Instructions for Authors
First of all, thanks for considering the Journal of Paleontological Techniques for your submission! Journal of Paleontological Techniques is a peer-reviewed journal with a focus on the paleontological methods and techniques, including articles, videos, and notes on:
- fossil preparation
- technology-related techniques applied to paleontology
- methods of collecting, digging, data-collecting, curation
- paleontological expedition reports
- any other topic of general interest to fossil preparators and paleontologists
- book reviews
Any professional, student or amateur paleontologist or preparators are invited to submit their original manuscripts on the topic above. Three types of papers are accepted:
- Technical papers in paleontological methods, including test reports of preparation tools and material
- Excavation reports (e. g.: Suzuki et al., 2010)
- Collection reports (e. g.: McIntosh, J. S. (1981). Annotated catalogue of the dinosaurs (Reptilia, Archosauria) in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 18, 1–67.)
All papers will be peer-reviewed by professional paleontologists, and referees may choose to remain anonymous in their reviews. The articles are published as HTML and PDF documents accessible to anybody with Internet connections via the website www.jpaleontologicaltechniques.org. The Journal of Paleontological Techniques is published simultaneously on the World Wide Web (ISSN:1646-5806; http://www.jpaleontologicaltechniques.org) and on CD-ROM (ISSN:1646-5792). Each volume of Journal of Paleontological Techniques is available free of charge to all persons with access to the World Wide Web. Articles will generally be published under the license CC BY, but researchers can choose any other creative commons license if they wish to do so.
Being entirely digital, publishing in The Journal of Paleontological Techniques has some important advantages against journals in print:
- fast publication times: each article has an independent number and is published with independent timing to any other article. Each article will be released once it is ready and the periodicity depends on the articles submitted;
- articles can include 3D animations or videos, in order to enhance the understandability of the technique;
- no page limit or page charges, though all articles are edited to optimize their realized information content;
- no limits or charges for color illustrations, digital animations and other online tools.
All manuscripts must be submitted in well-written English or Portuguese, abstracts will be in both languages (we provide support for translations if needed). Authors should submit manuscripts in Microsoft Office Word format.
Submitting
The manuscripts should be submitted to the following email address: jpaleontologicaltechniques@gmail.com
For the first submission, authors have to provide a first page including title, author(s) name(s), author(s) affiliations, and date of submission. The abstract should provide pertinent details of the research and conclusions, and should not include references. The subsequent structure should follow the usual structure: Introduction, *Methods, *Results, *Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, and References Cited. Titles marked with an asterisk are not mandatory because they may depend on the work performed, and on the type of article submitted.
Instructions for accepted version
- The letter size is 12pt, except for the title (15pt). The letter type is optional. Please avoid excess formatting the text. Use as less indenting, bolding, underlines, and title formats as possible.
- All text, including title, subtitles, and author names should be in capital and lowercase letters.
- Use space between lines of 1,5 within the entire manuscript, including abstract, text, references, as well as explanations of figures, tables, and appendices.
- Do not justify the right margin.
- Do not create columns.
- Figures, tables, and appendices must be cited in consecutive order in the text.
- Do not use footnotes.
First page
The first page should have the (following this order):
- Title
- Author(s) name(s)
- Author(s) affiliations
- Date of submission
- Abstract: The abstract should provide pertinent details of the research and conclusions. Authors should avoid statements such as “will be discussed herein.”
Do not include references
- The introduction can start in the first page
Text headings and subtitles
All text headings and subtitles are flush left, written in bold, on a line of their own.
First order are bold, underlined, with all capital letters, and with an empty line below. Second order headings are bold, with capital and lower-case letters, and an empty line below. Third order headings are bold, with capital and lower-case letters, and the text following on the subsequent line.
Example:
INTRODUCTION (First Order)
Introduction text after an empty line.
Adhesives (Second Order)
Adhesives text after an empty line.
Acid preparation (Third Order)
Text continuing here, without empty line.
References and citation
All citations should be included in the chapter “references cited”, and vice-versa.
When possible in citations, the page number should be given after the publication date: (Smith, 1973: 89), indicating the page rather than (Smith, 1973).
Single author: (Smith, 1973: 89).
Two authors: (Smith and Jones, 1973: 89).
Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 1973: 89).
In press reference: (Smith, in press).
Personal communication: (Smith, personal commun., 1995).
Reference to a quotation: (Smith, 1973: 16).
Portion of text written by a subordinate author: (Smith in Jones, 1973)
Communication cited in a previously-published paper: (Smith cited in Jones 1973)
Notes: Initials are used only if the same surname occurs more than once in the text, (e.g., Smith, A.A., 1973; Smith, B.M., 1984).
Citation style for the references section is JVP, with authors and year in bold. JVP styles can be downloaded for reference managers like Zotero.
Examples:
Beiner, G. G., and R. Rabinovich. 2013. An elephant task—conservation of elephant remains from Revadim Quarry, Israel. Journal of the Institute of Conservation 36:53–64.
Bromage, T., G., and S. Werning. 2013. Image Standardization in Paleohistology; pp. 161–175 in K. Padian and E.-T. Lamm (eds.), Bone Histology of Fossil Tetrapods. University of California Press, Oakland, CA, USA.
Campeny, G., B. Gómez de Soler, and J. Agustí. 2012. Memòria de L’excavació Al Camp Dels Ninots (Caldes de Malavella, La Selva). Campanya de 2012. Dept. de Cultura, Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalunya, Spain, 196 pp.
JPT allows references from websites and conference communications:
Davidson, A. 2012. Cavity mounts for safe storage & handling. Available at http://preparation.paleo.amnh.org/assets/Davidson-cavitymountsFinal.ppt (May 2014).
Val, S., C. Cancelo, B. Vila, and A. Sallés. 2010. Preparation of dinosaurs eggshells: New insights to traditional techniques. 3Rd annual Fossil Preparation & Collections Symposium, The Field Museum Chicago, Chicago, USA.
JPT invites all authors to contribute and profit from the open Zotero group on paleontological techniques: https://www.zotero.org/groups/paleo_techniques
Images
The images should be of good quality, with no less than 300 dpi, a width of 9 cm (one column) or 18 cm (whole page), and without compression. The formats AI, JPEG, TIFF, PDF are accepted, but the preferred format for figures is jpg files. Figures must be submitted as separate files, not embedded in manuscript text.