Guide for authors

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• Guide for authors

Guidelines for authors

«Novitates Systematicae Plantarum Vascularium» (Novosti Sistematiki Vysshikh Rastenii) is an international scientific journal established and published by the Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The serial publishes original articles on taxonomy and geography of the higher (vascular) plants:

• critical reviews of taxa (genera, families etc.) in Russia, or its regions, of large regions of the world, or in full (global) scale;
• descriptions of new taxa;
• most significant novelties to the floras of large regions;
• information on the type specimens stored in herbaria; designations of lecto-, neo-, and epitypes;
• the section «Nomenclatural notes» is intended for brief communications to publish new nomenclatural combinations (combinationes novae), names in new ranks (status novi) and replacement names (nomina nova), to specify priority names of taxa and bibliographic references.

The publications containing critical reviews (monographs, synopses, etc.), descriptions of new taxa and other nomenclatural novelties are preferred.

The serial does not publish:

• articles containing identification keys only;
• articles identical with treatments for the «Floras», «Manuals», catalogues of type specimens etc.;
• works on molecular phylogeny without taxonomic interpretation of the results;
• new records to local floras (novelties to the floras of smaller regions, natural protected areas etc.).

Periodicity — annually.

Languages of publication — English and Russian.

Site of the serial — https://www.binran.ru/journals/novitates/

Submission of manuscripts

The manuscripts completely conforming to these Guidelines are e-mailed to: novitates@binran.ru.

The author(s) may offer one or two persons desirable to send them the manuscript for review, as well as one or two persons undesirable to send them the manuscript. The author’s wishes will be taken into account by the editors when possible.

Reviewing procedure

The submitted manuscripts are evaluated by the editors for general conformity to the scope of the journal. The manuscripts conforming to the scope are registered, the corresponding author is informed about the registration by e-mail. The papers are passed to two unbiased reviewers. The author(s) should correct or rewrite the paper in accordance with the reviewers’ notes, or provide reasoned objections. The paper may be passed for additional reviewing if necessary. Final decision on accepting the paper for publication is taken by the Editorial Board on the base of reviewing, involving the Editorial Council if necessary.

The authors of accepted manuscripts will receive a Copyright Transfer Agreement to be filled in, signed and e-mailed (scanned or with a digital signature) back to the Editorial Board. The Copyright Transfer Agreement should be signed by all authors of the paper.

Copyright Transfer Agreement 

Standards of submitted manuscripts

The submitted papers (including tables, References, captions) generally should not exceed 40 000 symbols including spaces. Larger papers may be submitted only through agreement with the Editorial Board.

Structure of papers

Papers in English:

1. Title in English.
2. Title in Russian.
3. Author’s initials and surnames in English.
4. Affiliations, full mailing and email addresses in English.
5. Author’s initials and surnames in Russian.
6. Affiliations, full mailing and email addresses in Russian.
7. Abstract in English.
8. Keywords in English.
9. Аннотация (abstract) in Russian.
10. Ключевые слова (keywords) in Russian.
11. Text.
12. References.

Example

Papers in Russian:

1. Title in Russian.
2. Title in English.
3. Author’s initials and surnames in Russian.
4. Affiliations, full mailing and email addresses in Russian.
5. Author’s initials and surnames in English.
6. Affiliations, full mailing and email addresses in English.
7. Аннотация (abstract) in Russian.
8. Ключевые слова (keywords) in Russian.
9. Abstract in English — desirably more detailed than in Russian, but limited to 5–10% of the whole paper.
10. Keywords in English.
11. Text.
12. Литература | References.

Example

Papers should generally include following sections (with subheadings in bold type):

• Introduction (without subheading) to specify goals and objectives of the study, its relevance; review and analysis of literature;
• Materials and Methods: techniques and approaches used, examined collections (compulsory!), regions of observations and/or field works, etc.;
• Results;
• Discussion;
• Taxonomic Revision;
• Conclusion;
• Acknowledgements, including references to financial support of the work.

Some sections may be united or subdivided.

Standards for texts

The accepted names of taxa starting the nomenclatural sections should be typed in bold italics, nomenclatural novelties (names of new taxa, new combinations, replacement names) in bold. In the other cases, Latin names of the taxa of all ranks should be typed in italics.

Citation of synonyms in nomenclatural paragraphs:

1. Accepted name. Its synonyms based on the same type (homotypic, nomenclatural) are cited in the same paragraph in chronological order. The homotypic names are indicated by the identity sign (≡).
2. The synonyms of the accepted name, based on other types (heterotypic, taxonomic) are cited in separate paragraphs, each for the names homotypic to one another. The paragraphs are arranged in chronological order, each paragraph is indicated by the equality sign (=).

The type citation is highly desirable for every group of homotypic synonyms.

