ACTA HERPETOLOGICA

Journal of the Societas Herpetologica Italica

Scope and Manuscript Categories single doc file with embedded images and retain the original figures until the
manuscript is accepted for publication.
Acta Herpetologica (AH) is the official journal of the Societas
Herpetologica Italica. The journal is published by Firenze University Press Manuscript Format
that adheres to the “Publication Ethics and publication malpractice
General. Authors wishing to submit manuscripts to AH should carefully
statement” downloadable from the journal web page. Please read carefully
consult recent issues of the journal and instructions given here for the
this document before submitting to the journal.
manuscript format.
AH publishes Reviews, Full Papers, Short Notes and Book Reviews
dealing with the biology and diversity of amphibians and reptiles. MS should Manuscripts, typed in Times new roman font-size 12, should be A4 in
be original and should not be submitted to other journals. AH is a peer- size (29×21 cm). Typing should be double-spaced with about 2.5 cm margins
on all sides. Words should not be interrupted at the end of a line. Each of the
reviewed journal adopting a double-blind review procedure.
following divisions should begin on a separate page: cover page, title page,
AH does not publish papers in which the amphibians and/or the reptiles
are treated as simple study models. Papers dealing with captivity and abstract, main text, references, each appendix, each table, figure legends, and
each figure. Except for the cover page, all pages should be consecutively
terrarium aspects are accepted only if the welfare of treated animals is clearly
respected, and if the results have a general interest. Handling and capture numbered. Text of the manuscript should have all rows consecutively
permits should always be clearly reported in the “Acknowledgements” numbered.
section. If no permits are needed, a sentence explicitly stating this should be Cover page. The cover page should bear the title, name and postal address of
added in the same section. the corresponding author to whom communications regarding the
If a new taxon is described, the institution where the type material is manuscript should be directed with his/her telephone and fax numbers, and
deposited must be clearly indicated, together with all the details of its e-mail address. The cover page should also show the date of submission, the
registration. The description of new taxa on types deposited in personal numbers of pages of main text and figure legends, and the numbers of
collections will not be accepted. figures and tables.
Reviews are usually invited by the Editors. Those who wish to submit
Reviews should consult the Editors in advance. Full Papers are reports Title page. The title page should show the title, and the name(s),
usually greater than nine manuscript pages (double-spaced) and should be affiliation(s), address(es) of the author(s) in order and a suggested short
less than 12.000 words. Short Notes are more limited in scope and fewer running title. The title should be brief and informative. It should appear left
than 3000 words (including references), with not more than 4 tables and/or justified on the top of this page, in bold.
figures. We encourage notes regarding innovative techniques and The author’s name should be left justified, in SMALL CAPITAL letters
procedures for the field and laboratory studies concerning amphibians and except than for the initial, in capitals. Second and supplementary names
reptiles. Full Papers and Short Notes should not be merely descriptive or must be simply given as capital initials. Affiliation(s) and address(es) of the
based on occasional observations (i.e., range extensions and natural history author(s) should follow the names, with a number indicating the
observations will be rejected). For the structure and formatting follow the membership, all in Italics.
instructions for full papers and reviews. Short Notes bear abstract, and
Abstract page. The abstract page should contain an Abstract consisting of a
keywords, but are not structured with headings and subheadings. maximum of 250 words, followed by one blank line and by key words. The
Manuscripts may be moved from one category to another at the
abstract should state the major points of the paper as clearly and con- cisely
discretion of the Section Editor. The English is the suggested language for as possible without the need for reference to the text and without cita- tion
Reviews and Full papers, while Short Notes can be submitted both in English
of references. The word “Abstract” must be written in bold, followed by a
and Italian. point and by the remnant text. The term “Keywords”, must be written in
Conservation evidence bold, and followed by a point and then by three to eight key words,
separated from each other by commas, that identify the major aspects of the
AH adheres to the “Conservation Evidence” project
manuscript.
