Advice to Authors

AUSTRALIAN BIRD STUDY ASSOCIATION Inc.

NOTES FOR AUTHORS SUBMITTING PAPERS FOR PUBLICATION IN CORELLA

Manuscripts relating to any form of avian research will be considered for publication. Field studies are preferred particularly where identification of individual birds, as by banding, has formed an integral part of the study. Some broad areas of research, which do not necessarily require individual identification, including morphometric analyses, techniques, species diversity and density studies as well as behavioural investigations will also be considered. Behavioural, plumage and breeding studies can be conducted in captivity but must provide basic ornithological knowledge rather than aviculturat interest.

Manuscripts are classified as either major articles (more than 1 500 words) or minor articles (500 to 1 500 words). Minor articles need no summary. Shorter notes relating to almost any aspect of ornithology are welcomed but must adhere to the aims of the Association. Species lists or sightings, which are not discussed in relation to historical evidence or scientific parameters, are not suitable for publication in Corella. Authors proposing to prepare Seabird Island items should contact the Assistant Editor, Seabird Islands, to discuss the guidelines.

The copyright of material published in Corella is assigned to the Australian Bird Study Association.

Submission

Contributors are requested to observe the following points when submitting articles and notes for publication in Corella. A guide to the general format required for manuscripts, tables and figures can be attained by reference to a recent edition of the journal. Specifics are listed below.

Articles or notes should preferably be sent via email to the editor as a .doc or .rtf file or, as a second option, typewritten and submitted in triplicate via post.

Nomenclature and classification

Nomenclature and classification follows that of:

Christidis, L. and Boles, W. E. (2008). 'Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds'. (CSIRO, Collingwood, Victoria.)

Procedure

On receiving a manuscript the Editor will acknowledge receipt via email to the corresponding author.

The Editor will then determine if the manuscript fits within the guidelines of the Australian Bird Study Association, if it is presented in the normal scientific format (Title, Author/s, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements and References) and if the conclusions are validated by the results obtained.

If the manuscript fulfils these requirements it is forwarded to the appropriate Assistant Editor. If it does not it is rejected. Either way the corresponding author will be notified of the determination.

The Assistant Editor will then send the manuscript out to two qualified referees. When their reports are returned they will be forwarded to the Editor with a suggested determination from the Assistant Editor.

The Editor will then notify the corresponding author of the final determination: accept without alteration, accept subject to minor revision, editors to reconsider after major revision, author/s need assistance with a major revision, or reject. Referees’ comments and an annotated manuscript/s (if returned) will be forwarded to the author.

When the revised manuscript is sent to the Editor it will be acknowledged. It is important that this final copy is edited very closely as Author’s proofs will be compiled from this copy.

When the final copy is formatted for publication it will be forwarded to the Production Editor. The corresponding author will be notified when this occurs.

The Production Editor will liaise with our printing company to oversee the production of Author’s proofs. These will be forwarded to the corresponding author for final verification – only very minor corrections are permissible at this stage

The corresponding author is given 72 hours turn-around after receipt of proofs to return them to the Production Editor. Authors should make sure that both email and postal addresses are up-to-date so that Author’s proofs can be returned within the stipulated time.

The order of publication of papers will generally follow the date of receipt of manuscripts but several factors need to be taken into account e.g. the date of return of revised manuscripts and/or proofs, the length of the paper (papers need to be chosen to fit within the page limit for each issue).

All authors of published papers will receive a CD containing their paper (as a .pdf file) and all other papers appearing in that issue.

FORMAT OF TYPESCRIPT

Double spacing is required. Typing on one side of the paper is necessary if submitted via post. Margins of not less than 25 mm width at the left hand side and top, with similar or slightly smaller at the right hand side of the page are required.

Writing in the third person is preferred.

All pages of the manuscript must be numbered consecutively, including those containing references, tables and captions to illustrations, the latter placed after the text. No underlining and no abbreviations should be used within the text (except for those listed below).

