliography in the text, refer to "Bibliography" below.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL NAMES
When first mentioning them, write scientific names in full and in italics (cursive letter) (even when they already appear in the title) with the corresponding authority (or cite a reference paper from which to be consulted); generic names can be abbreviated to one or more letters (or to two letters in case it is necessary) as long as it does not bring about confusion. In case the spacing in tables or figures were reduced, you might need to resort to a “code” (such as the first letters of the gender and species) which must be italicized (cursive letter), such as the original scientific name. In that case, the code must be identified in the legend, or in case there were too many, in a caption placed at the end for such purpose.
Technical terms which do not belong to Spanish language, but which have become widely-used, must be written between inverted commas (e.g., "remediation")
NUMBERS, SYMBOLS AND FORMULAS
Use a comma (",") as a decimal symbol and indicate numerical values of data with decimals in only one or two magnitudes (e.g. 92.4 or 92.05). Separate numbers in thousands. Use an initial zero (on the left) for all numbers <1, including probability values (e.g., P < 0,001).
Numbers from zero to nine must be typed in letters in the text, except when accompanying measurement units or percentages (e.g., two trees, 5 seconds, 3.5%). Always type numbers in letters at the beginning of phrases (e.g., "Thirty-two devices were...").
For the time, use the 24-hour format with a colon (":") to separate (e.g., 15:45 h). For the date, use the day/month/year format (e.g., 25 September 2000, or 25/09/00 in case it were necessary in the tables or figures). Write the years in full (e.g., "1994-2000").
Define all the symbols, abbreviations and acronyms when first using them. Use "L" instead of "l" for litres. Use "h" for hours, and do not abbreviate the word "day". Do not use punctuation marks for abbreviating measurement units. Mathematical expressions must be carefully represented. If possible, write formulas in their final format (e.g., you can use the equation editor that comes with MS Word): if not, type them clearly enough in such a way they can be modified when giving them the final design during the page layout stage (e.g., underline the fraction line, with the numerator and the denominator on different lines).
At the end of your paper, include a list of all the special symbols which are not available on the keyboard, but which have been used in the text or in captions (e.g., Greek letters, the average, plus/minus, circles and squares signs). Name it as the “special-symbols list”; afterwards insert each symbol and briefly describe it (e.g., ±: plus/minus sign; π Greek letter pi, ≥: greater than or equal to; ♦: black rhombus symbol).
Use the International System of Units (where unit denominators are presented as a negative power, e.g., g kg-1, g m-2 h-1) and the Soil Taxonomy (The FAO classification can also be used) for classifying the soils.
Indicate the statistical or mathematical program you have processed your data with.
USE OF ITALICS
Italicize (cursive letter) scientific names, all the symbols of variables and constants (letters used as quantity symbols, e.g., n, x, F, t, Z, P, and X) except for Greek letters, statistical and mathematical terms (e.g., In, e, exp, max, min, lim, DE, EE, CV, and g.l.). Italicize symbols in illustrations, in such a way they are consistent with the text. Do not use italics for laying emphasis.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
They must be brief, specific, and limited to direct contributions to the manuscript and to the research study. Only make mention of the initials and the last names of the persons you wish to thank. Acknowledgements of positions, organizations and financial support, thanks to which it was possible to conduct this research study, must be included in this section.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prior to sending the manuscript, go over every citation in the text and in your bibliography list so as to ensure that they fully match (Authors and date) and that they comply with the bibliographical details required. It is preferred, though optional, to detail the books’ total number of pages and the place of publication (for international publishers, massive distribution ones, local publishers or publications of restricted circulation). For papers, which publication is still pending, use “in press” to replace the date cited in the text and in the bibliographical list, and consider it the most recent publication for the chronological order. Author1, AB & BC Author2. 1989. Title of the article. Abbreviated title of the Journal 00:000-000.
Author1, AB; BC Author2 & CD Author3. 1989. Title of the article. Abbreviated title of the Journal 00(0):000-000.
Author1, AB; B Author2; CD Author3; DE Author 4 & FG Author 5 (Eds). 1989. Title of the book. Publisher. [Optional: City, Country. 000 pp.]
Author1, A & B Author2, Jr. 1989. Chapter Title. En: AB Editor (ed.). Title of the book. Vol. 1. 2nd ed Pp. 00-00. Publisher. [Optional: City, Country. 000 pp.]
Author, A. 1989. Title of the paper with initials in lower case letters. Doctoral Thesis, University. [City and Country].
References taken from the Internet must be cited in the following way:
Author, A. 1989. Title of the article (or Title of the website page). Underline the website’s URL. Specify the date it was last accessed to.
For manuscripts written in English, replace "En:" for "In:" and "En prensa" for "In press" in the whole list, irrespectively of the language appearing in the title of the citation (see the English version for further guidelines). Similar changes apply to manuscripts written in Portuguese. Do not use the expression "ibid." (ibidem, as the previous one) in the bibliographical list: all reference details must appear in each of the citations.
Names of Periodical publications must be abbreviated in agreement with well-known standards (it is advised to look up internationally-recognized abbreviations for the names of periodical publications on http://library.caltech.edu/reference/abbreviations/). In case you did not know or could not find the abbreviation of the publication you wish to cite, type the name in full.
