ISSN 0044-5967 printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. Maximum size of the file should be 3MB.

2. A letter submitting the manuscript (cover letter) should state that:

a) The research data are original and accurate;

b) all the authors participated substantially and are prepared to assume public responsibility for its content;

c) the contribution presented to this journal is not being published elsewhere, entirely or in part, by any other journal. The cover letter should be uploaded at the Acta Amazonica's web site as a "supplementary document".

3. Manuscripts are accepted in Portuguese, Spanish, or English, but the Editorial Board encourages contributions in English. It should be noted that the veracity of the information contained in the manuscript is exclusive responsibility of authors.

4.Maximum length of a manuscript is 30 pages for articles and reviews; ten for short communications; and five for other contributions, including bibliography, tables, figures and legends. Tables and figures should be inserted at the end of the text, in this sequence. In addition, a copy of figures must be uploaded in the Journal Web site upon submission (see  "Photographs and illustrations").

5. Manuscripts properly formatted according to the "Instruction to authors" are sent to Associate Editors for a pre-evaluation. In this first judgment it is taken into consideration the scientific relevance and intelligibility of the manuscript, and its scope within the Amazonian context. In this phase, contributions out of the scope of the Journal or of little scientific relevance are declined by the editors. Manuscripts approved in the first judgment are sent to scientific referees (at least two reviewers) specialists of institutions other than those of the authors for a more detailed evaluation.

6. A contribution can be considered for publication if it has received at least two positive opinions in the evaluation process. Approval of manuscripts will be based on the scientific content and the adequate presentation according to the Journal format.

7. Manuscripts requiring corrections will be returned to the authors for revision. The revised version needs to be returned to the Associate Editor in TWO weeks’ time. A response letter is expected to be uploaded in the Journal system detailing corrections that have been made. In this letter, modifications not incorporated into the revised version, if any, need to be justified. The entire process is online, and can be followed at the journal Web  site, http://submission.scielo.br/index.php/aa/login.

8. The manuscript  organization should follow this  order: Title, authorship, institutional and electronic address,  Abstract, Keywords; Introduction, Materials and Methods,  Results and Discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgements (including financial support), and References.

For submissions presented in Portuguese or Spanish it is also required: title, abstract and keywords in English. Likewise, for submission in English is also required: title, abstract and keywords in Portuguese.

9. Short communications are written in a single sequence, without separating into topics; however, they have to include: Title, authorship, institutional and electronic address, Abstract, Keywords; Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion. Three figures and two tables are permitted. The format of the first page and that of the References are the same as for the article.

10. Full name(s) of the author(s), with the last name in capital letters. Complete address of authors and  Institution(s), including telephone, fax, e-mail must be  recorded on the Journal system upon submitting the manuscript.

11. IMPORTANT NOTE: Manuscripts not properly formatted according to the "Instructions to authors" are NOT accepted for publication.

FORMAT AND STYLE

12. Manuscripts must be prepared using text editor (with DOC, DOCX or RTF extension), utilizing the type "Times New Roman" size 12 pt, double spaced, with 3-cm margins. Pages and lines should be numbered. References, tables (if any), and figures (if any) must be included at the end of the manuscript, in this sequence. 13. Title. Adjust to the left; capitalize first letter of sentence. 14. Abstract up to 250 words (150 for short communications) must contain succinctly, the objective, methodology;  results and conclusions, emphasizing important observations or aspects of the study. Scientific names of species and other Latin terms should be in italic. 15. Keywords. They must consist of three to five terms. Each keyword term may consist of two or more words.  However, words used in the title cannot be repeated as keywords.

16. Introduction. Should emphasize the purpose of the study and supply a brief summary of previous relevant studies, as well as clearly state the objectives or hypotheses to be tested. Do not anticipate data or conclusions of the manuscript in this section.

17. Materials and Methods. Should contain enough information, chronologically organized to explain the procedures carried out, in such a way that other researches can be able to repeat the study. Statistical treatments of data should be described. Standard techniques need only be referenced. Measuring units and their abbreviations should follow the International System and, when necessary, should include a list of the abbreviations utilized. Specific equipments used in the study should be described (model, manufacturer, city and country of manufacturing). Voucher material (sample for future reference) should be deposited in one or more scientific collections and informed in the manuscript.

18. Ethics and legal aspects: For studies that requires special permissions (e.g. Ethic Committee/National Commission of Ethic in Research-CONEP, IBAMA, CNTBio, INCRA/FUNAI, EIA/RIMA, others) the registration/approval number (and publishing date) must be informed.

19. Results and Discussion. Should present a concise description of information obtained, with a minimum of personal judgment. Do not repeat in the text all the data contained in tables and illustrations. Numbers (digits) should be one space-separated from units. For example, 60 °C and NOT 60°C, except for percentages(for instance, 5% and NOT 5 %). Use units and symbols of the international system and exponential symbolism. For example: cmol kg^-1 instead of meq/100g. Do not present the same information (data) in tables and figures simultaneously. The discussion should focus on results obtained. Avoid mere speculation. However, well based hypotheses may be incorporated. Only relevant reference should be included.

20. Conclusion. Interpretation of results obtained in the study may be emphasized separately (as topic) or included in the results and discussion section.

