Scientific Publications

Journals

Kew Bulletin

GUIDELINES AND CHECKLIST FOR AUTHORS

SCOPE

Kew Bulletin (KB) publishes papers in the fields of vascular plant taxonomy, nomenclature, phylogeny, systematics, plant geography, and floristics, and in morphology, palynology, cytotaxonomy, chemotaxonomy, anatomy and other relevant disciplines where the results have implications for vascular plant taxonomy. Florulas, regional Checklists and manuscripts that only describe new distributional records of taxa are not normally considered for publication.

Four parts are published each year, usually in March, June, August and November. A high quality pdf is sent to each author after publication. Offprints may be ordered on request prior to publication but a charge will be made for these. The journal makes no page charges. Manuscripts are considered on the understanding that their contents have not appeared, or will not appear, elsewhere in substantially the same or abbreviated form.

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Authors can submit papers for publication via our online manuscript submission, tracking and review system.

FORMAT & LAYOUT

General

• All text is double spaced and aligned left.

• Titles, authors and headings/subheadings are in Arial (see below for font sizes).

• Footers are in 10 pt Times New Roman.

• All other text is in 12 pt Times New Roman.

• Italics are used for the following: plant names at family level and below (e.g., Cyperaceae; sect. Rotundi; Cyperus rotundus); authority name after the accepted name (e.g., L., Boeck., Schott, Salunkhe & Potdar); collector names in specimen citations (e.g., Kerr 12345); genes and gene regions (e.g., rbcL, matK, trnL–F); et al., sensu lato, sensu stricto, loc. cit., tom. cit., op. cit. Do not italicise any other words, phrases or abbreviations.

• Numbers one to nine are written unless a measurement or in taxonomic descriptions (e.g., four samples, 2 cm, 35 sites, 6 km). Use 0.12 instead of .12; % instead of percent.

• No full stops after common contractions (e.g., Mt, Mts), nor after points of the compass (N, S, NE etc.), nor after abbreviations for units of measurement (e.g., mm, cm, km). Include after other abbreviations (e.g., R., fl., fr.).

• Use subsp., var. and f. for subspecies, variety and form respectively.

• Months are formatted as follows: Jan., Feb., March, April, May, June, July, Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec. Give the year in full, for example 1991 not /91.

• Distinguish between hyphens, typed without spaces (e.g., brown-tomentose; 3-flowered), and en-rules, typed with spaces (e.g., leaves 24 – 30 x 10 – 15 cm; inflorescences 2 – 3-flowered).

• Tables should be submitted separately, as should captions for illustrations.

• Herbarium codes follow Index Herbariorum (http://sciweb.nybg.org/science2/IndexHerbariorum.asp).

• Authors are cited on first mention of plant names in the body of the manuscript at genus level and below.

• Citations of plant name authors follow Brummitt, R. K. & Powell, E. (eds.) (1992). Authors of Plant Names. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (www.ipni.org).

• Genus names should be written out in full when they start a sentence.

• Use -ise in words such as recognise or analyse. Check for consistency of use throughout the manuscript.

Title

• The title is in 14 pt Arial.

• The wording should be concise but informative and where appropriate should include the family or higher taxon and a geographical area.

• Plant name authors are normally omitted from the title.

Authors

• Authors are in bold 12 pt Arial and placed below the title.

• Addresses are placed in a footer on page 1.

• Authors' names and addresses are linked by a superscript number, e.g., J.M. Lock¹.

Summary

• Placed below the Authors list.

• The heading ‘Summary’ is in bold 12 pt Arial on the same line as the text.

• The Summary indicates what the research set out to achieve, how it was carried out and the degree to which the objectives were reached. It should include any authors of plant names omitted from the title, the names of all new taxa described and new combinations unless the number is very large. The methods and main conclusions should also be summarised.

Key words

• Placed below the Summary.

• The heading ‘Key Words’ is in bold 12 pt Arial on the same line as the text.

• Up to seven key words are provided, in alphabetical order.

Contents

• For longer papers, a contents list below the summary is provided.

• For extensive taxonomic revisions an index to epithets at the end of the paper is provided.

Headings

• Headings and subheadings are in 12 pt Arial.

• Headings are in bold, subheadings are not.

• The hierarchy is sensible and consistent.

Keys

• Keys are either bracketed (preferable) or indented, but couplets should always be numbered.

• A recent issue of KB should be consulted to follow the key layouts used.

Synonyms

• Homotypic synonyms are listed in chronological order after the accepted name, followed by heterotypic synonyms, also with their respective homotypic synonyms in chronological order.

• New synonyms are clearly marked ‘synon. nov.’.

Types

• The herbarium in which the holotype is deposited is cited, as required by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN).

