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Information For Authors

THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA

1. INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Papers considered for publication may be: Reviews, Reports of experimental or descriptive research, or Short Communications. Length of papers may vary but Short Communications should not exceed 1500 words.

When an author submits a manuscript for consideration, it is assumed that it has never been published nor is under consideration for publication elsewhere.

2. SUBMISSION

The original and two copies of the typescript and all tables and figures should be submitted to the Executive Officer, Royal Society of Victoria, 9 Victoria Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000. Use International A4 bond paper, printed on one side only. For the initial submission it is recommended that a CD-ROM containing all files comprising the paper is also submitted, as many referees will accept papers by email.

In a letter of transmittal, give the names and addresses (postal and email) of the author or co-authors. Also give the names, addresses and email addresses of three persons not directly associated with the work and outside the author’s institution, who could act as referees.

Authors or their institutions may be requested to contribute towards the cost of publication of the paper and in the case of very long papers, such contribution is mandatory. It will assist reviewers if related papers recently published or submitted elsewhere accompany the submitted manuscript.

For all papers, presentation of the final manuscript on CD-ROM is mandatory. Please ensure all materials submitted are clearly identified with the corresponding author. All filenames should include the author’s initials, and preferably the paper number when allocated; similarly for discs. (Filenames such as Paper text.doc, Fig 1.jpg, and discs named My Disc or Untitled are too anonymous for editors and layout staff handling dozens of such items.)

3. FORMAT

All manuscripts should be written in clear and concise English. Use double spacing throughout; leave 30 mm margins around the text; number all pages. All measurements are to be expressed in SI units (eg µm, mm, m, km but not cm) and standard symbols and abbreviations used. Note, Ma refers to a date (eg 25Ma) not a time interval, which is written as 25 million years. When a number does not refer to a measurement it should be spelt out except when it is greater than nine. Wherever possible fractions should be written in the form x/y.

Geological papers must follow the Australian Code of Stratigraphic Nomenclature and should cite geological maps in the text with italics for the 1:63 360 series and full caps for the 1:250 000 series. New stratigraphic names should be registered with the Geoscience Australia (GA) Australian Stratigraphic Names Database. The GA website “How to define a lithostratigraphic unit” (http://www.ga.gov.au/ minerals/strat_names/) is a useful guide.

The Proceedings uses Australian spelling according to the latest edition of the Macquarie Dictionary and where there is optional spelling for words we use the form used by Victorians traditionally. For example we use the following spelling; color, honorary, program.

Authors should follow the layout of headings, tables and illustrations as presented in a recent issue of The Proceedings.

Papers should be organised as follows:

1. A brief title, capitalised and, if possible, beginning with a key word.
2. The name and address of the author(s), with numerical superscripts to distinguish addresses of multiple authors.
3. A full reference to the paper, leaving space for the printer’s additions.
4. A short abstract of not more than 200 words describing the results (rather than the contents) of the paper.
5. Up to 5 key words.
6. The main text. Capitalise the first word of the introductory paragraph; do not use the heading 'Introduction'. Within the text up to three grades of headings may be used, typed as follows:


Grade one heading
Grade two heading
Grade three heading. Followed by running text on the same line.

Refer to papers illustrations in the text as "Fig. 1A, B", "Figs 1, 2" or "Figs 1-4", and indicate in the margins where the illustrations should be placed. Cite references in the text as Archbold (1998), (Archbold et al. 1998) or (Archbold 1998: 2, fig. 1); multiple citations should be arranged chronologically. All references cited in the text must be listed at the end of the paper. Footnotes in the main text are not allowed. Where there are multiple authors for a reference, "et al." is used, and is not italicised.

In taxonomic works, synonymies should be of the same format as the following examples, with a dash preceding authors’ names except in the case of reference to the original description.

Eudendrium generalis Lendenberg 1885: 351, pl. 6. — Lendenberg 1887: 16.
Eudendrium generale. — Hartlaub 1905: 515.—Watson 1985: 196-200, figs 40-52.
non Eudendrium generale.—Watson 1982: 89, pl. 10, fig. 3.
Eudendrium lendenfeldi Briggs 1922: 150.—Rosler 1978: 104, 120, pl. 20, figs 1-3.

Note that plate and figure numbers, etc. originally given in Roman numerals should be transliterated into Arabic figures; this is also the case in the main text and in the references.

7. Acknowledgements. The source of financial grants and other funding, as well as the contribution of colleagues or institutions, should be acknowledged. These should follow the main text and be as brief as possible.

8. References. These should conform in arrangement to the examples below. Journal titles must be cited in full as they appear on the title page.

CURTIS, N.P., 2001. Germination of Xanthorrhoea australis using treatments that mimic post-fire and unburnt conditions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 113(2): 237-245.
BERGSON, H., 1928. Creative Evolution. Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, xv+425 pp. ROSEN, B.R. & TURNSEK, D., 1989. Extinction patterns and biogeography of scleractinian corals across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria including Archaeocyatha and Spongiomorphs, P.A. Jell & J.W. Pickett, eds, Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, Brisbane, Queensland, 355-370.

For any other type check recent copies of the proceedings.

Personal communications and unpublished data are not to be listed in the reference list but should be mentioned in full in the text (eg P. Brown pers. comm. 2002).

9. Tables and Figures. In the typescript each table with its title should be printed on a separate sheet. A separate sheet should also be used to list captions to figures in numerical order. On disc, numbered captions should be supplied as a separate file to the main manuscript.

4. IMAGES

All images (photographs, tables, illustrations, graphs) must be supplied electronically • as separate files (not embedded in the text)
• as black & white or grayscale (colour images incur a cost to the author)
• in tiff, jpeg or eps format (not bmp)
• numbered sequentially according to their appearance in the text (eg. AA-Fig01.tiff, where AA is the author’s initials)
• designed for one or two column width (67 mm or 138 mm), with maximum length 193 mm
• at a resolution of at least 300 dpi (for photos) and 800 dpi (for line artwork) at final size
• with lines thicker than 0.3 point
• with composite figures labelled A, B, C, etc., (not a, b, c).

5. PROOFS

Authors of accepted papers should maintain their contact details with the editor; a current email address is sufficient. Authors will receive a pdf of the page proofs. This is for correcting typesetters errors only and not for altering the wording or substance of the paper. This should be returned to the editor within 72 hours. If absent, authors should arrange for a colleague to check and return proofs to the editor on their behalf. Authors will be charged for excessive alterations at this stage.

6. REPRINTS

The corresponding author will be emailed a pdf file of the final printed manuscript at the time of publication. Hardcopy reprints (max. 20) may be ordered by returning the order form that accompanies the page proofs.

7. COPYRIGHT

Upon publication, copyright of the paper (including illustrations) is held by the Royal Society of Victoria. Any subsequent publication of any material shall be by written permission of the Society. Authors in Government institutions where copyright is retained by the Crown are exempt from transfer of copyright to the Society.