21. Acknowledgements (including financial support). Should be brief and concise.

22. References. At least 70% of references must be scientific journal articles. References should preferentially be from last 10 years. Should be cited in alphabetic order of author names, and should be restricted to citation included in the text. In this section, the journal title is NOT abbreviated. Please see the examples below:

a) Articles from periodicals: Walker, I. 2009. Omnivory and resource – sharing in nutrient – deficient Rio Negro Waters: Stablilization of biodiversity? Acta Amazonica, 39: 617-626. Alvarenga, L.D.P.; Lisboa, R.C.L. 2009. Contribuição para o conhecimento da taxonomia, ecologia e fitogeografia de briófitas da Amazônia Oriental. Acta Amazonica, 39: 495-504.

b) Dissertations and theses: Ribeiro, M.C.L.B. 1983. As migrações dos jaraquis (Pisces: Prochilodontidae) no rio Negro, Amazonas, Brasil. Dissertação de Mestrado, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia/Fundação Universidade do Amazonas, Manaus, Amazonas. 192 pp.

c) Books: Goulding, M. 1980. The fishes and the forest. Explorations in Amazonian natural history. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, USA. 280 pp.

d) Books chapters: Absy, M.L. 1993. Mudanças da vegetação e clima da Amazônia durante o Quaternário, p. 3-10. In: Ferreira, E.J.G.; Santos, G.M.; Leão, E.L.M.; Oliveira, L.A. (Eds.). Bases científicas para estratégias de preservação e desenvolvimento da Amazônia. v.2. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, Amazonas.

e) Citation of electronic Source: CPTEC, 1999. Climanalise, 14: 1-2 (www.cptec.inpe.br/products/climanalise). Retrieved on 19/05/1999. 23. In the text, citations of references follow a chronological order. For two or more reference from the same year cite according to  alphabetical order. Please see the following examples.

a) One author: Pereira (1995) or (Pereira 1995).

b) Two authors: Oliveira and Souza (2003) or (Oliveira and Souza 2003).

c) Three or more authors: Rezende et al. (2002) or (Rezende et al. 2002).

d) Citations  from different years (chronological order): Silva (1991),  Castro (1998) and  Alves (2010) or (Silva 1991; Castro 1998; Alves 2010).

e) Citations in the same year (alphabetical order): Ferreira et al. (2001) and Fonseca et al. (2001); or (Ferreira et al. 2001; Fonseca et al. 2001).

FIGURES

24. Photographs, drawings and graphics should have high definition, with high black and white contrast, numbered sequentially in Arabic numerals. The figure legend must be at the bottom of the figure. Do NOT use grey tones in scatter graphs or bar charts. In scatter graphs back and white (solid, dotted or dashed) lines and symbols open or solid (circle, square, triangle or diamond)  can be used. For bar charts, black, white, stripped or dotted bars can be used. Border the plotting area with a thin solid line, but do NOT use a border line in the graphic area. Avoid unnecessary legends in the plotting area. Do NOT use letters too small (< size 10) in figures (either in title axes or within the plotting area). In axes (vertical, horizontal) use inward marks in scale divisions. Do NOT use horizontal or vertical grid lines, except in maps or similar illustrations. Meaning of acronym used in figures must described in the figure legend.

25. In the manuscript, figures should be limited to seven (7) in articles, and three (3) in short communication, and should be of high quality.

26. Figures should be formatted to fit within the page dimensions of the Journal, namely, within a column (8 cm) or the width of the entire page (17 cm), and allowing space for the figure legend (caption). Illustrations can be reformatted during the production process in order to optimize Journal space. Scales should be indicated by a line or bar (horizontal) in the figure and, if necessary, referenced in the figure legend, for example, bar = 1 mm.

27. Citations in the text, with initial letter capitalized, can be made directly or indirectly (in parenthesis). Ex: Figure 1 or (Figure 1). In the caption, followed by a hyphen before the title. Ex: "Figure 1. Analysis…"   

28. In figures that have been previously published, the authors should clearly state in the manuscript that a permission for reproduction has been granted.

29. Photographs and illustrations (BITMAP) should be in the TIFF or JPEG format, with high resolution (at least 300 dpi). For scatter graphs use XLS, EPS, CDR, AI or WMF format. Each figure included in the text should also be uploaded at the Acta Amazonica's web site as an individual file,  a "supplementary document".

30. Photographs are expected to be black and white, preferably. Colored photographs can be accepted. However, there is a printing cost, which is charged to authors. As an alternative and without costs to authors, a colored figure can be used in the Journal electronic  version (if this is essential); whereas a black and white version of the same figure can be used in the printed version.

31. Authors can be invited to submit a colored photograph to illustrate the Journal cover page. In this case, the printing cost will be afforded by the Journal.

TABLES

32. Tables should be well organized and numbered sequentially with Arabic numerals. A maximum of five tables is permitted for articles and two for short communication. The numbering and the title (brief and descriptive) should be at top of the table. A table may have footnotes. Meaning of acronym used in tables (head columns, etc) must be detailed in the table title or footnote. 33. Tables should be produced in text editor (RTF,  DOC or DOCX), and should not be inserted in the manuscript as a figure (e.g. a graphic in jpg format). 34. Citations in the text can be made directly or indirectly (in parenthesis), written out fully, with the initial letter capitalized. Ex: Table 1 or (Table 1). In the table legend, tables should be cited followed by a hyphen before the title, for instance: "Table 1. Analysis…"

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

1. Acta Amazonica can make minor formatting and grammar corrections in the manuscript to adjust to editorial and language standard. Finally the proof is sent to authors for a last verification. In this phase only typographical or spelling mistakes can be corrected in the proof. NO major changes can be made on the manuscript at this stage, otherwise the entire manuscript could return to the evaluation process by the Editorial Board.

2. Acta Amazonica does not charge a fee for publication. Further  information can be obtained by e-mail acta@inpa.gov.br. If your inquiry is about a submission please inform the submission number.