• Herbaria that are definitely known to hold isotypes are listed.

• If applicable, lectotypes, neotypes or epitypes that are being designated ('chosen here') are indicated as such, or have been chosen before by giving a reference: 'Papua, Boridi, Carr 12345 (lectotype K! (selected by Bloggs 1977); isolectotypes BRI, L!).'

• If applicable, the reasons why lectotypes, neotypes and epitypes have been selected and the reasons for selecting a particular specimen are explained.

• If applicable, type specimens have been seen and are cited for new combinations.

Citation of specimens

• For new taxa, all the material seen is cited.

• Only those label data that add significantly to localising the collection or to field knowledge are cited.

• Label data are normally translated into English, but data for types can be left in the original language.

• It may be unwise to give precise localities for rare and horticulturally interesting taxa. This factor should be considered when citing label data.

• If appropriate the number of collections examined is stated, and at least one specimen from each country in the range of the taxon is cited. In cases of long-standing confusion, there may be a case for citing all specimens, but reduce detail to a minimum.

• Either an exclamation mark (!) is used to show that a specimen has been seen, or it is stated in the introduction that "All cited specimens have been seen by the author".

• Spellings of place names follow the Times Atlas (2003 edition if possible) and/or Hollis, S. & Brummitt, R. K. (1992). World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, has been consulted.

• Normally accepted English usage place names are cited e.g., Ghana (not Gold Coast), Zimbabwe (not Rhodesia), Thailand (not Muang Thai), Brazil (not Brasil), Congo (Brazzaville), Congo (Kinshasa), Myanmar (Burma), Madagascar (not Malagasy Republic), Sicily (not Sicilia), New Guinea (for the whole island - the eastern part is Papua New Guinea and the western part, West Papua).

• Old names of localities, as used on old labels, may be given with the modern equivalent in square brackets e.g., Stanleyville [Kisangani]; Salisbury [Harare].

• Distances should be cited in metres or kilometres not feet, yards or miles. The original non-metric label data may be given in square brackets.

• Altitudes are cited in metres to the nearest 50 m. Altitudes in feet on labels are converted to the nearest 50 m. The original label altitude may be given in square brackets.

• Latitude and longitude (in this order) are cited for obscure localities.

Format and layout of accounts of new taxa

• New taxa accounts are laid out in the format shown in the attached file (word doc). Note the positions of indents and use of spaces, Arial/Times fonts, bold and italics.

• Latin diagnoses compare the new taxon with one or more related taxa, with or without brief Latin descriptions.

• In large genera the diagnosis mentions the infrageneric group to which the new taxon belongs, if such groupings exist. No more than three authority names should be should be cited after the plant name.

• The full description is in English.

• Types of new species are cited in abbreviated form after the diagnoses and repeated in full amongst the cited specimens.

• Wherever possible conservation ratings are given using the criteria set out in IUCN (2001). IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1. IUCN Species Survival Commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK (www.redlist.org/info/categories_criteria2001.html).

Format and layout of accounts of taxa in revisions

• Please follow carefully the new format adopted from Volume 60 onwards

• Taxon accounts in revisions are laid out in the format shown in the attached file (word doc). Note the positions of indents and use of spaces, Arial/Times fonts, bold and italics.

• Name, authority, year and place of publication are cited as, e.g., ‘Mapania meditensis D.A. Simpson (1992: 42)’ for an accepted name or ‘Hypolytrum soyauxii Boeck. (1882: 25)’ for a synonym. The full publication is then cited once in the ‘References’ section.

• Conservation ratings are given wherever possible.

• When making new combinations or new names, the name, authority, abbreviated literature reference, page number and date are cited for the basionym or replaced synonym as, e.g. Mapaniopsis micrococca T. Koyama in Jap. J. Bot. 20(2): 130 (1969). The full publication is cited in the 'References' section.

Data

• All DNA sequences are deposited in one of the international nucleotide sequence databases, either EMBL (www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/) or GenBank (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/).

• For phylogenetic analyses, character state distributions, consistency index, retention index (where appropriate) and a recognised measure of support for clades (e.g., bootstrap values, decay indices ["Bremer support"], jackknife, etc.) are provided.

• Voucher specimens documenting sources of morphological and molecular data are listed.

References

• Abbreviated literature references cited in the text have the following formats depending on the context: Bloggs (1962), Bloggs (1962: 234), (Bloggs 1962), (Bloggs 1962: 234), (Bloggs 1962; Another 1976).

• For papers with more than two authors, 'et al.' is used. All authors are cited in the 'References' section.

• The following are used within reason: loc. cit. [same work, same volume, same page]; tom. cit. [same work, same volume, different page - give page number]; op.cit. [same work; different volume; different page - give volume and page numbers].

