Author Guidelines for Submitting Manuscripts to Zoological Research
Published bimonthly, Zoological Research is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open-access journal publishing original articles, review articles, research reports, letter to the editor, editorial and notes focusing on Genome Evolution and Genetic Diversity, Animal Ecology and Ethology, Primates and Animal Models of Human Diseases. The journal also publishes high quality papers related to taxonomy and DNA barcoding, developmental biology, physiology, biochemistry, immunology, and neuroscience. To assist you in formatting your articles correctly for submission to ZR, please use this attached guide.
SUBMISSIONS
All paper submitted to Zoological Research must follow the submission instructions. Failure to do so may result in rejection of the manuscript or delays in publication. Please be aware that we only publish articles in English, and not Chinese. If you have a Chinese-language manuscript you are interested in publishing, please contact one of our editors and they can assist you in getting the article translated into English, which will then be polished by our English speaking editors.
Manuscripts and editorial correspondence should either be e-mailed to zoores@mail.kiz.ac.cn, or submitted through our website at http://www.zoores.ac.cn/.
FORMATTING
All papers should follow the standard format for Zoological Research and be double spaced, in 12 point Times New Roman font, with 1” inch margins. The paper should include the following elements:
- A full title, no more than 250 characters;
- An abbreviated running title of around 50 characters which succinctly explains the purpose of the paper;
- A cover letter or email, briefly explaining (a) the relevance of their research; (b) stating that the paper being submitted for publication must not have been published, accepted for publication, or be under consideration for publication, either in whole or in part, elsewhere in any other language; and (c) that all authors and co-authors agree to the paper's submission to Zoological Research.
- Any accompanying tables, figures or data the authors wish to have appended to the published paper.
NOTE on Copyright: If tables, figures or other data have from another source, authors should submit a letter from the copyright holder granting authorization for use of the material. Authors may use their article elsewhere after publication provided that prior permission is obtained from the publisher.
PUBLICATION PROCESS
All articles undergo initial review by our editors and then are either sent out for peer-review or language editing if they are deemed acceptable. Following peer-review, the corresponding author is invited to return the revision within three months after receiving the reviewers' and editors comments. If we or the reviewers recommend that your article could benefit from English-language editing, jointly the editorial staff and the submitting author will arrange the schedule with our English speaking editors, who will revise the language of the manuscript and then return it to the author for final review. Pending acceptance of this version, a final revision will be approved by our editorial staff and review board, and proofs will be sent to the corresponding author directly preceding publication. Acceptance of the final proof should be sent back to the editorial office as soon as possible, ideally within three days.
ETHICS
All submitted manuscripts should abide by ethnics rules and Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals produced by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). For papers that deal with either human or animal experimentation, please submit a disclaimer that all procedures were approved by your local ethics review board and that your procedures obey all relevant national and international regulations.
STYLE & LENGTH
Manuscripts should be no longer than 15,000 words, including references and all figures and/or tables. Whenever possible, authors should try to avoid abbreviations or complex technical terminology. When needed, all abbreviations should be standard, abiding by common zoological and genetic nomenclature and using standard unit measurements.
All manuscripts should contain the following information and be organizing in this order:
I. Title Page
The title page should include (i) full title of the paper, not to exceed 250 characters, (ii) full names of all authors with listings of their respective institutional affiliations, (iii) full postal, email, and telephone contact information for the corresponding author; (iv) a brief, running title of no more than 50 characters that will appear at the top of each page.
II. Abstract
Each paper should be preceded by an abstract of no more than 250 that presents the purpose, importance, basic methods and key findings of the research. Avoid using abbreviations, citations or references to other parts of the text whenever possible.
III. Keywords
Each papers should include around 5 keywords (for indexing), provided immediately below the abstract.
IV. Text
The main text of a manuscript should be organized into four parts:
Introduction should summarize the rationale and give a concise background. Use references to provide the most salient background rather than an exhaustive review.
Materials and methods provide technical information to allow the fieldwork or experiments to be repeated. Describe new methods or modifications and identify unusual instruments and procedures in detail.
Results emphasize or summarize only important observations. Simple data may be set forth in the text without the need of tables and figures. This section can be combined with the discussion if needed.
Discussion should deal with the interpretation of results that emphasizes any new and important aspect of the research as it relates to the broader field and scholarship. The discussion should also end with a brief conclusion, recapping the major findings and contributions of the paper.
V. Acknowledgment(s)
Acknowledgements may indicate (a) contributors that do not warrant authorship; (b) technical help or assistance; and (c) material support. Foundation items should be put in the footnote of the first page.
VI. Tables and figures
All tables and figures must be numbered consecutively by Arabic numerals based on the order they appear in the manuscript. The captions to illustrations can be bonded with the tables, and the figure legends should be separated from the illustration. Only high-quality drawings and original photographs (preferably as JPEG or TIFF files) suitable for reproduction can be accepted. Actual enlarging multiples or the length unit (bar, in µm or nm) should be marked in photos produced by microscopy. Three-line tables (no vertical line) are requested.
VII. References
Citations should appear in the text using the (Author, Date) system with corresponding references appearing at the end of the paper. Listed references should be complete in all details if possible. The full list should be collected and typed at the end of the paper and arranged alphabetically by authors and chronologically for each author as shown below. If originally published in Chinese or another non-European language, please translate the article title into English and provide a note at the end, denoting the original language, e.g., [in Chinese], [in Vietnamese], [in Marathi], etc.. The EndNote reference style file of Zoological Research and its instructions can be downloaded from our website: http://www.zoores.ac.cn/EN/column/column86.shtml.
For a sample guide for references and in-text citations, please see the accompanying document on using EndNote to format your citations.
SUBMISSION CHECKLIST
Please ensure all of the following elements are included in your final submission to our journal:
- Cover letter / email specifying appropriate details
- Title page with author information, corresponding author contact data, full & running titles
- Abstract less than 250 words
- Properly organized manuscript
- Standardized abbreviations, measurements and nomenclature
- All figures, tables and supplementary materials
- Cross-checked references
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