The authors of scientific plant names should be cited/abbreviated in conformity with «Authors of Plant Names» (Brummitt, Powell, 1992) incorporated in International Plant Names Index database

Example

The papers, especially those with nomenclatural novelties, should conform to the rules of the current version of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants.

In the papers in English, the descriptions (diagnoses) of new taxa in English are compulsory; these may be supplemented by the descriptions (diagnoses) in Latin at the author’s will. The descriptions (diagnoses) in the papers in Russian should be in two languages: (1) Latin or English, at the author’s choice, and (2) Russian. The authors submitting the descriptions (diagnoses) in Latin are fully responsible for their correct terminology, stylistics and grammar.

Format to specify size of the described objects: (8)10–12.5(15) mm long, (3)4.5–5(7) mm wide, or (8)10–12.5(15) × (3)4.5–5(7) mm. Use points in decimal fractions, not commas.

The examined specimens, especially if numerous, should be cited briefly, but the data necessary to identify the specimens in collection should be provided (field and/or collection numbers, barcodes etc.). The data from herbarium labels are cited in the following order (irrespective of an original order): main text, date, collector(s), number (if available) — all the data comma-separated. The details missing in the original labels but identified from indirect sources are cited in square brackets. Specified after the label data in parentheses there are herbarium acronym or the collection owner, collection number, barcode (if available). The exclamation mark «!» indicates the specimens seen by the author(s) of the paper. For standard Herbarium acronyms see Index Herbariorum.

The localities of the collected/examined specimens should be cited as accurately as possible (with coordinates where possible). It is advisable, however, to cite the localities of rare and threatened plants of potential commercial value (e. g. orchids) without coordinates. Spelling of modern toponyms should comply with most recent sources (modern atlases, official websites of the regions etc.). When the quoted labels contain incomplete geographical data, it is recommended to add the country or large region in square brackets (e. g.: [India], [Krasnoyarsk Territory]); in the case of renamed geographical objects, their modern names are recommended to cite along with the earlier names specified in the original labels.

The subjects of the Russian Federation should be named according to the Chapter 3 («The Federal Structure») of the Constitution of the Russian Federation in its latest version (in English, in Russian).

The format of dates in the cited herbarium labels (irrespective of an original format): day in Arabic numerals, month in Roman numerals, year in 4 Arabic numerals, with spaces (not commas) between.

Example

Specifications for text files:

• word processor MS Word for Windows, DOC or RTF formats;
• Times New Roman font, 12 points;
• line spacing 1.5, without added space before or after paragraphs;
• only «Normal» style (bold or italic text should be made only manually);
• each page margin (top, bottom, left, right) 2.5 cm;
• pages numbered sequentially throughout;
• left justification; intentions 1 cm;
• every source in References lists is cited in a separate paragraph.

Texts should not contain:

• double or multiple spaces,
• word hyphenation,
• hyperlinks (except DOI in References lists — see below),
• macros,
• numbered or bullet lists made automatically (numbering and bulleting should be made only manually),
• character spacing.

Note. When copying text into your manuscript from another document (website, Word, PDF), the simplest way to remove any foreign formatting, hyperlinks, etc. present in the source document is to paste the text into Notepad, then copy it from Notepad into your manuscript.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject the paper at any stage of editorial process if it is in serious conflict with the requirements above.

Identification keys

All the characters specified in a thesis and antithesis should be distinctly contrasting. The theses are numbered by Arabic numerals, and the antitheses are designated by «+». Each thesis or antithesis makes a separate paragraph, without empty strings between. The format of the paragraphs is the same as in the main text. The text of the thesis/antithesis is followed by one space, then one ellipsis («...»), space, number of the next step or the name of a taxon, full stop.

Example

Special symbols

Em-dash «—» separated with spaces before and after the dash is used as a punctuation mark, including in ranges between words; en-dash «–» is used in ranges between figures (e. g., when specifying an object size, pages in a publication). Hyphen «-» is used in compound words only.

Example

Some special characters most often used in the texts

Note. Some characters in the character table of MS Word occur in several codes of similar visual form (e. g. dashes, degrees etc.). We urge you to use the characters with codes specified in the table above.

Only generally accepted abbreviations are allowed, e. g. units of measure (cm, µm), terms (fl. V, fr. VI), geographical features (Mt.) etc. All the other abbreviations should be explained at their first mention in the text.

Example

References

All references in the text should be given only in Roman letters. The standard of the references:

• publication with one author: A. A. Grossheim (1990) or (Grossheim, 1948);
• publication with two authors: P. Ascherson and P. Graebner (1905) or (Ascherson, Graebner, 1905);
• publication with more than two authors: R. Gagnidze et al. (2002) or (Gagnidze et al., 2002).

