Instructions for Authors

Museum of Comparative Zoology Bulletin & Breviora
Authors' Guide

The Museum publishes the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology and Breviora. Appropriate papers are original contributions concerned with systematics, evolutionary biology, ecology, and other aspects of organismal and comparative biology.

Longer contributions, those over 30 printed pages, should be published in the Bulletin; Breviora carries shorter papers. Both publications are issued at irregular intervals. Both are mailed to domestic and foreign subscribers, and are automatically copyrighted with the Library of Congress.

Who May Publish

Current and retired staff members, students, and MCZ resident associates may submit manuscripts; work by others based on MCZ specimens is also appropriate. Occasionally, special arrangements may be made with the Editor for others to submit manuscripts reporting on work done at, or in some way associated with, the Museum.

MCZ Publications will not carry a series of short papers that could be combined and published more economically as one article, or very short papers more suitable for publication in specialized journals.

Manuscript Preparation

Recent issues of the Bulletin or Breviora may serve as guides in planning text and illustrations. Papers should be formatted with one inch margins and 12 point font.  All material, including reference lists and legends, must be double-spaced with the page and line numbers clearly labeled. Line numbers must run consecutively throughout the manuscript.  Both MCZ journals strive for consistency in overall format. Authors should refer to the 5th edition of the CBE (Council of Biology Editors) Style Manual for diction, style and technical writing guidelines.

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically. If submitting a hard copy of your manuscript, please include an electronic version with your submission. If questions arise about the appropriate format please contact the Editorial Assistant.

Title

Keep titles short and explicit; include a separate title page. Also provide us with a running head (a shortened version of the title to be placed at the top of each printed page).

Abstract & Summary

An abstract is required and must briefly state the purpose of the article, the methodology used, the results obtained, and the conclusions drawn. Summaries at the end of the text are optional and may be more detailed than the abstract.

Taxonomy

Taxonomic procedures must conform to the accepted standards. When in doubt, refer to Mayr and Ashlock, Principles of Systematic Zoology (1991), and the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 4th Edition (1999), available online.

Table of Contents & Index

Longer papers should have a concise table of contents and an index. It is the author's responsibility to prepare an index.

Illustrations

Illustrations must be submitted electronically. Files may be e-mailed to the Editorial Assistant along with the submitted manuscript; larger files may be mailed on a CD. Acceptable file types are EPS, TIFF, JPEG, PDF, and PSD (Adobe Photoshop).

Figures should also meet resolution standards. Grayscale/halftone: 300 dpi; color: 450 dpi; and line art: 1200 dpi. Remaining questions about appropriate format or file quality should be directed to the Editorial Assistant.

Color illustrations are permitted only when the use of color is necessary. The Editor may ultimately decide when the use of color is appropriate and may apply a charge for extensive color usage. Please mention any color figures, full-page figures with facing legends, or other detailed illustrations that you plan to use upon submission.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to use copyrighted illustrations and other materials. Please submit the copyrighted permissions with the manuscript. For more information on the usage of MCZ copyrighted material, please refer to the Copyrights section of our website.

References

Within the text, cite references as follows: (Adams, 1960), (Adams and Dawson, 1976), or Adams and Dawson (1976)

When an article has three or more authors, cite it as first author followed by "et al.": Jones et al. (1963)

When citing a string of references, arrange them by year: (Adams, 1963; Smith, 1978; Jones et al., 1999)

Be sure references mentioned in the text are included in the literature cited.

Literature cited

Under literature cited at the end of the paper, list references alphabetically by author and chronologically under each author. Spell out journal titles fully. For sample citations to help prepare the literature cited, click here.

Manuscript Submission & Acceptance

If questions arise about the suitability of a manuscript for submission to one of the MCZ journals, please contact the Editor or a member of the Editorial Board. Authors may submit by email or by sending a CD, and/or hard copy of the manuscript to the Editorial Assistant. Original illustrations are not needed at the submission stage, but the quality of facsimiles must be sufficient to allow evaluation. Along with the manuscript, the author must provide at least four names of potential reviewers, along with their mailing and email addresses, as well as indicating any member of the Editorial Board who has been consulted about the manuscript.

Upon acceptance, authors are asked to fill out a transfer of copyright form, which must be completed before the manuscript goes to press.

Editing Process

All manuscripts are sent out for copyediting. However, the author remains responsible for checking and ensuring that all changes are properly made. All responsibility for accuracy belongs to the author.

Reprints

Authors will be provided with an electronic version of their paper. Reprints may be ordered at the time of publication.

Contact

If you have any questions about editorial procedures or author guidelines for MCZ publications, please contact:

mczpublications@mcz.harvard.edu

Jonathan Losos, Editor

Adam Baldinger, Managing Editor

Samantha Edelheit, Editorial Assistant
617.495.2468

Funding

There is in general no charge for publication in MCZ journals. However, publication of exceptionally long manuscripts may require contribution toward publication costs.