instructions

 articles

 editorial board

 search

GENERAL INFORMATION

CHECK LIST publishes articles that present species lists for a given locality and also maintains a section of notes on geographic distribution. If your manuscript reports the occurrence of one or a few species, please see instructions about manuscript preparation on Notes on Geographic Distribution. If your manuscript is a species inventory from a given locality, you should prepare it according to instructions to Species Lists, as indicated below.

Manuscripts will be considered on the condition that they have not been published elsewhere or submitted for publication -in whole or in part- to another journal or book. All submissions to CHECK LIST are subject to review by at least two referees and the main CHECK LIST editor. Submission to CHECK LIST implies that all authors have read and approved the version being submitted, and the corresponding author holds responsibility over those matters. Posterior discordances between authors, or any other kind of scientific misconduct that has failed to be perceived during peer-review process, is subject to retraction according to journal rules (See below).

Manuscripts must be submitted in digital format by e-mail (as .doc or .rtf files). Photographs and drawings can be sent as high-resolution .jpg, .tiff, .bmp, or .gif files. High quality color photographs are also accepted. Publication in CHECK LIST, including color pictures, is free of charge.

Manuscripts should be written in English.Authors for whom English is not the first language are advised to consult with a technical language editor before submission. Manuscripts in which the English is difficult to understand due to poor grammar or unusual scientific writing may be returned to the author without review.

"CHECK LIST has strict policy regarding vouchers, differing according to taxa. Please refer to the attached file for details."

Please pay careful attention to guidelines provided here when preparing your manuscript. If after reading instructions provided here you still have questions, contact the editor-in-chief. Manuscripts that are not presented according to CHECK LIST guidelines will be sent back to authors without review. Keep in mind that currently, over 80% of manuscripts are returned to authors without review, resulting in delay in the review process. The main reasons are that authors do not read and follow instructions in this webpage, resulting in problems, of which the most frequent are: lack of proper English, names of potential referees not indicated, taxalist not provided (see instructions below), use of grey literature, incorrect citations of literature or 'in text' citations, and nomenclature instructions not according to CHECK LIST guidelines. Whether you want a rapid review process of your manuscript, please start by reading and following instructions carefully.

MANUSCRIPT STYLE AND FORMAT

Manuscripts should be double-spaced, including tables and references, with wide margins on 21 x 29.7 cm (A4) paper. Please use Times New Roman 12. Manuscript pages should be numbered consecutively (except the cover page). Manuscripts must be submitted in order specified below for each manuscript category.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPECIES LISTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE

Taxonomic group, locality (optional), State, Country

e.g.: Anurans, Municipality of Rio Claro, State of São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil

AUTHOR(S)

Name(s) with respective institution and author for correspondence (provide e-mail):

1 Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Caixa Postal 199, CEP 13506-970 Rio Claro, Brasil.

2Laboratório de Herpetologia, Centro Multidisciplinar, Campus Floresta, Universidade Federal do Acre, CEP 69980-000, Cruzeiro do Sul, AC, Brasil

* Corresponding author e-mail:

SECOND PAGE

(the first to be numbered)

ABSTRACT

Up to 150 words

INTRODUCTION

Brief

MATERIALS AND METHODS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Please, suggest the placement of Tables and Figures in the text

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (optional)

Permits/authorizations should be mentioned in Materials and Methods, not in the Acknowledgements.

LITERATURE CITED

Cited publications should be included in alphabetical order in the following formats: (attention to the usage of upper and lowercases, commas, semi-colon, brackets, spaces, italics and English words, ever)

Citing CHECK LIST articles

Surname, H.I.S. and H.E.R. Surname. 2005. Title of the article with Latin names in italics. Check List 1(4): 1-10.

Journal articles with usual volume and issue number

França, M.V.N. 1999. La extinción los zorros (Foxidae: Foxtrotus spp.) de España Perro Negro 20(3): 251-265.

Two authors in a journal series

Castro-Herrera, F. and F. Vargas-Salinas. Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes, Colubridae, Urotheca decipiens: Distribution extension. Check List 3(3): 185-189.

More than two authors in a journal series

Costa, H.C., V.D. Fernandes, A.C. Rodrigues, and R.N. Feio. 2009. Lizards and Amphisbaenians, municipality of Viça, state of Minas Gerais, southeastern Brazil. Check List 5(3): 732-745.

Chapter in an edited volume

Fitch, H.S. 1987. Collecting and life-history techniques; p. 143-164. In: Seigel, R.A., J.T. Collins, and S.S. Novak (ed.). Snakes. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.

Books

Pough, F.H., C.M. Janis, and J.B. Heiser. 2002. Vertebrate life. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 699 p.

Electronic resources:

Frost, D. 2009. FishBase. Electronic Database accessible at http://research.amnh.org/vz/herpetology/amphibia/index.php. American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Captured on 14 February 2008.

Gray literature

"Gray literature" will not be accepted.

Gray Literature is scientific or technical literature that is not available through the usual bibliographic sources such as databases or indexes, i.e. that can not be found easily through conventional channels such as regular scientific journals or the internet (scientific open journals). Technical reports, pre-prints, committee reports, proceedings (conference, congress and symposia), as well as unpublished works (Monographs, Dissertations and Thesis), will be considered gray literature.