The page number(s), if necessary, are given after a colon: (Gagnidze et al., 2002: 620). When referring to several publications, arrange them chronologically.

All the sources referred to in the text should be cited in the References list.

Bibliographic records of sources in the languages with non-Roman alphabets:

If a source has an alternative title in a language using Roman alphabet, then the alternative title and the transliterated author(s) name are cited.

If there is no alternative title of an article (chapter in a monograph), the transliterated title is cited (see table below), followed by its translation into English in square brackets. The titles of non-periodicals (collections of articles, monographs etc.) are cited similarly.

If the author(s) name is not transliterated in the cited source, it should be cited as accepted in his/her other publications, preferably as in IPNI database. If the author is missing in IPNI, then his/her name should be transliterated (see below).

The titles of periodicals are cited and abbreviated according to Botanico-Periodicum-Huntianum. The titles of non-periodicals, including many-volumed (Floras etc.), are not abbreviated.

The translated or transliterated bibliographic record is followed by indication of its language in square brackets.

If a source is in a language using Cyrillic alphabet, the indication of its language is followed by an original bibliographic record. For the sources in the languages with alphabets other than Cyrillic (Georgian, Armeniac, Arabic etc.) or hieroglyphs, an alternative record is not necessary.

Transliteration:

а — a
б — b
в — v
г — g
д — d
е — e, ye (word initial, after vowels and Ь, Ъ: yelnik, izmereniye, syezd)
ё — e, ye (word initial, after vowels and Ь, Ъ: obyem, vodoyem)
ж — zh
з — z
и — i
й — i
к — k
л — l
м — m
н — n
o — o
п — p
р — r
с — s
т— t
у — u
ф — f
х — kh
ц — ts
ч — ch
ш — sh
щ — shch
ъ — omitted (syezd)
ы — y
ь — omitted (selskokhozyaistvennyi)
э — e
ю — yu
я — ya

For all sources with DOI (digital object identifier), it should be always added at the end of the entry.

Note. The electronic copies of many «old» publications available online are provided with DOI. It is necessary to cite DOI of such publications. To check such online publications for DOI is strongly on the following resources:

• monographs and periodicals of 18th century — 1920s: Biodiversity Heritage Library;
• periodicals of 20th–21st centuries: JSTOR and websites of the serials.

Examples of bibliographic records

Tables

The tables are made in MS Word for Windows, numbered by Arabic numerals in the order they are referred to in the text (the single table is not numbered). All the tables should be referred to in the paper.

All the tables should have headings. Used abbreviations and symbols should be explained in the Note located directly under the table.

Splitting large tables into separate pages is unacceptable.

The single table may be placed in the main text file after References. More than one tables are submitted as separate text files named by the author(s) name(s) and the table number.

Illustrations (drawings, photos, maps, charts, graphs)

Illustrations are submitted in TIF(F) or JPG graphic formats: drawings, maps, schemes with a resolution of 300 dpi (400 dpi for bitmap black-and-white drawings without grayscale), scanned herbarium specimens with a resolution of 600 dpi. The files should be named by named by the author(s) name(s) and the illustration number. It is very desirable that the images correspond to the page parameters: width 17.3 cm or 8.4 cm (width of one column), height no more than 22 cm including a caption.

The illustrations are numbered by Arabic numerals in the order they are referred to in the text (Fig. 1, Fig. 2 etc.). The single illustration is not numbered. All the illustrations should be referred to in the text.

Separate images within the same illustration (including collages) are indicated by italicized Arabic numerals, details of the images by lower-case italicized Roman letters. Illustrations with figures and letter symbols are submitted in TIF format with the indications in a separate layer, or in two versions: with and without the indications.

The images of the studied objects should be provided with scale bars.

Large-scale maps are desirable to provide with grid lines, names of large localities and/or main physiographic features. The land in black-and-white maps should be only white; all lines black and very clean; large water bodies are allowed to fill with solid (not dotted!) grey. Colour map base is allowed if it is necessary to show the relief, it should not be too bright.

Captions to the illustrations are submitted within the main text file of the paper, after References.

Supplementary materials

Lengthy lists of specimens, bulky illustrations, maps, etc. may be published on the journal website as electronic Appendices to the main text.

Voucher herbarium specimens

The papers with descriptions of new taxa in the rank of species or below are accepted for review only after receiving type material (holotype or isotype) by the Herbarium of the Komarov Botanical Institute (LE); the papers on new records and critical taxa — after receiving voucher specimens. The specimens should be sent to:

Editorial board of «Novitates Systematicae Plantarum Vascularium»
Herbarium of Higher Plants
Komarov Botanical Institute
Professora Popova Str., 2, Saint-Petersburg, 197376, Russia