Journal of Insect Science Online Submissions System
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Author Guidelines
IMPORTANT: Authors must follow the paper outline below. Any paper which does not follow this outline will not be accepted. All papers must be submitted in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice format. Any paper which is not in this format will not be accepted.
HOW TO PREPARE YOUR MANUSCRIPT
Title (include common name and species name of animals, plants and microorganisms. For example, “the silkworm, Bombyx mori”, not “the silkworm, Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae)”. Do not include meaningless words like ‘studies on’.
Author one1,3a, Author two2b, Author three3c*(include full names of all authors in this order: given names, family name. Given names should be abbreviated)
1Department of Author one
2Department of Author two
3Institution of Author three
Correspondence: a email address of first author, b email address of second author, c email address of third author, *Corresponding author (emails of all authors much be included)
Keywords: (must be different from those in the title)
Abbreviations: PBO, piperonyl butoxide; MOD, microsomal O-demethylase
Abstract
Include the name of the species used with authority and taxonomy. Include common name of species used. Describe your hypotheses. Include basic design of experiments and techniques used. include general results i.e. “Specific differences were found between....” but do not include data. Include conclusions. Use past tense to discuss your results. Do not use personal pronouns (I, we).
Resumo (an abstract in another language can be included)
Introduction
Discuss the question being investigated citing the relevant literature. Choose the most important citations; do not attempt to cite every paper written on the topic, cite reviews instead. Discuss the literature in the past tense. Clearly state the hypotheses being tested and state the basic findings.
When discussing the literature give the common name and species names, but not the authority and taxonomy. Provide the authority and taxonomy only for species used in your experiments. However, if the taxonomy of the species being discussed relative to the experimental species is important, then this information can be included. The first time a species used in the experiments is mentioned in the text give the full name, i.e., Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), but after that use B. mori.
Text citations are as follows: (Smith et al. 2000; Jones 2003; Williams 2005, 2006, 2007). Note the uses of commas and the use of a semicolon between citations. The references are cited in order with the oldest citation first.
Your ms should be a Word document (.doc). Do not use .rtf. Use US Letter paper size, vertical, text width 16.5 cm / 6.5 inches. Use 12 point Times New Roman font. Do not indent paragraphs. Separate paragraphs with a blank line. Number the lines [Format, Document, Line numbers, Add line numbering, Continuous]. Do not number the sections. Do not insert page breaks.
Keep the use of abbreviations to a minimum, they make a paper hard to read. Define abbreviations and acronyms the first time they are used in the text, even though they have been defined in the list of abbreviations. Do not use abbreviations in the abstract or section heads unless they are unavoidable. Never use abbreviations in the title except for common abbreviations such as DNA, RNA, etc..
Materials and Methods
Types of experiments
If this manuscript describes laboratory experiments state the techniques used. Give names and URLs of companies for equipment and chemicals used. State levels of purity of chemicals used. Provide information on the conditions used for incubation of animals or samples.
If this manuscript is a descriptive paper (e.g., biodiversity etc.) describe when and where the work was done. Give the coordinates of the location. Describe the relevant plants and animals present in the location (include common names, species names, authority and taxonomy if they are important to the study). Specify if endangered or protected species were studied or sampled.
Samples of organisms, cell lines, or tissues used or studied should be deposited in a museum or storage facility. Data such as sequences should be deposited in a publically available database, and accession numbers must be provided before publication.
Make it repeatable
Subtitles can be used to separate different kinds of experiments. Provide enough information for each experiment so that it could be repeated by another person. It is not appropriate to say that you followed the manufacturer’s instructions as such instructions are often changed and are not available in the literature. Use Methods in Enzymology or other methods papers that describe the methods in detail as references. If the method you used was not the same, state exactly how the method was changed.
Personal pronouns
Do not use personal pronouns - I did this and then I did that. Put the emphasis on what you did not who did it --- sublimate your ego! The list of authors makes it clear who did it.
Statistical analysis
Describe the statistical tests you used in detail. Provide references or cite URLs that describe these tests. Editors and reviewers will often reject papers for poor statistical analysis. Experiments should be designed to provide the data needed for the desired type of analysis. The advice of a statistician is a worthwhile investment. When reporting levels of significance use p <0.05 for a significant difference and p<0.01 for a highly significant difference. There is no super highly significant level above 0.01.
Results
It is almost always easier for the reader if the results and discussion are not combined. Spell out, and capitalize the words ‘Figure’ and ‘Table’. Data are placed in a table or text to make it easier for the reader to examine them. Do not put the data in a table also in the text. Use the past tense when discussing your results; they were done in the past.
The word ‘data’ is plural, so correct usage is ‘the data are’.
English
The most important characteristic of scientific writing is that it must be clear, accurate and unambiguous – never leave the reader guessing as to what you mean.
If you are not a native speaker of English we suggest that you get independent editorial assistance, preferably from someone who is a scientist. If we, or a reviewer, cannot understand your English your manuscript will be returned.
Discussion
In this section you should first summarize your results. Do not repeat what you said in the results section. This summary should flow directly from the results, not from your opinion of the results, i.e., your reasoning should be obvious to the reader. You should discuss how the results relate to the hypotheses stated in the introduction. Are the hypotheses accepted or rejected? How does this affect future research?