If strictly necessary, the use of gray literature information must be cited as "unpublished data" or "personal communication". However, this kind of reference acceptance of will be the area editor's decision.

Articles "in press/accepted" should be allowed only if the author has already information about the article's volume, issue, and page numbers (if the author does not have that info, it means that the articles is not in fact in press). A journal document proving it acceptance can be directed to Check List.

TABLES

Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals and placed after LITERATURE CITED, one table per page with its corresponding legend. Authors are encouraged to indicate where the tables should be placed in the text. Tables should be formatted with horizontal, but not vertical, rules. In the text, tables should be referred as Table 1, Tables 2 and 3, Tables 2-5.

FIGURES

Figures should be numbered consecutively and their legends should be placed in a separate page after TABLES. All figures must be sent as separate pages or in separate files (.jpg .tiff .bmp or .gif files). Please, try not to exceed 1 MB per file. High quality color or black and white photographs, or computer-generated figures (e.g. maps) are preferred. After acceptance authors may be invited to send original figures. Authors are encouraged to indicate where the figures should be placed in the text. Figures should be referred to in the text as Figure 1, Figures 2 and 3, Figures 2-5, Figure 4A (not Fig. 1, figure 1, fig. 1, or Figure 4a).

NOMENCLATURE

Authors are entirely responsible for correct species identifications. When first mentioning a species name, provide its complete binomial name including the authority and date of the species name. Scientific names must be in italics. Do not italicize the abbreviations "e.g.", "i.e.", and "et al.". Use SI units (download: SI, SI guide, SI rules and style), e.g.:

Time

02:22 h, 14:55 h

Distances and areas

15 km2, 60 m, 20,760 ha

Geographic coordinates

05°44'00" S, 44°23'04" W

Temperatures

20 °C (note spacing)

Percentages

15 % (note spacing)

IN-TEXT CITATIONS

Author citations in the text must follow the pattern: "Lutz (1973)" or "(Sazima 1975)", "Secor and Diamond (1998)", "(Abe and Fernandes 1977)", "Johansen et al. (1987)" or "(Andrade et al. 2004)". Several publications must be cited in chronological order; e.g. "(Lutz 1973; Sazima 1975; Secor and Diamond 1998)". Two or more publications by the same author must be cited as "(Sazima 1975; 1976)" or "(Sazima 1974a; b; 1975)".

PROOFS

CHECK LIST will undertake proofreading of the original manuscript and send galley proofs to corresponding authors for final verification.

REPRINTS

Authors will not receive printed reprints. Only a printable, high-resolution .pdf file will be sent to the corresponding author by e-mail and free of charge.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION

This section is dedicated to geographic distribution notes. Notes should be organized into categories, such as distribution extension, distribution reduction, historical occurrence, filling gaps, or any other not listed here. Geographic distribution notes should be organized as follows:

Title

Taxonomic group, Species name(s) (or taxa name) (authority and date of the species name): category (distribution extension, distribution reduction, historical occurrence, filling gaps, other)

Example:

Amphibia, Anura, Hylidae, Sphaenorhynchus caramaschii Toledo, Garcia, Lingnau & Haddad, 2007: distribution extension.

Author names and Institutions

Text

Acknowledgements (optional)

Literature Cited

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE .TXT FILE

To create an online database we require from the authors a file containing the taxonomic information of the species treated in their articles (can be created in the WORD software, but preferably in WORD PAD). This file should be as complete as possible to facilitate retrieval of articles after publication. All taxonomic information provided will be included in a database, from where it will be able to search for articles. If your article deals with Anurans and you do not include the word "Amphibia" in this file or in the title of the manuscript, someone searching with the word "Amphibia" will not find your article. 
<taxaList>
    <taxon class="Actinopterygii" family="Acestrorhynchinae" genus="Acestrorhynchus" species="falcatus"/>
    <taxon class="Actinopterygii" family="Acestrorhynchinae" genus="Acestrorhynchus" species="microlepis"/>
    <taxon class="Actinopterygii" family="Acestrorhynchinae" genus="Acnodon" species="normani"/>
    <taxon class="Actinopterygii" family="Acestrorhynchinae" genus="Knodus"/>
</taxaList>

Important remarks:


SUBMISSION

Please verify that you have the following files ready before submitting an article:

Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts by e-mail as attachments to the following address:

LINKS


Copyright and Ethical Guidelines

Submission to CHECK LIST implies that authors agree with our editorial policy and in sharing copyrights with CHECK LIST.

Text copyrights belongs to CHECK LIST, while images (including maps) copyrights are both property of CHECK LIST and the authors. However, CHECK LIST automatically grants permission to scientific and educational use. Commercial use without strict permission is forbidden without written consent of the Editor-in-chief.

Obvious ill-intended publication is subject to punishment. In our case, if plagiarism or other sort of scientific misconduct has failed to be perceived during peer-review process, the final published work will be replaced in our website (therefore freely distributed) by a water-marked copy with the text "REMOVED DUE TO UNFAIR USE OF INFORMATION" with a letter from the editor-in-chief explaining the reason(s) as front page. If you have any doubts about plagiarism please find some useful information in http://www.plagiarism.org/.

Luis Felipe Toledo 2005