Center for Systematic Entomology (CSE)

INSECTA MUNDI PUBLICATIONS TRAVEL GRANTS MEETINGS MEMBERSHIP DONATIONS

<< back to Insecta Mundi

Manuscript Preparation Rules and Guidelines (updated 2020)

Common Problems Checklist (Lista de Problemas Frecuentes)

Review Report Form

Informe Crítico del Revisor

Submission Contract

Carta de Compromiso

Author Information

Insecta Mundi is a continuing experiment in publication. Our goal is to publish taxonomic works not only free to the author, but also openly accessible. This can only be done with authors submitting manuscripts publishable by journal standards, not just in quality, but also in technical details. The length of time needed to publish any manuscript is inversely proportional to the amount of time, effort, and attention to details the author and reviewers spend prior to submission. Authors who understand how to build and clean manuscripts with word processing and photo editing programs will have no difficulty following our requirements and publishing in Insecta Mundi.

If you wish to publish in Insecta Mundi, we have various guides available to help you through manuscript preparation processes. Papers not adequately reviewed, or which have not been subjected to the presubmission processes, will be returned or rejected.

Publication Requirements.

First, authors must obtain critical reviews from two outside reviewer's. Those review comments and Reviewer Report forms must be submitted with the manuscript. If not, the manuscript will be returned.

Second, we require authors clean their manuscript so the underlying coding will be compatible with the programs used to create the final paper. All manuscript files are programs, complicated sets of computer coding that present information visually with compatible software and hardware. These manuscript programs frequently have hidden coding that makes them incompatible with other computers. Such problems can prevent publication of your manuscript. Two documents are available to help guide you through manuscript cleaning: the full Manuscript Preparation Rules and Guidelines and the Common Problems Checklist .

Third, we now require authors submit a signed Submission Contract which attests that the author has followed our preparation guidelines. Authors are fully responsible for the contents, organization, and technical details of their paper.

UPDATE (April 2020): The Insecta Mundi editorial board recently voted to make minor changes to the format of the Literature Cited section in future manuscripts. The changes are explained below; if you still have questions, please contact the chief editor at insectamundi@gmail.com

In the Literature Cited, names of authors and editors will now be presented in a format that more closely matches CBE style, with no periods between initials, and without commas between a surname and the corresponding initials. The word 'and' is no longer part of the list of authors. Finally, when citing a book chapter, editor names are now cited with surname first.

Examples are presented below:

Arnett RH Jr., Samuelson GA, Nishida GN. 1993. The insect and spider collections of the world (second edition). Flora and fauna handbook no. 11. Sandhill Crane Press; Gainesville, FL. 310 p.

Gordon RD, Skelley PE. 2007. A monograph of the Aphodiini inhabiting the United States and Canada (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Aphodiinae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 79: 1-580.

Skelley PE, Gordon RD. 2002. Family 37. Scarabaeidae. V. Subfamily Aphodiinae. p. 42–48. In: Arnett RH Jr., Thomas MC, Skelley PE, Frank JH (eds.). American beetles, Vol. 2. CRC Press; Boca Raton, FL. 861 p.

Perkins P. 2006. MCZ Type Database @ Harvard University. Available at http://mcz-28168.oeb.harvard.edu/mcz/ (Last accessed February 2007.)

Manuscript Submission checklist. Each submitted manuscript must include the following documents.

Manuscript and associated appendices or other files.
Images arranged into plates, each plate submitted as a separate TIF, JPG or PDF file.
Copies of two critical reviews, showing reviewer comments.
Copies of Reviewer Report forms, one for each reviewer in addition to the manuscript with comments.
Copy of the signed Submission Contract, attesting that manuscript is ready to go.

Submissions are sent electronically to:

Chief Editor: David Plotkin
Assistant Editor: Paul E. Skelley
email: insectamundi(at)gmail.com
Center for Systematic Entomology
P.O. Box 141874
Gainesville, FL 32614-1874 USA