Then relate your results to what has been described in the literature. Again, use the past tense when discussing the literature.
Although you should avoid use personal pronouns in the discussion, personal pronouns are appropriate when you are distinguishing your work from the work of other people: "In contrast to Smith (1980) we found that ...". It is especially important to do this to make sure the reader knows that you are referring to your work, not the cited work. You can also use the personal pronoun to avoid clunky statements like ‘the present researchers found’. For example, ‘the results we obtained agree with the results of Jones et al. (2012), except for...’
You can be more speculative in the conclusions, but it should be made obvious that your opinion is not necessarily supported by the data, i.e., ‘In our opinion the data suggest that...’. The conclusions can also include your suggestions for future research.
Acknowledgements
Include people who helped, what they did, and their institutional addresses. Include names and institutions of personal communications cited in text. Include information of grant support.
References
Adams BC. 1990. Strategies in the biological control of insects. In: Bass M, Call LE, Adams JP, Editors. pp. 66-83. Issues in Biological Control. Intercept.
Griffin JN, de la Haye KL, Hawkins SJ, Thompson RC, Jenkins SR. 2008. Predator diversity and ecosystem functioning: Density modifies the effect of resource partitioning. Ecology 89: 298-305.
Kang L, Chen X, Zhou Y, Liu B, Zheng W, Li R, Wang J, Yu J. 2004. The analysis of large-scale gene expression correlated to the phase changes of the migratory locust. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 101: 17611-17615.
Mann WM. 1928. A new Microdon from Panama. Psyche 35(3): 168-170. doi:10.1155/1928/73806.
SAS Institute. 2009. JMP 8.0.2. SAS Institute Inc.
Tschinkel WR. 2011. The nest architecture of three species of north Florida Aphaenogaster ants. Journal of Insect Science11:105. Available online: http://www.insectscience.org/11.105
Werling BP. 2009. Conserving natural areas to enhance biological control of Wisconsin potato pests: A multi–scale landscape study. Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
Zhou W, Wang R. 1989. Rearing of Orius sauteri (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) with natural and artificial diets. Chinese Journal of Biological Control5: 9-12. (in Chinese)
Figures and tables
The tables and figures should be included in the text after the references. The figure and table must fit the page, i.e., their width does not exceed the size of a vertical page.
Figures may begin as graphs, but they must be converted to images using Photoshop or similar software.
To do this copy and paste each table into a Photoshop (or similar software) image. Save the image and copy it and insert it into the manuscript below the list of references. To insert it go to Edit/Paste Special. Size the image to fit the page using the corner tabs.
Figures can be inserted in the same way.
Tables and figures must also be submitted as separate files. For the figures they must be tiff, jpg or png and have a resolution of 300 ppi and a width of 14 cm (5-6 inches). There is no extra charge for color figures. The tables must be submitted as Excel files.
DNA and RNA and deduced amino acid sequences should be submitted in .doc format using 10 point Courier font. These files should not be submitted as images.
Videos can be submitted as AVI files, sound files as WAV. Contact the Editor in Chief with questions (jis@insectscience.org). These files should be submitted separately from the text. A common mistake is to submit long videos. Choose parts of the video that are critical to the points you want to make.
Figure and table legends should fully spell out species names, even though they have been used in the text. Legends should not be part of the image.
An example of a figure and table
Figure 1. Mean numbers of Rhopalosiphum padi aphids on undamaged and damaged Phleum alpinum plants infected with and without Neotyphodium endophyte. Histograms with different letters above them are significantly different (ANOVA and LSD aposteriori test, p < 0.01). Error bars ± SEM.
Table 1. Distribution of Rhopalosiphum padi on undamaged endophyte-infected (E+) and uninfected (E-) plants of Phleum alpinum
a Expected distributions are based on 50:50 distribution of aphids on E+ and E– plants.
ns, not significant; *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01.
Example of a manuscript
Authors may download the sample above for their reference. As noted previously, manuscripts only are accepted in Microsoft Word format.
Submit a Manuscript
Bombyx moriStatistical analysisBombyx moriStatistical analysisStatistical analysis
Submission Preparation Checklist
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.
- All authors agree to its submission.
- If your manuscript is accepted for publication JIS charges a fee of $350 to cover the cost of editing and formatting the paper for publication. The fee will be waived on request for authors from "low income countries" as designated by the USAID: Afganistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo Democratic Republic, Eritera, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bisau, Haiti, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Serra Leone, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
- All authors have contributed to the work which can include conception, design, execution, analysis, and interpretation. Acquisition of funding, or general supervision of the laboratory does not confer authorship. Honorary or guest authorship is not acceptable. The senior author is responsible for the integrity of the work, ensuring that the data obtained from all authors are complete, accurately presented, and interpreted.
- This paper has not been submitted to another journal.
- The work described in the manuscript is original, and not copied from the work of others. The text is also original and not copied without attribution.
Copyright Notice
JIS uses the Creative Commons Attribution 3 License for licensing. This gives the copyright to the author with limited rights to publish the paper given to JIS.
The author and reader can:
To copy, distribute, and display the paper
To make derivative works and distribute them only under a license similar to the Creative Commons license
To make non-commercial use of the work
Under the following conditions:
You must attribute the paper to the Journal of Insect Science.
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The author can deposit the paper in a personal or institutional repository
This license can be viewed at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
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