Instructions to Authors

aqua is an international journal which publishes original scientific articles in the fields of systematics, taxonomy, ethology, ecology, biogeography, and general biology of fishes, amphibians, aquatic invertebrates and plants. Papers dealing with freshwater, brackish, and marine organisms will be considered for publication. Scientific articles of interest to a wide readership are especially welcome. Full length research papers and short notes will also be considered for publication.

1. Manuscript preparation: manuscripts must be submitted in English. In exceptional cases aqua may provide translations of manuscripts written in French, German, Italian, or Spanish.

Manuscripts must be word-processed in Microsoft WORD and submitted in an electronic form to the scientific editor. Hard copies by themselves will not be accepted. Line spacing should be set at 1.5. Page numbers should be numbered consecutively. Generic, specific, and subspecific names must be italicised. All papers must conform to the latest edition of the "International Code of Zoological Nomenclature". Authors are strongly advised to follow the format set out in previous publications of aqua.

2. Title: the title must be short and should precisely identify the main topic of the article. If the name of a genus or species is included, the name of the systematic group to which it belongs should follow in parentheses. Author name(s) should be given in full immediately beneath the title.

3. Abstract: the abstract should be concise and intelligible, and should draw attention to the significant contents of the paper and principal conclusions. It should not exceed 250 words nor contain any uncommon abbreviations or literature citations. The inclusion of summaries in other languages is optional.

4. Keywords: up to eight keywords should be suggested by the author(s).

5. Subject matter: the text of the manuscript is usually arranged in four main sections: introduction, materials and methods (including a key to abbreviations used in the text), results, and discussion. Other subdivisions may be chosen depending on the material presented. Acknowledgements should be placed between the text and references.

Scientific names of genera, species, and subspecies should be given in full on first mention and should be followed by the name(s) of author(s) and the year of publication.

When the name of a taxon proposed as new to science is given, it must be followed by the abbreviation n. gen., n. spec., or n. ssp. The description must contain the following sections: Material, Diagnosis, Description, and Affinities. Holotype and paratypes must be clearly identified, the museum or institution in which the type material has been deposited named, and the catalogue numbers given. Author's collections are not acceptable as repositories for holotypes.

Synonyms should be arranged in chronological order.

Authors may choose either to use "telegraphic style" when describing taxa, or use conventional descriptions which include the use of indefinite and definite articles and participles. A mix of conventional and telegraphic styles will not be accepted.

Identification keys should be dichotomous.

The metric system should be used for measures and weights. SI units and symbols should be used. Temperatures should be given in degrees Celsius. Only decimal notation is acceptable: fractions should not be used.

Footnotes should be avoided unless thought to be absolutely necessary.

6. References to literature: In both the text and the reference list, the name-year system must be used. The list of references should be placed at the end of the paper, alphabetically arranged according to author name. Only those publications cited in the paper may be included. Titles of journals should be given in full.

Examples of correct reference formats:

Blaber, S. J. M. 1980. Fish of the Trinity Inlet System of North Queensland, with Notes on the Ecology of Fish Fauna of Tropical Indo-Pacific Estuaries. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 31:137-46.

Day, J. H., Blaber, S. J. M., & J. H. Wallace. 1981. Estuarine Fishes. In: Estuarine Ecology with Particular Reference to Southern Africa. (Ed. J.H. Day.) : 197-221. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam.

Dimmich, W. W. 1988. Ultrastructure of North American cyprinid maxillary barbels. Copeia 1988 (1): 72-79.

Trewavas, E. 1983. Tilapiine Fishes of the Genera Sarotherodon, Oreochromis and Danakilia. British Museum (Natural History), London, 583 pp.

7. Author details: these should be placed at the beginning of the manuscript, immediately after the title, and contain: full name(s) of author(s), place(s) of work, and address(es) (including e-mail) for correspondence.

8. Submission of manuscripts and illustrative material: all material except original photographs (see below) must be submitted to the Scientific Editor:

Dr. Friedhelm Krupp
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum
Senckenberganlage 25
60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tel: +49-69-7542.255
Fax: +49-69-7542.253
Email address: f.krupp@senckenberg.de

to whom all subsequent correspondence should be addressed.

Unless otherwise agreed with the Scientific Editor, all texts, tables, graphs, and drawings must be submitted in Microsoft-compatible electronic form, preferably as email attachments (this will considerably speed up publication time) but alternatively on CD or 3.5 diskette. All electronic material must be checked for viruses before transmission. Texts should be in Word or WordPerfect format; tables submitted as Excel (or Excel-compatible) spreadsheet files; graphs and drawings as graphics files (JPEG, TIF, etc). Authors are encouraged to submit quality colour photographs which will be published free of charge. These must be clear and without too much contrast, and if possible should be submitted as high-resolution scans, again using graphics files, but hard-copy photographs (prints or transparencies) will also be accepted if scans are not feasible. In this case three copies will be required (for referees).

Original photographs (ideally transparencies; otherwise glossy prints, preferably in the size in which they are eventually to appear - the type area of aqua is 158 x 224 mm, one column is 76 mm wide) must be sent by registered mail to:

Aquapress, The Managing Editor
Via G. Falcone 11,
I-27010 Miradolo Terme (Pavia), Italy

Authors should retain a copy of all material for reference.

A fax number must be provided for the senior author, to which proofs of accepted papers will be sent for approval.

9. Labelling of figures and tables: captions for photographs, drawings, and graphs should be included at the end of the manuscript file, in the order in which they are to appear, and labelled Fig. 1, Fig. 2a, etc. Hard copy illustrations and/or graphics files should be labelled/titled accordingly, to avoid any possibility of confusion; authors should also indicate correct orientation for their illustrations (including from which side transparencies are to be viewed) if there is any room for doubt. Table headings should be labelled Table I, etc, and should be included at the head of the relevant spreadsheet files, which should in turn be titled Table I, etc.

The author(s) may indicate approximate positions for illustrative material in the text by means of a note, clearly recognisable as such, ideally in parentheses and including the initials of the (senior) author, eg "(Note: Fig. 1 here. AZ)".

10. Evaluation of manuscripts: manuscripts submitted to aqua will be evaluated by the editors and referees on the basis of their contents. Papers are accepted on the understanding that they have not and will not be published elsewhere.

11. Reprints: Authors will receive 1 free reprint and 1 PDF-file of each paper. Additional reprints may be ordered from Aquapress.