• Full literature references are cited in various example formats as follows:

Dransfield, J. (1989). Voanioala (Arecoideae: Cocoeae: Butiinae), a new palm genus from Madagascar. Kew Bull. 44: 191 – 198.

Li, H. (1979). Arisaema. In: C. Y. Wu & H. Li (eds), Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae 13 (2): 116 – 194 (in Chinese).

Gentry, A. H. (1986). Endemism in tropical versus temperate plant communities. In: M. E. Soulé (ed.), Conservation Biology - The science of scarcity and diversity, pp. 153 – 181. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA.

Prance, G.T. (1989). Chrysobalanaceae. Flora Neotrop. Monogr. 98.

Uhl, N.W. & Dransfield, J. (1987). Genera Palmarum: a classification of palms based on the work of H. E. Moore Jr. The L. H. Bailey Hortorium and the International Palm Society, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.

• Page numbers are separated by an en-rule plus spaces (i.e., 1 – 2 not 1-2).

• Part numbers of volumes are not included unless the parts are separately paginated.

• Family and species are italicised in references, whether or not they were in italics in the original reference.

• The total numbers of pages in single works are not included.

• Book abbreviations follow Stafleu, F.A. & Cowan, R.S. (1976 – 1988). Taxonomic Literature. (2nd ed.) Bohn, Scheltema & Holkema, Utrecht. Later Supplements are also available. Note that KB capitalises most words. If in doubt, do not abbreviate.

• Journal abbreviations follow Bridson, G. D. R., Townsend, S. A., Polen, E. A. & Smith, E. R. (2004). BPH-2. Periodicals with botanical content. Constituting a second edition of Botanico-Periodicum-Huntianum. Vols 1 & 2. Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. The principles therein should allow the correct abbreviations to be made for journals not included. If in doubt, do not abbreviate.

• Kew Bulletin up to and including 1941 is cited as (for example): Bull. Misc. Inform., Kew 1929: 16 – 28.. From Vol.1 (1946) it is cited as (for example): Kew Bull. 44: 601 – 680. Note that this is not as in BPH.
[A useful website for searching both book and journal abbreviations is http://asaweb.huh.harvard.edu:8080/databases/publication_index.html].

Acknowledgements

• These are kept brief. The full title of any institute which has an accepted Index Herbariorum Code is not given.

ILLUSTRATIONS

• All taxa newly described in the manuscript should be accompanied by a good quality line drawing.

• The KB printed area is 230 x 165 mm (to include the caption).

• Line drawings and maps in Indian ink are drawn on smooth white card or plastic film, one-third larger than they are to appear. No illustration or map has its longest dimension greater than 306 mm long before reduction. Figures are clearly labelled. Lettering and scale bars are clearly indicated on a good-quality photocopy (these will be added electronically after the original is scanned). When lettering figures, "I" or "O" are not used).

• Photographs ('Plates') for continuous tone reproduction are of the highest quality. They show good tonal range and are absolutely sharp. They are either at the final size or slightly larger. Two copies of each are required. Good photocopies will suffice for the review process, but transparencies or sharp prints are needed for reproduction. In composite 'plates' the individual photographs will be butted together unless that would create confusion, in which case a white space will be interposed. It is usually simpler and quicker for composite plates to be made up electronically at Kew, but a clear mock-up must be provided.

• Line drawings and photographs may be submitted electronically in the following formats. Line drawings: 1200 dpi TIFF files to KB printed area (230 x 165 mm); photographs: 300 dpi Black and White TIFF files at half the KB page width (165 mm). Submission on CD is preferred. Please contact the Managing Editor if you wish to submit as an email attachment.

• Line drawings and plates are numbered in one sequence as figures (Fig. 1, etc.); maps are numbered separately (Map 1, etc.). Scale bars are put on the illustration and the scale bar measurement is written in the caption (e.g. scale bar = 1 mm). Full- or part-page illustrations are acceptable. Captions are brought together on a separate sheet.

• All illustrations and parts of composite artwork are referred to in the text.

• Colour illustrations are included only in special cases. Advance notice is required for their inclusion and a charge may be made. Please contact the Managing Editor for further information.

PROOFS

Proofs are usually sent to the first-named author. However, where one of the co-authors (but not the first author) is based at Kew then the proofs will be sent to the Kew-based author unless an alternative arrangement is requested. Please return proofs promptly, marked clearly (not in pencil). Ensure the marking is comprehensible; practices vary widely in different countries. Overseas authors should advise us of corrections by e-mail or fax if possible. Nominate someone else to deal with proofs if you expect to be away at the time of their arrival. Please advise us if you are in doubt as to the quality of illustration proofs.

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