Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
are an excellent way to demonstrate your results, you can have too many. You do not want
to confuse the reader. In addition, each figure or table will add to your manuscript prepa-
ration time considerably
d
particularly if formatting issues arise (refer to the case study
later in this chapter). Keeping this in mind will help you make your decision wisely.
Only include those figures necessary to illustrate the main points and where it will help
with comprehension of the text. Further, make sure to give yourself enough time when
you are ready to upload your manuscript using an online submission system. Depending
upon the size of the figures and your connection speed, each one can take several minutes
to upload. Plan ahead for this.
In addition to formatting the manuscript in accordance with the journal's requirements,
you must ensure that your grammar and spelling are pristine. If you are submitting to a jour-
nal published in the United Kingdom, use British spelling for words (e.g., “colour” instead of
“color”), and the opposite will apply if submitting to a journal published in the United States.
Reviewers and editors will not look favorably on a manuscript whose author(s) did not take
the time to use spell check and read the manuscript over carefully before submission. Errors
like these will detract from the science in the paper, and this carelessness will cause reviewers
to ask themselves if the author(s) had been just as sloppy in the research design of the study.
If you have issues with writing well for any reason, it will be to your benefit to find a profes-
sional editor or someone who is an excellent writer to help you before submission. You
must
be able to communicate in a straightforward and clear manner. Refer to the earlier section on
scientific writing.
About the Acknowledgments
Every paper should include some acknowledgments. There is always someone to thank:
your advisor for their support, the museum/lab where you conducted research, the entity
that gave you permission to publish the data (if applicable), the person who gave you the
idea for the project, anyone who significantly helped you, and so on. While you can obvi-
ously acknowledge who you want, it is proper academic etiquette to acknowledge those indi-
viduals and organizations by name without which you could not have done your study.
Sometimes authors will acknowledge the anonymous reviewers whose comments helped
them improve the manuscript. I personally always choose to acknowledge the individuals
who composed the skeletal sample for my project. In addition, you must always disclose
any grants or other funding that you received towards support of the project. You may
also need to include a disclaimer statement such as, “the results of this project may or may
not reflect the views of the granting agency”. Read the fine print of any grants you have to
find out if the funding agency requires such a statement.
The Submission Process
As mentioned previously, many journals now have an online submission process. This has
facilitated submission over the previous process of sending via snail mail multiple hard
copies of everything. You will need to create a profile for yourself and the other authors (if
applicable) if you are not already registered with the system. You should be prepared to
upload several files: (1) your cover letter to the editor (discussed in a moment); (2) cover