Headings should be set out as follows:

1^st Order (centred)   RESULTS
2^nd Order (left hand margin)   Observations
3^rd Order (left hand margin)       Nest

The Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers (6th edition 2002; John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.) is the guide for this journal.

Spelling

Spelling generally follows the Macquarie Dictionary.

Proper nouns, particularly place and bird names must commence with a capital letter.

Grammar and punctuation

Reference can be made to ‘The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation’ (http://www.grammarbook.com/) if aspects of grammar or punctuation need to be clarified.

Measurements

SI units must be used. In text these units must be spelt in full, but when placed in parentheses they may be abbreviated (e.g. 3 km).

Numbers

Numbers up to ten must be written in full within the text as well as all numbers commencing a sentence, except when written in the form ‘5–6 species’.

Commas are not to be used to separate groups of three digits when the number comprises four or more digits (a space should replace the comma e.g. 1 238 456).

Hyphens are used to connect numbers up to ninety-nine that comprise two words.

A number expressed in numerals may be joined by a hyphen to other hyphenated words, but hyphenated numbers expressed in words should not e.g. 35-year-old bird not thirty-five-year-old bird.

Decimal points are to be placed on the line (e.g. 6.3 mm).

Fractions can either be written in the form three-quarters or as a decimal (0.75) when appropriate.

Symbols

Greater than, less than and equal to must be written in full within the text but may be symbolized within parentheses and on tables and figures (e.g. > 30 m). This also applies to per cent (e.g. 20%).

Latitude and longitude are to be expressed in the following form: 23°27’S, 151°55’E.

An en dash is acceptable to convey ‘to’ e.g. 7–14 (use ALT + 0150 in Word), January–July 2005.

Temperature should be denoted as 27.7°C with no spaces.

Accepted abbreviations

that is	i.e.
for example	e.g.
etcetera	etc.
personal communication	(S. Hill, pers. comm. 2004)
personal data	(pers. data)
personal observation	(pers. obs.)
unpublished data	(J. Smith, unpub. data)
in press	(Webb, in press) — accepted for publication in its final form and should appear in references
in preparation	(in prep.) — can be mentioned in text but does not appear in references
circa	c. — may be used to indicate approximations.
standard deviation	s.d.
standard error	s.e.
and others	et al.
above sea level	asl
number	n
Electronic mail	email or e-mail
Anonymous	Anon.

Others

Compass directions should be hyphenated e.g. north-east or north-eastern.

Dates should be in the form 21 December 1998 in text — shortened versions could be used on tables and figures.

Mid-autumn and similar expressions should be hyphenated.

‘Figure’ should be written in full in text but can be abbreviated to Fig. in parentheses — note that ‘figs’ does not contain a period. ‘Fig. 1’ denotes reference to a figure in the current paper but ‘fig. 1’ denotes a figure in another paper (e.g. Jones 1956, fig. 1).

‘Mist net’ are two separate words when used as an adjective plus noun but one word as a verb (mistnetting).

Referencing within the text

Where author’s name is cited in text:

One author   Hollands (1990)
Two authors   Alton and Fry (2001)
Three or more   Debus et al. (2003)

Where author’s name is not cited in text:

One author   (Hollands 1990)
Two authors   (Alton and Fry 2001)
Three or more   (Debus et al. 2003)

One author has written several works in the same year:

Haulse (2001a, b)

Multiple citations:

(Lyon et al. 2002; Steele and Bright 2001; Green 2003)
(e.g. Schodde and Mason 1980; Beardsell 1991)

One author cites another author:

Lane (1987 – cited in Marchant and Higgins 1990)

Chapter in a book:

Brooker (in Archer 2003)

For material with no date of publication:

Franklin (n.d.)