In the bibliography, do not include abstracts, unpublished material, or papers appearing in abstract books which are not widely-distributed or can be easily accessed to. This material can be cited in the text as a personal communication (the paper may belong to one or more authors, and should be cited as "Author 1, pers. com." if it belongs to all the authors), or XX personal communication (when it does not belong to any of the authors).
Cite references in the text as "Author (Year)" or, in parentheses separating the Author from the year by means of a comma (“,”). [For example, "(Author, Year)" [e.g., (Pérez, 1998)]. Use "et al." for more than two authors, as in "Author1 et al. (Year)" or as in “(Author1 et al., Year)”. Use "&" for papers belonging to two authors, as in "(Author1 & Author2, Year)"]. Use lower case letters to differentiate papers belonging to the same Author from the same year [e.g., Pérez et al. (1998a) and Pérez et al. (1998b)]. The same distinction of using lower case letters applies to Bibliography. Use a comma (",") to separate papers belonging to the same authors, but which were written in different years [e.g., Pérez et al. (1996, 1999)].
Multiple citations should be listed in chronological order rather than in alphabetical [e.g., (Pérez, 1996; Mengano, 1999; Fulano et al., 2001)], use a semi colon (";") to separate references from different authors. Follow the same order even when there are various papers belonging to the same authors [e.g., (Pérez, 1996; Mengano, 1998; Perez, 1999; Fulano et al., 2001)]. References to specific pages of a paper must be included in the text, specifying the numbers after the year [e.g., Pérez (1996:57-85)]; reference on the list must be made to the full paper. Do not use the expressions "in litt." or “op. cit.”, but the following: (Pérez 1967, cited in Mengano 1989). In this last case, both references must appear in the Bibliography.
TABLES
All the tables must be made reference to in the text. Try to make them as simple as possible. Table titles must be placed at the top in such a way they can be easily understood without having to read the article. In case it applies, units must be explicit in all the values accompanying a measure or count. Do not repeat the same information in tables and figures; in the event both of them were clear, a figure is preferred. Do not include any type of information in the tables which is not being discussed in the manuscript. Explanatory notes may be included at the foot of the Table.
Tables must be formatted by using the MS Word table formatting; place each one on a separate sheet. In the event it was not possible, separate each field or data with tabs (never with spaces). As for the layout, the width of a column (70 mm) is preferred over the width of a page (145 mm). Do not divide tables into two or more parts.
Do not use vertical lines or try to minimize the horizontal ones.
Do not enter an excessive number of decimal digits; it should be the same as the precision of a measurement.
FIGURES
Each figure must be self-explanatory and must be made reference to in the text. Try to avoid any information already contained in the tables. Nomenclature, abbreviations, symbols and units used in a figure must be the same as those appearing in the text. Figure titles must be placed below.
As for the layout, the width of column (70 mm) is preferred over the width of page (145 mm). Figures must be designed in their final size in the program of origin, between 6 and 12 point font (ideally between 8 and 10). The best typo is sans-serif (e.g., Arial, Helvetica, Century Gothic, Verdana, Tahoma, News Gothic). Only capitalize initial letters.
Figures must not be placed inside boxes. Use identification letters (such as a, b, etc.), to describe a compound Figure. Do not submit colour figures. Use bars, black symbols, white (open) and thick stripes. Try to avoid tones of grey, use them as distinctively differentiated as possible (only 50%, or 25%, 50% and 75%). Whenever possible, insert legends or symbol keys in illustrations, rather than in titles. If necessary, you may also include simple symbols in the titles.
If possible, insert the figures in your text processing file, by pasting or inserting each one on separate sheets (e.g., with Windows you can copy paste from the clipboard) as an "Image", by importing it from the graphics package chosen by the Author. In case the Figure was not legible, the Author will be asked to submit the original file of the Figure. For figures having more than one part [e.g., part a), b) and c)], authors may be required to submit them separately, in agreement with the requirements of the final editing stage. Each figure should be centred on a different sheet, in its final size and orientation.
Authors are advised to state where the Table or Figure should be displayed inside the text (on the right hand-side margin of the line, include the legend “Insert Figure xx here” or “Insert Table xx here”.)
PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES
Photographic images should only be included when they provide essential information for understanding the article. They must be “clear" " and with high contrast. They must be named and numbered as if they were figures.
Submit them as electronic files, “scanned” and in tones of grey (8 bits) of at least 300 dpi, preferably for the width of a column (70 mm). Save them as TIF (.tif) or GIF (.gif) files, which are available as export formats in most graphics and “scanning” packages. In the event it was not possible to follow the previously-described method, send copies in photographic paper (they might not be returned). However, submission of electronic files will contribute to speeding up the process of publishing your article.
MAPS
Maps should only be included when they provide essential information for understanding the article. They must be named and numbered as if they were figures. Preferably measure their final size in such a way they fit in a column (width= 70 mm). Include the North, the graphic scale and the coordinates. As with figures, use black, white, stripes and highly-distinctive tones of grey. (25%, 50%, 75%). Also include keywords in images, instead of placing them in captions. Submit them by following the same guidelines as for the figures’. |
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