([Link]). If your paper deals with conservation
actions, check the existing evidence for any intervention, at Conservation The main text. Texts of manuscripts are usually arranged in order of
Evidence. If relevant evidence is available provide at least a sentence Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion,
summarizing this in the Introduction (e.g. Four out of five previous studies Acknowledgements and References. Italics should be used only for scientific
found that increasing temperatures to 30–37 °C for at least 16 h cured names of genera, species and/or subspecies. Commonly used words of non-
amphibians of chytridiomycosis; Smith et al., 2017). If Conservation English origins should not be italicized (e.g., et al., taxon, taxa). Up to two
Evidence indicates there is as yet no evidence for the action, please state this. sets of headings are allowed. The major heading, all capitalised, should be
If Conservation Evidence has not yet summarized the evidence for the centred.
management action, please search for studies testing the action, and The sub-heading should be set at the left margin and italicized, with
summarize any relevant evidence for similar actions. If Conservation only the first letter of the first word capitalised. In the ordinary text
Evidence does not yet cover the topic and no individual studies exist please arrangement of an Original Article (see above), Introduction, Material and
state this. Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements and References should be
given as major headings.
Manuscript Submission Short notes. Short Notes follow for the main aspects the structure of Full
Submissions of papers from both members and non-members of the Papers with abstract and key-words, but the text is not divided in headings
SHI are welcome. Electronic submission on the web site is the only admitted and subheadings.
form. Preferred file formats are Microsoft Word. Authors can submit a
References. The reference section following the main text should begin with
the major heading, “References”, and list all and only the publications cited the same pages as the table. Within the table, only the initial letter of the first
in the manuscript in alphabetical order according to the senior authors’ word should be capitalized (e.g., “Adult males”). Ruled lines within the table
surnames. When there are several papers by the same senior author with main body should be avoided (see a recent issue as example). Footnotes
various co-authors, they must be listed in alphabetical order by second and (indicated by symbols *, or, 1, 2, 3, etc.) may follow a table when detailed
subsequent authors, regardless of the number of authors. When there are information is needed.
several papers of a same author(s) they have to be arranged chronologi-
cally. The title of scientific journals should be abbreviated according to ISI Figures. If figures are uploaded as supplementary files they should always
bear number (e.g., Fig. 1) in the lower right corner of the page. When several
standards. Following are examples for the format of references.
drawings or photographs are to be reproduced as one figure, they should be
Arntzen, J.W. (1999): Chioglossa lusitanica Bocage, 1864 - Goldstreifensala- mounted and printed in the desired arrangement and each of them should
be lettered (A, B, C, etc.). Each figure should be carefully planned to
mander. In: Handbuch der Reptilien und Amphibien Europas, Bd.4/1,
accommodate reduction to a final width of one (8 cm) or two columns (16
Schwanzlurche (Urodela) I, pp. 301-321. Grossenbacher, K.,
cm) in AH; after reduction, lettering should be > 1.5 mm high and decimals
Thiesmeier, B., Eds, Aula-Verlag, Wiesbaden.
should be visible. Include a scale of distance or dimension where
Boulenger, G.A. (1889): Catalogue of the Chelonians, Rhynchocephalians,
and Crocodiles in the British Museum (Natural History). British Muse- appropriate. Figure legends, each beginning with a fully capitalised
um, London. abbreviation and a consecutive number (e.g., Fig. 1. Dorsal (A) and lateral
(B) views of holotype of …), should be typed in double space and grouped
Delaugerre, M-J. (2013): Going out tonight? When insular Hierophis viridi-
together on a separate sheet with one line of space between them. In the text,
flavus breaks the Whip Snake rules. Acta Herpetol. 8: 47-52.
“Figure” should be also abbreviated, but with only the initial letter
Leviton, A.E., Gibbs, R.H. Jr. (1988): Standards in herpetology and ichthyol-
capitalised (e.g., Fig. 1). Figures sent directly only electronically should be
ogy. Standard symbolic codes for institution resource collections in her-
petology and ichthyology. Supplement no. 1: additions and corrections. labelled as well within the file name. Figure size and quality should be 8 or
Copeia 1988: 280-282. 16 cm width, at least 300 dpi, better higher, as *tif, *.eps, or *.jpg files.
Colour figures will be published free of charges on the online version of
Moody, S.M. (1980): Phylogenetic and historical biogeographical relation-
ships of the Genera in the Family Agamidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia). the journal. Authors will be asked to pay if the wish to publish colour figures
Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. in the printed version (send inquiries to the Editor in Chief).