Quoting specific information:

Smith (2001, p. 34)
(see Higgins et al. 2001, pp 37–38 for a review)
Milton et al. (in Neil et al. 2003, p. 13)

Direct quotes:

Gosper (2004, p. 47) states that “………………………………………”

Listing of references in the Reference Section

Make sure there is a space between author’s initials.

Author/s or editor/s of a book:

Frith, H. J. (1982). ‘Waterfowl in Australia’. 2nd edn. (Angus and Robertson: Sydney.)
Marchant, S. and Higgins, P. J. (Eds) (1990). ‘Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds. Vol. 1, Ratites to Ducks’. (Oxford University Press: Melbourne.)
Strahan, R. (Ed.) 1983. ‘Complete Book of Australian Mammals’. (Angus and Robertson: Sydney.)

An article in a journal by one or more authors:
Cam, M. G. (2001). Migration patterns of Silvereyes from the Blue Mountains. Corella 25: 35–41.
Hamilton, A. K., Preston, C. L. and Taylor, L. D. (2001). Methods of ageing and sexing Pied Currawongs Strepera graculina. Emu 88: 118–121.

A research thesis:
Elliget, M. (1980). ‘A study of Lake Borrie, Werribee Sewerage Farm as a waterfowl (Anatidae) refuge area.’ BSc (Hons) thesis, La Trobe University, Victoria. (unpub.)

A published report by officers of a government department etc.:
Lane, B. and Peake, P. (1990). ‘Nature conservation at the Werribee Treatment Complex’. Rep. No. 91/008. (Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works: Melbourne.)

A published report by a government department etc.:
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (2000). ‘The status of the Superb Parrot in NSW’. (NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service: Sydney.)

A chapter in a book or paper in published conference proceedings etc.:
Harris, G. H. and Wilson, T. P. (1990). Birds of urban reserves. In ‘Birds of the Sydney Area’ (Eds H. Brooks and G. Kline). Pp. 79–96. (Surrey Beatty and Sons: Chipping Norton.)

A website:
NSW National Parks Wildlife Atlas (2009). http://wildlifeatlas.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/waslasSpecies.jsp. Data valid to 1/11/2009. Accessed 16/11/2009.

Figures (Maps and Graphs) and Tables

The printable area of the page is 18 cm x 27 cm; double column figures/tables will be 18 cm wide; single column figures/tables will be 8.5 cm wide; widths between one column and double column can also be accommodated. The captions for figures should be typed onto a page separate from the figure.

Maps
Maps should be clear and relevant to the study and can be submitted in a variety of formats (.tif, .eps, pcx) but the recommended one is a high-resolution .jpg file. Colour is encouraged, as are satellite images for large-scale study areas. In some instances simply listing the latitude and longitude may suffice instead of a published map. Maps should only show necessary information. Excessive labelling (including names of towns, roads, rivers) will clutter the figure making it difficult to locate key place names. Hand-drawn maps are not usually suitable for publication. High quality digital maps are now readily available and should be utilised wherever possible. Photocopies of hand-drawn maps should be submitted only initially. If these maps are suitable for publication, the originals must be submitted so that they can be scanned into an appropriate electronic format.

Graphs
Lines should be thick and dark and any fill used should show a clear distinction between sets of data (colour is acceptable). Borders around the graph and the key are not necessary. The recommended format is an .xls file – this makes it very easy to adjust fills, thickness of lines etc., if necessary.

Where possible, the figure should be presented at the final size. Figures that seem satisfactory when they are large, can present problems when they are reduced. Remember that if the figure has to be reduced for publication the figure will reduce equally in all dimensions i.e. both width and height will reduce. This can cause some problems, such as: (i) line graphs where the lines are very close together can lose clarity, (ii) the typeface will reduce. Please ensure that the final typeface size AFTER reduction will be a minimum of 10 times Times New Roman typeface.

Tables
The recommended format is an .xls file but tables created in Word are acceptable. These should normally have a maximum size of one page but larger tables can be accommodated, if necessary.

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