Numerals and statistics. Numbers of 10 or larger should be typed as Arabic
Web references are usually not accepted, unless the journal or book to numerals except at the beginning of a sentence. Numbers one to nine should
which the author(s) make(s) reference is only published online. Specific always be spelled out unless they precede units of measurement (e.g., 5 mm),
are designators (e.g., experiment 3), or are separated by a figure dash (e.g., 5-
cases shall be considered individually. In the text, references to papers by one
or two authors should give their surnames (Leviton and Gibbs, 1988); papers 7 individuals). The 24-hour clock is used to indicate times of day (e.g., 19:00
h); dates should be given by day, month, year in this order (e.g., 5 July 2002).
with more than two authors are referenced by the first author’s surname
Decimals should not be naked (e.g., 0.5). Mathematical or statistical variables
followed by “et al.” (e.g., Rossi et al., 1980). Strings of references should be
placed in chronological order. When there are two or more references should never be italicised, and the exact probability value of the test (e.g., P =
0.018) should be given.
published in a same year, they should be arranged in alphabetical order. Two
or more references by the same senior author (for papers by one or more Abbreviations. Weights and measures follow the International System of
than two authors) or by the same senior and junior authors (for papers by Units (SI), and such abbreviations should be used throughout the man-
two authors) with the same year of publication should be desig- nated by uscript. Abbreviations used in AH without being defined at first usage
lowercase letters: e.g., Rossi et al., 1992 a, b. include: x (mean), n (sample size), N (chromosome number, but see below
For references that are in the course of publication (e.g., already for the use to refer to “north latitude”), no. (number), yr (year[s]), mo
accepted for publication, but not published yet), cite “in press” (or “in (month[s]), wk (week[s]), h (hour[s]), min (minute[s]), sec (second[s]), P
stampa” in the case of short notes in Italian) in the place of publication year (probability), df (degrees of freedom), SD (standard deviation), SE (stand-
and leave the place of page numbers blank. References of unpublished ard error), NS (not significant), l (litre), kg (kilogramme), g (gramme), m
master’s theses and unpublished doctoral dissertations are not encouraged, (metre), cm (centimetre), mm (millimetre), µm (micron), °C (degrees Cel-
but are allowed when their citations are definitely needed (see above for sius), a.s.l. (above sea level; given as, e.g., 100 m a.s.l.), geographical coor-
example of listing of such references in References). The other manuscripts dinates (e.g., 15°25’N, 121°43’E). Other abbreviations can also be used, but
that are neither “in press” nor published should not be cited either in the text define them at first usage. Sexes should be written as extended (male[s],
or in References. Personal references or unpublished data could be included female[s]) or abbreviated (M, MM, F, FF).
in the text, with the abbreviation “pers. comm.” (for English papers), or with
“com. pers.” (for Italian papers). Supplementary materials
A style file compatible with most reference managers is downloadable Articles in AH may be supplemented by additional data. All
from <[Link] supplementary data must be approved by editors and reviewers. The
[Link]/webshi/images/files/Acta%[Link]>. Supplementary material (SM) is posted at the website of the Societas
Appendices. Detailed information important to subsequent evaluation (such Herpetologica Italica < [Link] >. Instructions
as that regarding specimens examined) may be placed under the major for the preparation of supplementary material are downloadable from:
<[Link]
heading, Appendix, and an appropriate sub-heading. When institutional
[Link]/webshi/images/files/acta%20herpetologica%20appendices%20-
abbreviations are used in Appendix, and/or in the main text, it is
recommended, as far as possible, to follow Leviton et al. (1985) or Leviton %[Link]>
and Gibbs (1988), with an explicit statement in Appendix (or otherwise, in Revised manuscripts
Materials and Methods of the main text).
Revised manuscripts should be submitted within 3 months (Resubmit
Tables. Each table should be typed, double-spaced, on a separate sheet. The for review) or 1 month (Revision required) since the Section Editor decision,
legend for a table should follow the table number (e.g., Table 1. otherwise they will be considered as withdrawn.
Measurements of specimens of Salamandrina terdigitata), and should be on